Share Your Hope

Well, hello. Hello. How you doing this morning? Good to see everybody with us. Is everybody social distance well?

Y'all feel good? Are y'all comfortable? Okay, because we're getting ready to rock. We're getting ready to go for a roller coaster ride here, okay? In the Word of God.

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All right, guys. This will be my last message in the series, Change Your World. And it's been an exciting series. And it's one of the things I'm most passionate about when I preach is baptism. Baptism.

Evangelism. Baptism and evangelism. I'm excited about that too. But evangelism. I just love evangelism.

I mean, I feel like, and we know as we look at scripture that this is really what the church is about. And we are in part five of the series. But next week, next week's a big one. I want everybody to be here for this one. I'm going to have a friend I've known for 25 years who understands prayer.

And he's actually experienced things even before he was saved in the supernatural that he can tell you and he can show you. Prayer changes things. And before we can go out into the world and make a difference, we always have to begin with being prepared in here and praying for our community. God's opening up doors and opportunities for us to go in. But that's because we pray.

And he's going to share a powerful message. So I'm going to leverage my birthday, which is that Sunday. That Sunday's my birthday. So everybody, that's my birthday. And my birthday present to me is going to be you being here to hear that.

Thank you for those two claps for my birthday. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. But so I figured I told Brett when I was, I said, yeah, it's Labor Day weekend.

And I don't know how many people are going to be here, but I'm going to make them feel guilty if they're not because it's my birthday. I can do that. Yeah. So anyway. So week one, we talked about spheres of influence.

We talked about changing the world. And how do we change the world? We tap into those spheres of influence that we have. Week two, we talked about changing our world, what that means, person, passions, the places that we operate in. Week three, the person next to you, that person that's kind of, you know, you see all the time and how do you connect with them?

And we gave you some practical advice. Last week was a powerful message because we talked about that you have help, that you have the Holy Spirit who empowers you for service, who empowers you to be able to do what you're called to do. He equips you and gives you everything that you need to be able to make a difference in the world. So I'm going to, you know, I had a message originally. I was going to talk about something else.

I was going to talk about how important, you know, being together outside of Sunday morning is in salt groups. And we have these things called salt groups that meet during the week and it's how important that is and how that's a way to evangelize. But I felt the Lord just kind of speak to me this week. And I'm going to share that message probably after Labor Day because we are going to, we're kind of in a salt group. We got salt groups still going because of the crisis.

And we feel like it's just super important right now to continue to meet together during the week. But we usually do things in semester systems. So although we have some of our groups still meeting, we are kind of in a hiatus with our salt groups right now. But we are going to be launching those salt groups again at the end of the last week in September. So we're going to aim for that.

So if you're interested in starting a group at your home to minister, to do a Bible study, maybe you've got something you really enjoy doing, an interest or something like that, you want to start a group that way, let us know, connect with us. And we want to get you down that road to be able to connect. The more groups we have outside our church, especially right now because people aren't meeting corporately very much, the more we can have outside connecting in those areas, the better. Because it's really important that we have that going on. So I just wanted to mention that real quick.

And that was going to be my message this week. But be thinking about that, praying about that. But I wanted to continue kind of in this idea of how, because I think this thing called evangelism is a very scary thing for a lot of people. So I want to give you kind of some confidence today. I'm going to give you a few points of what that really means.

Because right now, we probably live in the most opportune time. It's one of the most scary times. I mean, really, have I ever been, have you ever witnessed anything like this before? Or, I've never experienced anything like this before. Sure, we've had really powerful things or big things happen throughout history.

And, you know, a pandemic has happened before. We know we've gotten through it. And even before we were on this earth, there's just been many times. But never have we experienced it the way it is now. Like, you can't run from this, right?

You can't get away from this. I mean, it's affecting the whole world. The whole world. You cannot go to the far regions of the earth, right? To get away from it.

Because it's there. You see it. You see the mask. My cousin, who's a missionary in East Africa, is posting pictures. And even villages out in the middle of nowhere are wearing masks in their villages.

I mean, that's how this is affecting the entire world. And it's a tremendous time. But also, a tremendous time is a great time for revival. Like, God always shows up in times like that. Amen.

He shows up with power. The church actually grows, and the church actually profits in times like this, and the fields are more white to harvest than they ever have been before in this season. And we need to be prepared more than ever before, because God is getting ready to do something in our world that we've never seen before. The world, we've never seen the world like this before, but we're never going to see anything like God's getting ready to do. Amen.

A lot of you are like, is this the end times? You know, I don't know. But I'll tell you what, I will, if He comes tomorrow, I'm great. Hallelujah. It's time for us to get busy and reach people for Christ.

And that's what I want to talk to. I want to break this down for you. A few weeks ago, I was sharing some things to make it easier for you, but I want to do it a little more. I want to break it down even further for you today. So, we can't get away from evangelism, as we learned in the weeks before.

Let me just throw these scriptures at you once again, just to, and some of them may be new to you. Wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the good news. Jesus says that, right? So, that's what we're supposed to be doing, right? You will be my witnesses, Acts 1-8.

That's what we shared last week. And what does He do? He gives you power to be witnesses. I've been given all authority. Go and make disciples.

Jesus says, I've been given all authority, and here's what I want you to do. To go and make disciples. To go and make believers. Make Christians. Show people who I am.

He also says this in Matthew 4-19. Follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people. So, He wants you to be fishers of people. Fishers of men. And Paul even says, we are Christ's ambassadors.

That's who we are. We are representatives of Christ. God uses us to speak as though Christ Himself is making this appeal. And God wants you to connect with Him in a friendship, right? He wants us to walk with Him in this friendship way, this partnership way.

To do what? To be ambassadors. To reach people for Christ. So, here's kind of the main point of what I want to share today. And that is, my job in God's family is to invite others to join us.

That's your job. Your job as a believer, as a Christian, is to invite others to join us. To join the family of God. That's what we're called to do. So, I want to give you five things real quick that should give you confidence in sharing the hope that is in you.

Because it is hope. Number one, everybody has the same longings that I do. Did you know that? Everyone you meet has the same longings that you do. You're not alone in that.

You know. And you didn't stop being a human being when you became a Christian. You still have those longings. You have those longings of loneliness and lack of, you know, clarity and questions. And God put those things in us.

Those are God things that are put in us. In fact, Ecclesiastes 3.11 says it like this. God has planted eternity in the heart. He's put eternity in the heart of every man.

And so, men are searching for something beyond what they are currently experiencing. We all believe that there is more to life than what we are currently experiencing. Everyone knows there's something missing. That there's this God-shaped vacuum in us that needs to be filled. Everybody has that.

And people try to achieve the good life, right? They're always looking for the good life. I'm going to get the good life. I'm going to buy more. I'm going to get more.

I'm going to do this. I'm going to be successful. The good life is, but it's never good enough. It's never good. It never quenches that need that's deep down inside anyone.

Everyone experiences this. And we need something that is a far better life. That's what the Bible talks about. I love how the message paraphrase says. It says, Jesus included everyone in his death.

So everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. This far better. I love how it says, this far better life than anyone could ever experience on their own. Even Jesus said this. He said this, and the message says it like this.

I have come so that you can have real life and eternal life. Real life. Other versions say it in IV, life to the full. Life to its fullest. This life that is beyond what we are currently experiencing.

This joy that really goes deep. This thing that goes much further than just experiencing the good life that we can have now. God has something much more. Something, everybody longs for security. Everybody longs for self-worth and significance and a longing for belonging or a yearning for learning.

And they won't meaning. They won't purpose. It's the basic, it's a basic longing that everyone has in life. And we can all in some way connect with that. Amen?

We can. We can. You can. Which leads me to point two. Everyone has the same questions I do.

Everyone has the same questions I do. Ecclesiastes 3.11 says it like this. None of us can ever fully understand all God has done. But he puts questions in our minds about the past and the future.

So the questions you have in your mind are from God. Those questions about who I am or where am I going? Why am I here? What is my significance? Those questions in life that people ask all the time.

There's got to be more. What in the world is it? What on earth am I here for? Those questions. We all have those same questions.

And the answers to the fundamental question are found in Jesus. They really are. They're found in Jesus. Number three, most people don't really know what they believe. Most people don't know what they believe.

In fact, they often contradict themselves. When you talk about faith with people, maybe, and they love the brand themselves, right? I'm a Muslim, or I'm a Buddhist, or I'm a Hindu, or I'm some form or brand of Christianity. You know, I'm a next-door neighbor. I'm a Southern Baptist, but he hasn't been to church in 20 years.

But he's a Southern Baptist. You know, we love to do that. We love to brand ourselves. But when you dig down underneath, they really don't know what they believe. They really don't know what they believe.

I have a Mormon friend, and when we were having, years ago, we were talking about, you know, what we believed in our faith. And I asked him, I said, so you believe? And I started sharing some things I had known and understood about the Mormon religion from my own personal studies about, you know, Lucifer and Jesus, and Lucifer being the spirit brother of Jesus, and how they're kind of co-equals, and things like that, which is contrary to Christianity, just to try to explain the difference in what we believe. And he says, we don't believe that. And I'm like, really?

You don't believe that? It's right here in your book. Like, really? I just thought we were just a denomination within Christianity. So some people just don't know what they believe.

And when I was in seminary, we had a young man come in. One of my professors, a missiology professor who studied missions and spent a lot of time in the Middle East among the Muslim population, had a young man come in from a university in North Carolina, and he held a pretty big position within the student organization of Muslim Christians. And he invited them in to share a lot about what they believed. Even what they do, and it was a way for us to interact and ask questions about faith and what that really meant, and he just shared, you know, this very hope-filled, joyful God, one God, da-da-da, and he just went through it, and it really just sounded like a very wonderful religion, you know, like, this is just great, I mean, what's wrong with this religion, and, but he got to the end of it, and it says, we basically all believe the same thing, but you don't basically believe the same thing, because when he left that class, the professor came up, another professor came up, who was currently involved in Muslim, and, and, in the, on the mission field, and he shared his story, and how very oppressing, and how very dangerous the Islamic religion is, if it's taken to what it says in Scripture, so he says, what you heard there was a very Americanized, peaceful Muslim religion, that's not what, in fact, it's not the same, and Muhammad would say it's not the same, and, and they, they are not the same, so what you got there, is a lot of people don't even know who they follow, or what they believe, they really don't, and that should give you confidence, because nobody really knows. People say, well, you know, I don't really believe in absolute truth, there's really no absolutes, but that's a problem right there, because you just said an absolute, that statement itself is an absolute, you follow absolutes all the time, you know, everybody follows absolutes, you stop at a stoplight, don't you, yeah, that's a rule, we follow rules, we believe that two plus two equals four, right, I mean, it just doesn't equal whatever we want it to be, there are absolutes in the world that we abide by all the time, so we often contradict ourselves, and we're inconsistent, but sharing your hope in Christ helps bring clarity, and consistency to all of this, and that's the beauty and hope of the gospel, God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace, 1 Corinthians 14, 33, in fact, John 8, 32 says, when you know the truth, because there is a truth, there is a foundational truth, we set everything on, it's not an unabsolute, out there, we can kind of make everything, no, there is a truth, it brings clarity, and it will set you free, the truth of who God is, sets us free, people make almost all their decisions in life, based on their emotions, and they try to take intellect, and put intellect, into their emotions, Christians tie their emotions to truth, that's what separates us, we tie our emotions to a truth, other people take truth, and try to put it in their emotions, it starts with their emotions, it starts with their experiences, but we tie our experiences to truth, because we have a foundation, a truth, that puts it all in order, number four, anyone can be saved, if I connect with their unmet need, or hidden hurt, their unmet need, or hidden hurt, so everybody has an unmet need, or at one time had an unmet need, or hidden hurt, and that's the key to somebody's heart, the key to someone's heart, is that they have an unmet need, and hidden hurt, and if we can discern that unmet need, and hidden hurt, then we have an avenue to connect them to Jesus Christ, see, see, everyone has fallen short of God, Romans 3 23, I love how the living Bible paraphrase says that everyone falls short of God's glorious ideal, I can't even keep up with my own standards about myself, my own standards for myself are low, much less can I keep up with God's standards, so we all have hurts, we all have underneath hidden pain, and self-worth issues, and if we can connect that, if we can figure that out with people, if we can connect at that level with those people, then we have an avenue to connect them to the only thing that really is consistent, and hope-filled, and makes them live a full life, that gives them purpose, and gives them hope, see, there's only one way to God the Father, and that's through Jesus Christ, there's only one way, God the Father, through Jesus Christ, but there's many ways to Jesus, people have many connect ways, many avenues, there's many avenues that bring us to Jesus, it might be a miracle in somebody's life that brings them to Jesus, something happens miraculously, it might be a question, it might be loneliness, it might be uncertainty, it might be guilt, it might be shame, it might, somebody might be afraid, there might be a lack of purpose, or maybe there's some physical or emotional need, or some type of relational crisis that's taking place in their lives, or some type of financial crisis, that there's many different avenues, there's thousands of ways that people can come to Christ, although Christ is the only way to the Father, and God uses stress, and pain, and hurt, and all those things that seem so bad as opportunities for us to refocus, and look to God, to look, to get our attention, he's getting our attention, he's doing things in front of us to show us that he's here, and he wants to connect with us, we need to find their felt need, their hidden hurt, and that means that first of all, we have to what?

We have to listen, we have to listen to people, we have to listen. Number five, people have excuses, but we have God, and God's Word, and God's Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit, and the truth. And then I shared that with you last week, you can go, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that, I went through a whole message about how we can have the Holy Spirit empowers us, we have somebody to walk this out with, and we have the truth of God's Word, and it will eventually win over, okay? The truth rises, the truth will set you free, eventually the truth comes forth, the truth wins us over.

And you aren't alone when you share your hope with Christ, God is working in you, and as I shared last week, he's working in the places outside of where you are. He's already rearranging and putting things in place, and moving things, he orchestrates things to happen right now, even as we pray, even as we meet here, he's preparing people, he's preparing a community all around us to be reached. God, the Holy Spirit is working in the community. I love how the Living Bible paraphrase, I know I'm using a lot of paraphrases today, but I'm trying to make it really, really simple for you. I love how it says it's the Holy Spirit, God's gift to you, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them, and enjoy being with them.

If you will stir up that inner power, that we talked about last week, that inner power, you will never be afraid to tell others about our Lord. You will never be afraid. Jesus said, this will be your chance to tell about your faith. Don't worry about what you will say to defend yourself. I will give you what the wisdom, I will tell you what to say.

I will give you the wisdom to know what to say, what to say. So how do I share my faith? Can we get a little more practical here, Leon? Yeah, yeah. So you gave me a lot of, okay, I feel a little more confident now.

Okay, that makes sense, but how do I share my faith? Let's get a little more practical about this, Leon. Let's, and that's what you're saying. Saying, let's get a little more practical. Yeah, so you go back to week one through three.

I gave you a lot of a lot of different practical kind of one-moment things, but let me just, let me give you just six things real quick to make this really, really practical for you. And this is about as practical as you can get. It's number one, and it's live it. You got to live your hope. You got to live your hope.

You got to live in your hope. Live it. And I can't stress to you enough about the importance of your Christian witness, how you live, and how your testimony, the testimony of your life, affects people around you all the time. The way you live, the way you act, the way you treat others, the way you love your wife, the way you love your family and your kids, the way you take care of life, the way you treat people in the grocery store, the way you walk, you know, into places and connect with people in certain ways. There is a living proof of Jesus Christ through the way you live.

First Peter 2.12 says it like this, live such good lives among the unbelieving, among your unbelieving neighbors that they see the good things you do and will honor God by believing, by believing. So we need to be audio visual believers. So we need not only just to say what we believe, we need to be living and people need to be viewing what we are doing. If they see what they, if they like what they see, they will listen to what you say.

Let me say that again. If they like what they see, they will listen to what you say. Because here's the thing, you can't win your enemies to Christ. You can win your friends though. You can win friends to Christ.

You can't win enemies to Christ. And before they know that the Bible is legitimate, they need to know that you're legitimate. Before they know that they can trust Jesus, they need to know that they can trust you. And before they believe that the Bible is credible, they need to know that you're credible. So we're building bridges of friendship.

We're building bridges with people. Bridges of love so that Jesus can cross that bridge of love to that person. We need to live our life with them. Go to ball games with them. Invite them over to have dinner with you.

Have a barbecue. Just, you know, live life with them. Show them the love of Jesus. Show your neighbors the love of Jesus. And then we are to, number two, learn it.

1 Peter 3.15, always be ready to answer anyone who asks you to explain the reason for the hope that you have, but do it with gentleness kindness and respect. I used that a few weeks ago. But I want to say this, and I found this observation very interesting, that the Bible never tells you to share your faith. It says to share your hope.

You have a hope. You can share faith. You can share faith any day of the week, but he wants you to share your hope. You have a hope. Learn it.

Learn it. 2 Timothy 4.2 says, be prepared in season and out of season. And just, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this point because I talked about it a few weeks ago, how to share your story, how to, you know, just some examples of it. You can go back and listen to those messages and catch up, and you can learn a little bit about how do we share our story, how do we share our hope.

But I want to get to number three, and I thought this was really good. I borrowed this from Pastor Rick Warren. I, I, just, just amazing little point here. Apologize for not sharing sooner. Apologize for not sharing sooner.

What does that, that look like? Well, you have that neighbor, right? Or you have that friend that may not be a believer. And maybe you're, maybe, let's just say this friend's name is Joe. And Joe's, you've been hanging out with Joe, or Jolene, whoever, Joe or Jolene.

And you've been hanging out with Joe and Jolene for quite a while. And it's like, you know, you've never, you're thinking about it. I've never once shared my hope. I've never once invited them to church. And, and, and, and you go up to them and, and you say, you know what, Joe or Jolene, I need to apologize to you.

I need to apologize to you. And that's going to get their attention right away, right? Like, I need to, what do you need to apologize to me for? We're good friends. That's, that's the reason.

I need to apologize to you because you, you and I are really good friends. And, and friends don't share secrets, do they? And I don't know why I didn't share this with you, but I have something I want to share with you. And I don't know why I did this. Maybe I thought you would think I was a kook or kind of crazy or a nut.

And I know that's stupid and, and crazy, but, but I haven't shared something, one of the most important things in my life. And I want to apologize for that. And they're going to be like, well, what is it? You know, and they're going to be asking, you're going to open up the door for them. What is it?

It says, well, I want to talk about, you know, if you have some time sometime, I want to share with you my friendship with Jesus that I have, you know, it's the most important thing in my life. And I never shared that with you. And I feel terrible for never sharing that with you. And I just want to share that with you. And I mean it, that right there, you opened the door for them to hear what you have to say about what God has done in your life for you to share your story.

And, and, and we all should use this thing called apology evangelism. I think all of us have been there. I love how he coins the phrase apology evangelism. I love that. We apologize.

If you want to break the ice with an old friend, that's a great way to do it. If you care about that person, because here's the deal, the righteous person is a guide to his friend, according to Proverbs. The righteous man is a guide to his friend. And if you have, you are a friend to this person, and you care enough about this person, you care that one day, when they leave this life, that you won't see them again. Because they will be separated from God for all of eternity.

If we really love the people that we're around, if we really care about the people, we are concerned about where they will be one day. But we walk life as if it doesn't really, you know, I don't want to offend them, but, but we should be concerned. And, and, well, it's, it's weird in our friendship, but if we care, and you have something to share, then you will share your hope. You will share, you want them to be with you in eternity. I had a kid in my youth group years ago, got saved in my youth group, and, and he, he would never share his, his, his hope, and his, his relationship with Jesus with his friends.

He was just scared to death to share it with them, because, you know, he'd been friends with these guys for a very, very long time. There was a group of five or six of them. They did everything together. And I, and I asked him one day, I said, why, why don't you ever bring them to church? Or whether you, well, you know, it's just kind of weird subject.

They don't really believe in religion, and all that kind of stuff. And I said, do you, do you love these guys? Yeah, I love these guys. Would you do anything for them? Yeah, of course I would do anything for them.

Well, you're not doing them a service by not telling, speaking about your hope. Do you really care about these guys? Yes, I care about these guys. Well, I don't think you do. Because what you're doing, when you're silent about what you believe, that hope that you have, to know that you got, you're, you're going to eternity to be with the Lord, and that one day they'll be separated from God and you for all of eternity in, in, in a place that, that, that, that, that is eternally, you know, devastating, eternally, eternal punishment, you should not want that for them.

You should, you should be all about trying, doing everything you can to win these young men to Christ. Because, because we have this hope. They have this hope. And God has called us to share that hope. Because here's the deal, friends always show their love according to Proverbs 17, 17.

It's unloving not to tell people about the good news. Did you know that? It's unloving. You're not loving if you don't. Share with them the hope that you have.

Fourth, listen first and ask questions. Listen first. You will always bring more people to Christ if you listen first instead of talking first. Talking doesn't work without listening and connecting with that person. Because everybody inside themselves has some kind of deep-rooted, as we talked about just a minute ago, some kind of deep-rooted felt need.

And we need to connect with that deep-felt root need through talking, listening, and asking questions. Limit the talking, but listen more and ask questions. Always listen before you answer. If you don't, you are being stupid and insulting. I love how that version says that.

You are. Proverbs says it like this, a person's thoughts are like water in a deep well. But someone with insight can draw them out. You can draw them out. How do you find their hurt, their deep need?

Ask questions. Ask questions. Listen to them. Ask questions. Well, tell me more about that.

And then they go on. Well, tell me more about that. Let me listen to you. And let them talk. And you'll find out that solutions start to come out of that.

And you start to find those deep needs. Well, pastor, you're saying I don't have to prove the existence of God to be able to reach somebody. No. You don't have to. I mean, there's all kinds of arguments you could use that you learn in seminary.

You got the cosmic logical argument. You got the ontological argument. You got the constant moral argument. You got all these different arguments that you could use to argue somebody's, you know, that doesn't, that may not believe that God exists. But most people could care less.

They just want to know that somebody cares at all. And they want you to connect with them at an emotional level. It isn't your job to prove that God exists. It's your job to show God's grace. To show God's love.

Fifthly, share your story. Share your story. It's plural. Because it's not just one story. A lot of people are like, I got to share my salvation experience.

You know, like how God radically changed my life. But honestly, for a lot of you, it wasn't like a radical change. It was like a progressive change that one day that God got a hold of you and you were like in a whole new world, right? For a lot of you. Some of you had that radical experience where God just completely, radically changed your life and you got a message to share.

And we all love hearing those messages. But you have other stories, too. You have relational stories. You have family stories. You have financial stories.

How God provided for you and did things when it was most unexpected in your life. We all have stories to share. I love the story of the blind man in John 9, 25. And the Pharisees are approaching him and they're questioning Jesus, you know, how they were. They were over there.

They were the theology of who Jesus is and all that. And they were just trying to question a man, put him in a corner about what had happened with this. Because Jesus had literally just given a man sight that had not seen in his entire life. And they were questioning. He says, listen, hey, I don't know anything about that stuff that you're talking about there.

But I don't know this. But I was blind. And now I see. It really comes down to that. I was blind.

And now I see. Hey, you can argue all those points. But here's what happened to me. I was in a dark place. And now I'm in the light.

I was hopeless. And now I am full of joy and hope. I was rescued. I can't explain a lot. But all I know is I was changed.

And I have that story to share. And nobody can take that story away from you. Nobody can hijack that story from you. You own. You have the authority of using and telling your story.

You have that story. You have that story to share. And you have that testimony. We all have a testimony. It could be parenting and pressure, that work and jobs and whatever it might be.

There are so many stories we can share with people to show them who Jesus is. And then finally, bring them to worship. Bring them to worship. Well, pastor, we can do it from home. Yes, we can do it from home.

We can worship God from home. We can do all that. And I know this is kind of a weird subject to talk about when we're sitting in the middle of a crisis. And we want to encourage people to stay at home if they're sick or unhealthy or even our friends and neighbors. But here's what I want us to get back to about the reason we meet together as a church.

There's just power in presence. There's power when we're together. There's power. There's corporate evangelism that takes place in the church when we are together. See, studies show that people come to Christ quicker when they are in large groups of people.

Did you know that? Studies show that. And when you bring a neighbor and a co-worker and a family member to church, it's amazing when they walk into the service and they see a lot of people excited. A lot of people hungry for God. A lot of people glad to be there.

A lot of people worshiping together. Something enormously emotional and spiritual takes place when they're in a worship service. There's something powerful that sets their hearts to align with what's going on. And then all of a sudden they look at, you know, you and they look at everybody else and they say, Wow, look at this place. Look at everybody.

I mean, they're loving each other and they're gathering together and they're worshiping. And they look at you and they're like, Well, you're not as crazy as I thought you were. I mean, there's a lot of other people that are like this, you know? And they're like, Maybe I want this. I mean, you guys are happy.

You guys are full of joy. Y'all aren't moping. Y'all aren't whining. Y'all are excited and happy and full of joy. And it does something.

And there's a tremendous power, spiritual power, when we are gathered together corporately worshiping Jesus Christ that changes people's hearts. And when someone comes and sees others worshiping and believing and doing the same thing, they're like, Wow. And God begins to stir their hearts for something greater. Look at Luke 14. It says in verse 23, Go into the streets and everywhere else and invite anyone you find to come with you so that my house will be full.

See, God wants his house to be full. God wants every person to come to know who his son is. And he's doing everything he can to reach people for Christ. And he wants his house full. He wants every seat full.

And look, if we have to do three or four services in here to make this COVID thing, to keep us spread out, we need to fill this house. Because the Lord is his desires that every person come to know him. That's our vision statement. That all people grow in a relationship with Christ. Come to the knowledge of knowing Jesus.

That all people. That sounds impossible. But that's what Jesus' mission was. So we as a church will align with that mission. And we'll do everything we can to reach as many people as possible with the life-giving message of Jesus.

He wants everyone to be saved. So my question for you, when was the last time you invited someone to church? If you care enough to bring someone, bring them next week. Yeah. Yeah.

That's the challenge. Bring them with you. Someone with you. I've seen it over and over again. I've...

I've seen it over and over again, where somebody walks into a worship service, and it gives you a new perspective. What it does, it doesn't just do something for them, it does something for you, where you look and see, oh wow, they're enjoying this, you know, and that God actually really works in corporate worship, in a time of corporate worship. And here's what it says in Psalm 40 verse 3, many people will see this and they will worship Him. Then they will trust the Lord. They will trust the Lord because we are witnesses, we are corporate witnesses.

It leads them in the conversation when people don't have a friendship with God and see people give thanks to God and singing and worshiping and celebrating Him. It just does something. And that's why the Jerusalem church grew from just a few people to a hundred thousand in just twenty years is because they saw something. They saw something different and they responded. Corporate worship, corporate coming together.

Invite somebody so that his house may be full. So quickly, why do we share our hope? Why do we share our hope? I've given you the confidence to do it. I've given you the how to, but once again, why do we share our hope?

Four things, real quick, everybody needs what Jesus offers. Everybody needs what Jesus offers. Jesus commands us to do it, number two. If it's His command, we do it, right? We're grateful to God and we love people and we will be rewarded in heaven.

Amen. Amen. We're getting ready to enter into a time of communion. And you have the elements there in front of you. We're ending service a little different today.

And if I could have some music and if I could, yeah, if you could hand me the elements here. And here's just what I want to say. And if everybody would just stand with me just for a minute. Let's just honor God for a minute through communion. Every week, I ask this question.

Because we're getting ready to celebrate something. We're getting ready to remember something. We might have little plastic packages here. It might be branded. It might be all of that.

But there's something powerful in this moment when we come together and celebrate. And that's that God gave His Son. That Jesus gave His life so that you could have a relationship with Him. So that you could have a friendship with Him. Because you were so far from Him.

We were separated from Him for all eternity because of the wrath of God. Because of sin. Because of the things that were on our life. But we go back to this. We go back to this.

And we remember what He's done. And we recollect what the power of the ministry of Jesus Christ when He came. And He took the sins on the cross. And He gave His body. And He gave His blood.

He was the shed lamb for all of our sins. So if you're here today and you do not know Jesus. If you're here today, if you're watching online. And if you're online, if you can go grab you a drink. Grab you some crackers real quick.

Just get those together. Come back to the TV. Or the screen. Or the computer. And just share this with us today.

Just be a part of this. Because we're doing this. We don't have to be in a place to do this. But we'll do this together. But just take this moment.

And if that's you today. If you have not made a decision for Jesus Christ. If you hear all of this. And it all sort of makes sense. And you know maybe God's pulling you towards Him.

Today you can make a decision. Right now you can make a decision. And there's nothing magic in a formula or anything like that. It's only you surrendering to Him right at this moment. That you say you have a hundred percent of my life.

You have every piece of my life. I give my life to you. I give my heart to you. I make a decision for you. Lord come into my heart.

Make me a new person. Change me. I am a new creation. I want to be yours. Give your life to Christ today as we take these elements.

As we take them together. Just make this your moment. You can have a story. I gave my life to Christ. I was changed during communion.

During the Lord's Supper. What a powerful story. What a powerful story. Lord we just pray for those who are far from you Lord. That they would just come.

That they would just surrender at this moment God. That they would confess their sins. We confess our sin to you Lord. We give our lives to you. Come into our lives.

Come into our heart. I am yours. I believe that you are the Son of God. That you died on the cross. And you gave your life for me.

I receive your precious gift today. I receive it. Amen. Amen. So Paul wrote to the church in Corinth.

He said for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup. This powerful message thousands of years ago to a local church in that day. You proclaimed the Lord's death till he comes. That's what we're doing. We're proclaiming his death.

That he died for us. We're making that confession right now. That confession of faith together as a church. He says for I received the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And if we could just go ahead and just pull that piece of bread out there.

And then he had given thanks. And he broke it. And he said take eat. This is my body. This is my body.

Which is broken for you. And do this in remembrance. Let's take the Lord's body today. Thank you Lord. Thank you that you were pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.

That the punishment that brought peace was upon you and by your stripes. We are healed. And we celebrate that today God. Thank you so much that you you sacrificed yourself so that we could be healed. That we could be brought to a newness.

To a wholeness in you Lord Jesus. And we remember that today. In the same manner he took the cup. After supper saying this is this cup is a new covenant of my blood which was shed for many for the remission of sin according to Matthew 26. This do as often as you drink it.

Remembrance of me. So let's remember the Lord this morning. Jesus, if it wasn't for your blood, if it wasn't for your cross, we would be hopeless. But we're here today together celebrating Your Supper because of that very fact that You were the ultimate sacrifice for our sin. And God, we remember that.

Jesus, we remember that. And we're holding on to that because that's the very reason we live. That's the very reason we breathe is because of You. That we can even live today. That our hearts even beat today.

That we're living in this land of the living is because of Your gracious sacrifice. So we praise You, God, for what You've done. And we lift You up, Lord. We live our holy hands up to You, God. And we just praise You.

Just everybody, just give Him a praise just for a second. Just praise His name. Give Him glory for what He's done. He did it. He finished it.

It is finished. It was laid on the cross. And that's why we can celebrate today. So God, we thank You, Lord. And we thank You that You can share this with us.

That You shared this with us. That You shared Your sacrifice with us. So as we leave here today, we remember. We remember. And we hold on to it.

It's a hope that we have. So let me leave you with this, church. That's your hope. Share your hope. Share your hope.

Share your hope. Share your... Miranda's going to end us out. Thank you. You know, I was just thinking as he was finishing up this sermon, there was a psalm up there or a part of a psalm, Psalm 43.

And I was thinking about the full context of that section. And it was just a wonderful summation of what we talked about today. Just the order of things, the way God works. That Psalm 40 says that He lifted us up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay. And He put our feet upon the rock.

And He made our footsteps firm. He put a new hymn in my mouth. A song of praise to God. And many people will see and fear the Lord and will trust in Him. Isn't that just awesome?

That's the way He works. He lifted you up. He pulled you out of the muck. And He gave you a new song. And then so many people are going to see that song.

And they're going to see the Lord and fear the Lord and trust in Him. And just be firm in that. And just be confident in that this week. That if you go out and you have that song on your lips, people are going to see it. And they're going to see Jesus.

And they're going to trust in Him. So I'm just excited. I hope that gives you some confidence, just like it gave me. It gave me the conviction to go this week and to share my hope. Thank you guys for being here so much.

We're just going to end off with a time of giving. We're not passing the buckets around right now, but that's okay. There are multiple ways that you can give. And we thank you so much for continuing to give into God's kingdom. And we know that He's going to multiply it and He's going to do great things and enable us and Salt Church as a church family to help one another, our community, all of Virginia Beach and the world to build God's kingdom and to bring people in.

So you can give online securely. You can go to saltchurch.org slash give. You can give securely via planning center. And you can also text the amount you want to give to 84321.

And you can even mail in a check. You can write something out and mail it into us. Or you can drop something in the buckets on the way out. So we're not passing them around, but there is an in-person option too. And I just want to thank you all for doing that.

I just want to pray over that super quickly. Father in heaven, I just thank you so much that you put it in people's heart to support your kingdom financially. And we thank you so much for every penny that is given. And we trust that you are going to do the work. It all belongs to you anyway.

So I ask that you would take whatever that people give today and that you would multiply it and you would use it in miraculous ways for your kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you everybody for being here. Please go out this week, share your hope, and we'll see you all back next week.