Awanita Tuesday Morning

GOSPEL

I want us to get in groups this morning and discuss a few questions:

If you have a friend who you know is going to hell, what are you doing right now to help that friend turn to Jesus?

What are some simple things you can do when you’re not with your friend?

What fears do you have about sharing your faith with your lost friends?

How do we sometimes forget about the lost people around us?

What were your thoughts last night when you heard we God not only loves us and forgives us, but that he also never forgets us?

_________________________

Debrief from the questions.

Transition to Lesson:

*Show Spurgeon Quote*

How precious is every soul to God?

What do Satan and God view us differently?

I truly believe God cares about every individual person.

I truly believe Satan hates you. His desire is not that you join his team, but that you aren’t on God’s.

Both God and Satan desire your soul.

God, because you are His image barer

Satan, because to take you from God is the only hurt he can cause God.

SO here’s the big question this morning, do you feel equipped to share the gospel with people around you?

If we were to go camping tonight and I said, “Ok, let’s catch some fish and cook it over a fire.”

But I didn’t give you anything to fish with or anything to make fire with.k

Would you feel equipped?

I think a lot of us know we need to be sharing the gospel, but we don’t feel equipped to do it.

Maybe you feel awkward.

Maybe you feel like you aren’t smart enough.

Maybe you don’t feel outgoing enough.

Maybe you don’t know what to say.

A lot of these statements come from a place of fear.

This week, we are being challenged to be fearless.

This morning and tonight, I hope to equip you with a few tools to share the gospel.

I want to give everyone a tool this morning that will help you this week.

*Pass out Gospel Cards*

I want us to talk about the Gospel this morning.

Someone read 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”

This is the Gospel. That according to the Scriptures, Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day.

How do all of the scriptures point to this climax of Scripture?

G - God created us to be with Him.

Remember, you are not unlovable. You are not unforgivable. and You are unforgettable.

God created us to have a relationship with Him.

Can someone read 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”

What does that say about our relationship with God?

Read Genesis 1:27 “27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Human beings are the only thing in all creation made in the image of God and invited into a special relationship with Him.

This is the first part of the gospel!

2. O - Our sins separate us from God.

Read Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ephesians 2:1–3 “1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”

What does the Bible say about our sin?

When we are sharing the gospel, why is it important we tell people about sin?

How can we do this?

One simple way is to walk people through the 10 commandments.

Have you ever told a lie? What does that make you? A liar!

Have you ever said God’s name as a curse word? - That makes you

Have you ever lusted after someone in your heart? - Jesus said in the NT that’s the same as adultery.

In a short amount of time, we can easily show people their sin.

Romans 3:20 “20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

Through the law, it is a mirror that shows us our guilt before God.

Eternally, our sin will separate us from Him.

3. S - Sins cannot be removed by good deeds.

Romans 3:20 “20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

There’s no amount of good anyone can do to make up for even one bad thing we’ve done.

Have you thought about that, It’s not just that we can’t do enough good to make up for all the bad,

but even if we only sinned one time and then lived a perfect life, it still wouldn’t be enough for heaven.

How is that possible?

Because ultimately it’s not what you do that condemns or saves you.

John 3:17–18 “17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

What condemns us or saves us is who we believe in.

4. P - Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.

Romans 5:8 “8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I love Romans 5:8 so much.

In his book, “Gentle and Lowly” Dane Ortland says on page 64

“With Christ, our sins and weaknesses are the very resume items that qualify us to approach Him.... It’s not what life brings to us [no matter how good or how bad] but to whom we belong that determines Christ’s heart of love towards us.”

It’s who you belong to that matters most.

Are we throwing ourselves on Jesus, or are we trusting ourselves.

Only when we trust Jesus paid the full price for our sin can we have life.

5. E - Everyone who trusts in Him alone will have Eternal life.

Galatians 2:20 “20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

What does this mean?

Everyone, there is nobody, who is out of God’s reach of new life.

Jesus is giving His life through us and that is available to everyone.

Who is the most annoying person you can think of?

Don’t say their name out loud!

Do you realize that you might be that person to someone else?

Isn’t that a crappy feeling? a terrible thing to think about?

But guess what, NOBODY is that to God.

God is not annoyed by any of us, but rather, He offers his life to all of us.

I hope we know that and are sharing that.

6. L - Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Life with Jesus isn’t just something we get when we die.

It is available now.

So here is what we are going to do this morning.

I’m going to leave this on the screen, but I want us to role play a few different scenarios and practice sharing the gospel.

To begin, I want you to practice sharing this with your partner.

Use your cards as a help.

But I want us to take 5-10 minutes and practice and then I’ll give you another challenge.

Challenge 2:

Now, I want you to practice this.

Get a new partner.

With your new partner, I want you to ask this question: “What is your story and experience with spiritual things?”

I want you to then allow your partner to share their story.

You share your story,

Then try to naturally weave in the GOSPEL acronym.

So try to move naturally from “Your Story” To sharing “The Gospel”

Challenge 3:

Get a new Partner:

I want you to ask this question: “Do you believe in an afterlife?”

With your new partner, pretend you believe something that you actually don’t.

Then, again, practice sharing the gospel with your new partner.

DEBRIEF:

How did that go?

How comfortable do you feel sharing the gospel after that practice?

Let me give you 6 more things to consider quickly.

1. Pray - Ask God to to open your eyes to the lost around you.

2. Care - Think about these people daily,

3. Share - Be willing to share the gospel with them.

As you begin to share the gospel with them:

4. Ask - Ask questions and listen.

5. Admire - admire their answers, and try to find common ground.

6. Admit - Admit your own need of a savior and ask if they need a savior.

Studies tell us today that it typically takes 7-8 times for someone to hear the gospel before they respond to it.

You can never know where you fall in that statistic.

You don’t know if you’re the first person or the 20th person.

But what I do know is it doesn’t matter if someone accepts Jesus.

That’s ultimately up to God.

Our job is to share Him and trust God with the results.

CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK:

During Free time today. You are required to try to have a gospel conversation with one person you don’t know.

I don’t care if its at the zip line or the slide.

I don’t care if its in the lake.

I don’t care who its with or where it takes place.

But sometime between lunch and dinner today, You need to practically apply what we have learned this morning.

And I’ll tell you, tomorrow during free time, we are going to drive 30 minutes down the road and practice this again, but this time, with whomever God decides to place in our path.

We are going to ask them a few survey questions and see what God does.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A LOSS.

IF you try, no matter how bad you think you did, this is a win.

Any time we try to share the gospel, we are winning.

The only loss is not sharing.