Awanita 7.22.24

Monday Night

LIVING FEARLESS:

Preparing our hearts to Hear and Share the Gospel.

John 6:68-69.

I have a riddle for us tonight.

There is one thing you will absolutely never be able to do in heaven. The answer is also not sin. You can’t sin in heaven, that is true… But this is a good thing.

What is a wonderful, good thing we can do on earth that we will never be able to do in heaven?

Grab a partner, take a few minutes and discuss this and then lets discuss what the possible answers might be.

The one thing you can’t do in heaven is tell a lost person about Jesus.

Why? Because there are no lost people there.

We’ve been talking a lot on Sunday mornings this summer about being Salt to the lost world around us.

People are asking, What happens when I die?

People are asking, “Why does God let bad things happen?”

These are all important questions.

What are some other questions you or your friends are asking that are bigger-than-life questions?

In the last 4 years you’ve had a sickness shut down the entire world

- the US economy going into the tank

- a US president almost assassinated

Israelites still in captivity after the October invasion last year

instability in Ukraine and Russia

North Korea launching missiles at whoever they want to

But you’ve also got friends struggling with suicidal thoughts

You’ve got kids who just want to be on a team feel left out

You’ve got kids asking for litter boxes to be put in the bathrooms at school.

You’ve got adults who won’t speak the truth to you when you need to hear it.

You have 5 billion voices fighting for your attention all the time.

And amidst all of this there is apparently a God out there who loves you.

Do you really know that?

I think if we really knew that, if we really believed that deep down, then we would be fearless.

Fear holds us back.

How does Fear hold us back? What does Fear do to us?

Wait for answers here.

Here is our premise for the week.

God loves you, has called you to tell others about Him, and has give you the tools to do that fearlessly.

Are we trusting him and doing what He’s called us to do?

If I know that I can’t share Jesus with a lost person in heaven - because there are no lost people in heaven - what am I doing with the time God has given me now?

If I’m afraid to share the gospel, let’s listen and lean in close this week and become fearless.

We will all learn together some tools to help us share the gospel and then we will close the week by learning about discipleship and the importance of being in a discipleship relationship.

What I know tonight is again, God has called us to share the gospel with the lost.

I know it can be scary, but there’s also no way you can lose when you share the gospel.

The only way you ever lose is by never sharing what you believe.

As we lean into this idea of sharing the gospel tonight.

Open your Bibles to John 6:68–69 “68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.””

John chapter 6 is a wild chapter.

Jesus feeds the 5000

Jesus walks on water.

Then Jesus says “I am the bread of life” John 6:35 “35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

I love music.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved making music.

When I was a teenager though, I loved going to concerts.

When I was a teen, I loved going to concerts and not just hearing the music, but feeling the music through the speakers.

I also loved playing shows.

But I digress, there’s a huge difference between playing music yourself and hearing music played by others at a concert.

Both are great.

However, for the sake of the illustration listen to this.

I think up until John 6, a lot of people were follow the show that was Jesus.

They enjoyed what He was doing and they found Him entertaining.

But… don’t miss this.

Jesus wasn’t their life.

He was entertainment, not life.

So when Jesus says this inflammatory statement that He is life, and that to have life, you’ve got to follow Him… a lot of people left the chat at that point.

Where are you tonight?

Is Jesus just a show to you?

is your faith in God an act

Or

Is Jesus your life? Is church just a place to go? Something to do? Something your parents force you to do?

Are you looking forward to graduating high school so you never have to go to church again?

After many of the people walk away Jesus turns to His disciples and asks them if they want to leave too.

What does Peter say in John 6:66–68 “66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

John 6:69 “69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.””

What have you come to BELIEVE AND TO KNOW?

Can you imagine seeing all those people walking away and then Jesus turning and asking you, What do you want to do?

In that sad moment though, we don’t see Jesus run after people.

We don’t see Jesus try to attract people back to himself.

We don’t see Jesus become louder and develop new strategies so that people don’t walk away again.

No.

We just see the same Jesus continuing to reach the lost.

Heal the sick.

And bring the truth of God to a lost and dying world.

Here’s something I want you to know tonight.

A lot of people loved what Jesus did. They loved the show.

But they didn’t know that Jesus loved them.

Tonight you may think you are unlovable, or unforgivable.

Now that’s not true.

No one is unlovable and no one is unforgivable.

But I want you to know something else tonight.

To God, you are unforgettable.

You may think that you are unlovable or unforgivable, but to God, not only are you loved and forgiven, but you are also unforgettable.

Maybe this is tough to accept for a moment.

Ephesians 1:4 “4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love”

Before the creation of the world, God knew you.

Isaiah 49:16 “16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

Those in Christ, we are held in God’s hands.

John 6:37 “37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

We will never be thrown away from Jesus.

SO what was different in John 6?

John 6 is a clear example that people walked away from Jesus once Jesus asked for something back from them.

Jesus wanted to give them new life.

John 6:53 “53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

John 6:68 “68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

In John 6, again, people were entertained by Jesus, but they didn’t love Jesus.

Jesus loved them, but they didn’t want anything from him but the entertainment.

Jesus wanted to give them new life, the people just wanted a new story.

What about us? Are we looking to Jesus for life?

Maybe you’re here this week and you just want to come play the games and have a good time.

I’m glad you’re here.

Maybe you want to learn something about Jesus.

I’m glad you’re here.

Maybe you don’t know why you’re here.

I’m glad you’re here too!

Jesus wants you to know tonight that wherever you are, He wants to give you new life.

He wants to do something new in you.

Have you come, like Peter, to believe and to know that Jesus is the way the truth and the life?

That on the cross he paid the full debt of sin that you owed God.

He died in your place.

And he did all of that so you could have eternal life that starts the moment you trust Jesus?

Peter didn’t know all of that (Because it hadn’t happened yet) but what He did know is that life was only found when you are with Jesus.

He believed that and he Knew that.

What about us? What about you?

If you are in Christ, again, you are unforgettable.

Let me tell you a bit more about that through an illustration.

When I get in the pool with my boys, it’s always a good time.

Now days, Roman is a good swimmer and he doesn’t need me as much anymore.

Camden is still kind of in the middle, but he’s getting there.

Declan on the other hand is 2. He can’t swim without me.

Sometimes when he gets into the pool, he trips or he begins to fall.

The good thing about him being so small and me being so big is that even when that happens, I’ve got him.

The fascinating part about this story though is that Declan doesn’t have the strength to hold on to me.

No body is out there bragging about a 2 year old’s grip strength.

But, if I have determined in my head to hold on to Declan, he could never get away from me, no matter how hard he tried.

His security in the water then is not based on his strength but on mine.

Now think about this with God.

Psalm 63:8 “8 I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.”

When we know that Jesus is life.

When we believe and Know that like Peter said, then God is holding you.

In the story I just told we are like the 2 year old.

It’s not us who hold on to Jesus, but Jesus who holds on to us.

No matter what we do or how hard we could try, we could never escape the security of Christ.

You are unforgettable.

His grip never fails.

His love never fails

Your security can fully rest in his holding you.

Romans 8:38–39 “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We can rest because of Christ’s grip on us.

So what are we doing with that?

Maybe you are not a believer tonight.

Maybe you still feel insecure even though you thought you trusted Jesus at one time.

We can talk about that tonight!

Maybe you realize you’ve been like those in John 6 who walked away because you just wanted Jesus to be a show for you.

You didn’t want His life, you just wanted him to do good things and give you good things like some kind of divine santa clause.

APPLICATION:

I want you to know tonight that you can know that you are fully accepted in Jesus.

I also want to challenge you that if you are in Christ, Jesus has called us to share our faith fearlessly to a lost world around us.

Ephesians 6:19–20 “19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”

Jesus didn’t just come to save you, he came to save your friends too.

He came to save the losers and the winners.

He came not to be entertainment, but to give us life.

John 20:21 “21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.””

Jesus has sent us!

He has called us to this message, not just to know it selfishly, but to share it selflessly.

Romans 10:14–15 “14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!””

We can do this fearlessly.

But it starts first with you.

Are you assured of GOd’s love for you? Are you assured that you are fully accepted in Christ?

IF not, please talk to me or another adult in here tonight.

Talk to one of your friends here.

Let’s make sure all of us know Jesus tonight.

Let’s pray.