Who Knows About My Investments?
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
To kick off this new year we have been going through a 4-part series called:
First Things First: Aligning Your Priorities with God’s Plan
First Things First: Aligning Your Priorities with God’s Plan
A New Year is often a time of reflection & realignment.
We:
Reflect on the past year…
what we thought went well, and
what we would like to improve on…
And then we:
Realign…
we make new goals to make changes that align with what’s important to us.
Our desire with this series has been to help you in that process to put “First things First”.
It’s not wrong to have:
fitness and health goals,
financial goals, and
personal development goals…
But as Christians,
We must align ourselves with what’s most important to God
We must align ourselves with what’s most important to God
Throughout the series, we have been using the idea of investing…
Investing is the act of sacrificing something in the present, in hopes of a greater return in the future.
In the first sermon I asked the question…
Who Is Investing In Me?
There are many different people, companies, and media sources…
that want to invest in what we think and what we believe, which affects our behaviour/how we act.
We need to prioritize hearing from God.
He needs to be the primary source investing in us,
so that we are conformed into the image of Christ.
In the second sermon Pastor Jake asked the question…
Who Am I Investing Myself In?
There are many activities and relationships that I can pour my time and energy into…
But as followers of Jesus,
we need to prioritize discipleship,
which is helping others grow in their relationship with Jesus.
Last week, in the third sermon, Pastor Jake talked about…
How to Align Our Money with God’s Plan
There are many different ways that we can use money in this life…
Most of the time the ways we use money gets us the small return of whatever enjoyment we get out of what we bought.
But we need to prioritize investing money into building God’s kingdom,
which will have everlasting returns!
This morning I will be asking the question:
Who Knows about My Investments?
Who Knows about My Investments?
Because of our gratitude and love for God and all that He has done for us,
we are going to invest a lot of our:
time,
effort,
energy, and
money into His kingdom.
This means we are going to look very different from the world around us…
which is going to give us opportunities to talk about our faith in Jesus…
we get to talk about the investments we are making now, and the hope of future blessings through Christ!
I could feel the shockwave from all of your heartbeats increasing…
“Talk to people about my faith?”
Just the thought of talking about our faith can cause us to worry.
Maybe you’re thinking right now,
“I knew we should have skipped church this morning!”
And if that’s you this morning,
I’m with you!
The truth is, we all struggle with fear and worry when we think about starting spiritual conversations.
BUT WHY???
Why are we afraid to share our faith?
Why are we afraid to share our faith?
In one sense, this fear doesn’t make any sense…
It is in our human nature to share!
We share about what happened in the game last night……
OR the new show we’ve been watching…
We share about the new place we ate at recently…
OR what’s been going on in our lives…
Sharing is so engrained in who we are as relational human beings,
that almost any website or social media platform you use has a SHARE button!
They know that we like to experience things together,
and that if you enjoyed something you will want to share it with someone.
If sharing is so engrained in who we are…
Then why are we afraid to share our faith?
ILLUSTRATE
I have failed to share my faith on many occasions because of fear.
A few weeks ago I was at the arena early in the morning while my sons were skating,
and as I was watching in the main entrance,
there was just myself and an employee.
I felt a nudge to start a conversation,
but began worrying about what he might think,
so I ignored the nudge, and went back to reading my book.
Later on I felt guilt and shame because of my lack of courage and trust in God.
Transition
Maybe you can relate to that feeling…
We know it’s important to share the gospel,
but we run into obstacles that prevent us from doing so.
Transition
One of my seminary professors, Timothy K. Beougher, calls these… WALLS.
He wrote a book called,
“Overcoming Walls to Witnessing”
“Overcoming Walls to Witnessing”
In this short book he deals with the six most common “walls” or “barriers” to sharing our faith with others.
In my sermon this morning, I am going to talk briefly about each one,
and try to give practical ways we can overcome these “walls”.
PROPOSITION
We need to understand that:
God’s plan is for His message of salvation to spread through normal, everyday people…
In other words… US!
You Are the PERSON God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation…
You Are in the PLACE God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation…
You Are in the POSITION God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation…
PRAY
Lord,
we thank You for saving us…
we confess that we have not been bold… missed opportunities…
we ask for your forgiveness…
help us not to live in past failure…
give us a desire, and boldness to share the message of your salvation with those around us.
MAIN POINTS
MAIN POINTS
My first point this morning is…
You Are the PERSON God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation
You Are the PERSON God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation
God’s message of salvation is an incredible, amazing, and important message!
When you have an important message to send, you want to send the message through someone you really trust.
A part of the reason we don’t share our faith is:
We don’t feel like adequate messengers.
“Surely God could pick someone more qualified than me!”
Maybe you’ve stopped at the wall that says…
“It’s not my gift”
“It’s not my gift”
This is the belief that sharing the gospel is only for those who have the gift..
Is there a gift of evangelism?
Paul, in his letter to the church in Ephesus talks about some of the gifts Christ has given the church…
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
These are indeed special roles that Christ has gifted certain individuals for…
which includes evangelists!
There are people who are gifted to be evangelists,
but let’s look at why Paul says Christ has given these leaders to the church…
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Their role/job is to do the work…
but also to equip and train EVERYONE ELSE to do the work of ministry!
An evangelist is specifically gifted to teach others how to evangelize and share their faith.
This means that we are ALL called to share our faith!
And this is exactly what we see in the early church.
Stephen was an early leader of the church,
but after a confrontation with Jewish leaders he was stoned.
Then we read in…
Acts 8:1 (ESV)
And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
And what did they do as they were scattered?
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
Summary
God doesn’t need specially gifted people…
He uses everyday, average believers like you and me to spread His message of salvation.
Transition
Maybe you find yourself stuck at the wall of knowledge.
This wall says…
“I don’t know enough”
“I don’t know enough”
“I don’t know how to share the message of God’s salvation…”
“I wouldn’t be able to answer all of their questions…”
Now, obviously you are going to need to understand the gospel message if you want to share it…
But there is no required level of knowledge that you must first attain before you can share the gospel.
Think back to these early Christians we were just talking about in the book of Acts…
They were scattered within the first couple years of the church,
which meant they didn’t have a seminary degree before setting out and sharing their faith.
They were just normal people, sharing what God had done in their lives!
It is not about the messenger, but the power of God’s message used by the Holy Spirit to change hearts!
Summary
God’s plan is to use YOU!
“You Are the PERSON God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation”
ILLUSTRATE
There are two stories in the Bible that illustrate how God uses ordinary people.
The Woman at the Well
After having a life-changing encounter with Jesus…
John 4:28–30 (ESV)
the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.
This woman did not have a special gift of evangelism…
she couldn’t even have know very much about Jesus since she had just met Him… but…
Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”
Another ordinary person used by God was…
The Man Born Blind
After having his vision restored through spit-mud…
he was questioned by the Pharisees about Jesus.
His response was…
John 9:25 (ESV)
“Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
Speaking about this story, Timothy Beougher says:
“Here was another person with no formal training or experience in evangelism. Yet Scripture shows him witnessing to the religious elite of his day! He could not have discussed the finer points of theology with them, but he was able to bear witness to the person and work of Jesus Christ.”
APPLY
We have seen that you do not need to have a special gift, or special knowledge to share the message of God’s salvation.
God’s plan is to use everyday people like you and me!
So where do we start?
We need to understand the basics of the gospel.
It can be summarized this way:
God, Man, Christ, Response.
God
God is our creator, and we are accountable to him
(Gen. 1:1, 26-27; Ex. 34:6-7)
Man
Man has rebelled against God, therefore deserves eternal death.
We can do nothing on our own to reverse this.
(Rom. 3:10,23; Rom. 6:23; Ex. 20)
Christ
God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross,
bearing our sin, and rise again defeating death.
(John 1:14; 2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 53:6)
Response
By repentance, or turning from sin and to Christ,
and placing our faith in Christ, we are saved.
(Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21)
That is the essence of the gospel.
There are many different ways/methods to share the gospel.
There is no right way.
Two great places to start with sharing your faith are:
Sharing Your Testimony
Using a Gospel Tract
Sharing Your Testimony
Maybe the last time you shared your testimony was on your baptism day…
and maybe you thought you would never need it again…
but the story of how God saved you can be a powerful witnessing tool.
Paul used His testimony on a number of occasions in the book of Acts.
Take some time, and think back to God’s grace in your life…
remember how He saved you.
You will want to have a brief version you can share quickly,
but you want it to follow the flow of the gospel:
Personal Testimony
Your life before Christ
Talk about how you were lost in sin…
How you came to faith in Christ
Did someone share the gospel with you?
How did God reveal your brokenness?
Your life after Christ
How did your life change?
Still struggle, but God is helping you.
The second way to start with sharing our faith is…
Using a Gospel Tract
Maybe you’re scared to share your faith, and you’re afraid you’ll mess up or forget something.
A gospel tract is a great place to start.
We have some gospel tracts here at the church that you are welcome to take.
Take some with you, and have them on hand.
When there is an opportunity, hand one out.
If the situation allows, you can ask if you can go over it with them.
Simply read through the gospel tract, asking if they have any questions, or need clarity.
Summary
There are MANY different ways for us to relate to those around us and share the gospel with them.
So find the way that you find best, because…
“You Are the PERSON God Wants to Use to Spread the Message of His Salvation”
Transition
The next thing you need to believe is that…
You Are in the PLACE God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation
You Are in the PLACE God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation
One of the reasons that we don’t share is because we feel like we need to go somewhere.
Maybe we think in order to share the gospel we need to give up our lives and go be a missionary in a far away land.
This is a calling for some people, but for most of us, God wants to use us right where we are.
In fact, God has you in the exact place you are in so that you can be a witness for Him.
Think about it the people in your life who don’t know Christ…
Your family…
People you work with…
Friends…
People on your kids sports teams…
You may be the only Christian they regularly come in contact with…
You may be the only Christian they know!
If you do not share the message of Christ with them, they may never hear it.
EXPLAIN
But maybe you’ve been stopped by the wall of fear that says…
“I fear rejection”
“I fear rejection”
First, I want to acknowledge that fear is a legitimate feeling.
You are not alone!
All Christians wrestle with fear in some form when it comes to sharing our faith.
Satan has done a really good job of making religion a taboo subject in our culture.
He has convinced us that it is an unacceptable topic of conversation…
and that people will get angry or upset at us, yell at us, and hate us forever!
This is simply not true!
Most people are more than willing to have a conversation about spiritual things.
Recent studies and surveys are actually showing that there is an increasing openness to talk about God and religion.
We can know this, and yet we will still wrestle with fear.
One of the most frequent commands in the Bible is,
“Do not be afraid.”
This is because we do struggle with fear.
Fear is an opportunity for us to realize our need for God’s strength.
In Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested and then threatened if they continued to preach about Jesus.
After being released, all the believers gathered together and prayed…
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Summary
Their fear was an opportunity to rely on God and call on Him for boldness.
When we struggle with thoughts of fear and worry,
we should use those as opportunities to ask for boldness through His Spirit.
Maybe you don’t struggle with fear…
but you’ve been stopped by the wall of busyness…
“I don’t have time”
“I don’t have time”
The truth is that we all have the same amount of time…
and we spend our time on the things that are most important to us.
The whole point of this sermon series has been to ask:
What is most important to God, and how can I make that a priority?
With our current schedules, we may be too busy,
so we may have to adjust some things to make time for sharing our faith.
Jesus said in…
John 6:27 (ESV)
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.
How many of the things you are spending your time on will last into eternity?
Are those things more important than where someone is going to spend eternity?
Summary
You may be the only opportunity some people have to hear the gospel message.
You need to understand that…
God has placed you right where you are to share the message of his salvation.
ILLUSTRATE
A little over 4 years ago, I did one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.
I went back to school at the age of 30.
I had graduated high school 13 years earlier, which was my last taste of academic work…
But now, sensing the call of God on my life, I went to seminary.
As if it wouldn’t already be hard enough, I was encouraged to take Greek my first semester.
Some of you have had to learn English or another language, and know how difficult it is.
What a great idea!
Let’s take a guy who hasn’t used his brain in 13 years and push it to the limit!!
I had a friend, he was so gracious…
he sent me a video of a well-known professor who said,
“Learning Greek isn’t hard… 6 year old kids in Greece do it everyday.”
That made me feel good!
I will never forget my very first day of class, my Greek professor said to us…
“You guys have probably wondered what God’s will for your life is. I have it! It’s right here!”
He then proceeded to put the course syllabus on the screen.
A syllabus is basically an overview of the class.
It tells you what you’ll be learning in class, what assignments you’ll have to do, what books you’ll have to read, and how you’ll be graded.
“Here’s God’s will for your life!”
We all laughed… but then he said, “I’m not joking.”
“You all have been praying about what God wants you to do with your life, and you prayed about coming to seminary, and now, here you are.”
“Since God has brought you here, this is God’s will for your life… this is the work he wants you to do over the next 3 months.”
Transition
This is exactly what you need to realize about your life.
Throughout your life, you have been praying for God’s will in your life…
asking him to give you the job He wants…
the spouse or kids He wants…
the house or friends He wants…
AND…
There you are… right where God wants you!
APPLY
God has placed you there so that you can be a witness for Him to those around you.
If He wanted someone else there, He would have placed someone else there!
You are a unique person, with a unique perspective and set of skills that God can use to point to His greatness.
The problem is that most of us don’t take a lot of time to think about how we can be a light for Christ in the everyday places we are.
Timothy Beougher shares a story of a church he visited where he overheard a conversation between two women.
One woman asked the other what she did for a living, and the other woman said,
“I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, on mission for Him, cleverly disguised as an emergency room nurse!”
That is exactly how we need to view ourselves!
A disciple of Christ:
disguised as a stay-at-home Mom…
disguised as a roofer or welder…
disguised as a receptionist or a greenhouse worker…
How can you be a faithful witness to God right where you are?
Getting Practical
I would encourage you to sit down at some point this week… and
think over and pray about the places you work, live, and play.
Ask yourself:
“How can God use me to build a relationship with the people in my life?”
Write down the names of all those in your life who do not know Christ… and
regularly pray for them, and for opportunities to have conversations with them.
Then as you are around those people:
Ask them questions… be interested in their life.
One of the most impactful things you can do for a non-Christian is offer to pray for them.
As Christians we are very used to this, but non-Christians are surprised by it.
Find ways to meet some of their needs.
Maybe that’s by bringing a meal,
giving a gift, or
finding a way to do something meaningful that is relevant to what is going on in their lives.
And as you do these things,
there will be opportunities where you can share the hope you have in Christ.
Summary
You are in the place that God wants…
You simply need to be intentional to prayerfully consider how to use those places as opportunities to share the message of salvation with those around you.
Transition
You are the PERSON God wants,
You are in the PLACE God wants, and…
You Are in the POSITION God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation
You Are in the POSITION God Wants to Spread His Message of Salvation
Maybe you understand that you are all called to share the gospel…
and you see the needs around you where God has placed you…
but you don’t have the desire to share the gospel.
You have a lot of things going on in your life…
things that are very serious and demanding,
that take up a lot of your energy.
And besides, everyone is responsible for themselves right?
This is the wall that says…
“I don’t want to”
“I don’t want to”
We probably wouldn’t say this out loud,
but sometimes we struggle to have the desire to share the gospel with others.
We know we should, but since we don’t feel like it, it never becomes a priority.
First of all, as with anything in life, we should not rely on our feelings.
There are a lot of things we don’t feel like doing, but we do them anyway.
Second, we need to develop a heart of compassion for the lost.
Do we truly believe that people who do not know Jesus will go to hell?
When we’re working beside someone or having a conversation with someone who isn’t saved…
do we consider the fact that if they died today,
they would be in hell…
in torment for eternity?
Jesus, speaking of the final judgement, said of those on his left…
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Can we truly say we love someone if we are not willing to tell them how they can avoid the torment of hell?
Now, we need to understand that nobody is going to go to hell because of us.
We do not need to carry the burden of someone else’s eternal destiny.
Each person is responsible for their decision to follow Christ or not…
but shouldn’t our hearts be burn with compassion for those who are on the road to destruction?
We too were once lost, and headed for hell,
but God used others to change our hearts and turn us to Himself.
Summary
The more we remember our own story…
The more we praise God for our own salvation…
The more time we spend with Jesus,
the more we will have a heart of compassion for those who are lost.
Transition
Maybe you have compassion for those who are not saved,
but you have hit the wall that says…
“I’m not a good enough Christian”
“I’m not a good enough Christian”
You know that God doesn’t expect you to be perfect…
but you feel like you need to get your life in order first,
before you can be a good witness.
While it is true that as Christians we should be pursuing holiness,
there is no such thing as a perfect witness,
and if we wait for that day,
we will NEVER share the gospel!
Jesus gave the responsibility of evangelizing the world to 12 imperfect apostles.
We see a lot of their failures and shortcomings in the gospels don’t we!
But the reason we have the good news of Jesus,
is because of their faithfulness to share it!
We do not share about Jesus because we are perfect, but because HE IS!
Who better to share the message of salvation than a sinner…
Who better to share about God’s grace than someone who needs it…
Who better to talk about peace and forgiveness than someone who experiences it daily…
Ultimately, we must understand that we don’t save anyone.
Paul understood this…
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
Summary
We may have room for improvement in our lives,
but God can use us in the POSITION we are in,
because it is His message of salvation that we proclaim, not ourselves.
ILLUSTRATE
A few months ago, my wife Jessica and I went across the border to do some shopping.
And for Jessica, no trip to the US is complete without a stop at…
Target.
I don’t mind going shopping with my wife,
but she usually loses me somewhere between the decor and cosmetics sections.
As I was walking by the electronics section,
a Verizon representative stopped me and said,
“Hi! Verizon has some exclusive deals going on right now, who’s your current cell phone provider?”
I said,
“We’re were from Canada, so we can’t get it, but would love to, since they seem to have much better cell phone plans in the US!”
We chatted a bit about Canada and then I moved along.
As I did, I watched as he stopped customer after customer asking the same question,
“Hi! Verizon has some exclusive deals going on right now, who’s your current cell phone provider?”
Most people would kindly say they were happy with their cell provider,
although some seemed a little annoyed.
I did see one person stop to hear about what the offer.
As I watched him get rejected time and time again…
I wondered if he got discouraged?
My curiosity got the better of me, so the next time I walked by him I stopped and asked,
“How do keep a positive attitude when so many people reject you? Don’t you get discouraged?”
His answer surprised me. He said,
“I don’t get discouraged, because I believe in what I am selling.
I have a great service and an incredible deal that will benefit people.
I know not everyone will take it, but I do it for those whose lives will be better because they did.”
Summary
He was motivated to continue to stop people at the risk of being rejected because of what he had to offer them.
Brothers and sisters,
HE WAS SELLING A CELL PHONE PLAN!
How much better is the message of salvation than a cell phone plan?!?
APPLY
We may worry what people will think of us,
and may be worried that people will think we’re hypocrites because we’re not perfect.
But:
We have the only message that will save people from their sin!
Maybe you’re worried that you have not been a good example,
and people will reject the gospel because of your hypocrisy.
Maybe you’ve yelled or been angry at someone, or sinned against them in some other way…
Use that as an opportunity to confess your sin and ask for forgiveness.
That in and of itself is an opportunity for you to stand out.
There’s not many people in our lives who do that, and it gives you the perfect opportunity to share about forgiveness through Christ.
If you’re living a life of sin,
by all means, begin rooting that sin out of your life!
Confess it to God,
and make time each and every day to be in His Word,
and He will shape and mold you into the image of Christ.
But don’t wait till you’re perfect to share the gospel.
Your weakness and sin is an opportunity to point to the strength, holiness, and forgiveness of God.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
ILLUSTRATE
On January 13, 1982,
Shortly after takeoff from Washington National Airport
Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th street bridge
and landed in the icy waters of the Potomac River.
There were 74 passengers and 5 crew members onboard,
but only 1 crew member and 4 passengers survived.
The 5 survivors were stranded in the middle of the icy river,
hanging on to the tail fin of the 737.
The water was 1 degree above freezing,
which gave rescuers about 30 minutes before they would freeze to death.
Unable to reach them by boat because of the ice in the river,
the only other option was to save them by helicopter.
Throwing them a lifeline,
the helicopter dragged them to shore.
But Priscilla Tirado was too weak to hold on.
They tried a few times, but she was too cold and too wounded…
the lifeline kept slipping out of her hands.
Martin Skutnik was among the hundreds gathered on the bank of the river watching this all unfold.
Sensing he was about to watch a woman die,
He kicked off his cowboy boots and jacket,
and jumped in the water to save Priscilla.
Thinking back on the incident, Martin said,
“It was just too much to take.”
“I absolutely thought she was gonna die if I didn’t go in and get her.”
“I believe it’s a human instinct. I didn’t weigh it or think about it, I just did it.”
Summary
Martin Skutnik was probably not the right person for the job…
He had probably never taken a life-saving course…
He probably didn’t use proper form as he swam or
proper technique as he grabbed and pulled Priscilla to safety…
He probably wasn’t a perfect guy, and likely had some sin in his life…
But none of that mattered!
He was in the right place at the right time…
And had the compassion to do what he could to save a woman from death.
Final Thought
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
God has not saved us so that we can enjoy His blessings and keep them to ourselves…
He has saved us to be His witnesses,
so that the whole earth would know His saving power,
and that all people’s will praise Him!
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
PRAY
Lord, we thank You for Your grace and mercy in our lives…
We ask that you would fill us, your servants, with the Holy Spirit,
so that we speak Your Word with all boldness,
as You work mightily to draw people to Yourself through the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.