Untitled Sermon

Intro

Intro myself and my family

Thank Michael for hosting and having us

Pray -

World Needs Jesus

I want to share with you one of my favorite worship songs called “World Needs Jesus”

'Cause we know that our world needs Jesus We know that our world needs freedom So give us eyes to see the hurting and the broken And let our lives align with every word You say! 'Cause we know that our world needs Jesus We know that our world needs freedom So give us eyes to see the hurting and the broken And let our lives align with every word You say! Jesus So let every heart turn to Jesus Let every voice sing of Your great name Let all the earth know Your freedom 'Cause we believe for more So let every heart turn to Jesus Let every voice sing of Your great name Let all the earth know Your freedom We believe for more! We believe for more! 'Cause we know that our world needs Jesus We know that our world needs freedom So give us eyes to see the hurting and the broken And let our lives align with every word You say! 'Cause we know that our world needs Jesus We know that our world needs freedom So give us eyes to see the hurting and the broken And let our lives align with every word You say! 'Cause I know that I need You, Jesus And I know this heart needs healing So from my knees I lift thus prayer to You, my Savior For my life and for the world, You're the answer Jesus

When our homes are hit by heartbreak Let Your presence meet us here When the pain seems overwhelming We hold onto You

When the streets are torn by chaos We will be Your hands and feet When the darkness brings division May we be Your light

When the nations ache from violence We will be Your blessed peace When the headlines scream injustice May we shout Your name!

'Cause we know that our world needs Jesus We know that our world needs freedom So give us eyes to see the hurting and the broken And let our lives align with every word You say!

It is evident now, more than ever we are in a time where Jesus is huge need in our society!

Our mission in life is to take Jesus to the nations

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We have the command from Jesus to go

But for some people this can become overwhelming

The fact of reaching all nations seems like a task too daunting to attain

But Jesus actually gave us a game plan for this.

Acts 1:6–8 ESV

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:6-

The word go in the great commission is translated in Greek

πορεύομαι pŏrĕuŏmai, por-yoo´-om-ahee; mid. from a der. of the same as 3984; to traverse, i.e. travel (lit. or fig.; espec. to remove [fig. die], live, etc.);—depart, go (away, forth, one’s way, up), (make a, take a) journey, walk.

Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Vol. 1, p. 59). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.The greek word for go in the Great Commission translates to

Jesus laid out the journey for the disciples

Start in Jerusalem (your community) and then AS YOU GO, continue to spread the gospel of Jesus.

My Struggle

Let me be honest with you for a minute

I struggled with writing this sermon

When Michael asked me to preach on this I started thinking about ways to get out into the community and all I got was frustrated!

I grew up in the era of the street corner preacher

Where you could stand on the corner and yell at how people are going to hell because of their choices and they would repent

Or your youth group would go out into the streets and start handing out tracts and telling people about Jesus and they would give their lives to Jesus and start coming to your church

These ways are about as outdated as JNCO jeans and platform shoes

Not to say that some of you may be able to rock some of these styles and that gang witnessing can’t still work

We have to have practical AND CREATIVE ways to bring this gospel of hope and freedom into our communities

I could stand here and list out ways for you to go out and reach people.

And we also have to get creative in how we take

Some of those might work and some of them may not.

What I can do is give you a process to go through in which you can get into the community.

Let’s look at

Search

The word go in the great commission is translated in Greek

πορεύομαι pŏrĕuŏmai, por-yoo´-om-ahee; mid. from a der. of the same as 3984; to traverse, i.e. travel (lit. or fig.; espec. to remove [fig. die], live, etc.);—depart, go (away, forth, one’s way, up), (make a, take a) journey, walk.

Strong, J. (2009). A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Vol. 1, p. 59). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.The greek word for go in the Great Commission translates to

We could translate this to say “As you go” or “As you journey”

Our day to day life is the perfect way to find those who need to hear Jesus

From your kids ball games, to sitting in a coffee shop or around the water cooler at work, there are ample opportunities for you to recognize a need

Think about how Jesus ministered

He met a need.

From feeding the five thousand to healing the blind man.

From cleansing the ten lepers to raising Lazarus from the dead

Jesus met the need

We have to have our eyes tuned to the frequency of God

Then we are able to hear what we need to hear in the midst of our journey

Jesus sat at this well “weary…from the journey” needed something

But then walked up this woman

He should have never even talked to her.

She was a POOR SAMARITAN WOMAN

If you could ever have been the lowest of the low in a Jew’s eyes, she was.

But Jesus could see the need.

The Gospel of John, Volume 1: The Coming of the Light (John 1-4): An Expositional Commentary A Second Example

According to John, the woman of Samaria was an immoral woman; and she apparently had a bad reputation, if we are to judge by the fact that she came to draw water in the heat of the day when no one else, particularly the other women, would be present at Jacob’s well. She came for water only. But instead she met Jesus.

We have to keep our eyes and ears open to what is going on around us

I have constantly prayed the prayer “God, help me to see them through YOUR eyes.”

The same eyes that saw them at their lowest and worst and still had the mercy, compassion and love to send your son to die for their sins!

Help me to see them through the same eyes that you see me.

Engage

Answer

Lead