The Person Next To You

All right, is everybody social distance well? Okay, and then we start, a lot of you late people start coming in and crowding us up in here. Okay, but it's good to have you here with us today. We're so thankful that you've come to worship with us. Again, if you are new with us for the very first time, if you'll go online, saltchurch.

org slash card and fill out our digital connection card. Just check off. It's your first time here. We would love to connect with you. Also, if you are a regular or a second time or third time, there's a lot of information on there as well.

If you need prayer, if you want to be baptized, if you want to join a group, all these things that you want to get connected with, go ahead and fill that out, saltchurch.org slash card. Or you can just go to saltchurch.org. You'll see it right there on our website in the Connect link, and you can just hit that and go straight to that.

And we'd love for you to fill that out. Also, if you have the YouVersion Bible app, if you'll pull that open, and you'll find events in there, you'll go to the events section and find Salt Church, you should be able to pull up the notes for this week. As you can see, we don't have any handouts or anything like that because of the current crisis and the CDC recommendations. So we're doing everything digital right now, okay? Low touch for you and your safety and those that are concerned.

And so if you want to go on there and look that up, and we'll work through this message together and this talk together. Also, is Sharon and Eli in here right now? Hey, Eli's over there on the back of the board. You'll wave real quick, Eli. I think Sharon's helping with the kids today.

But they are heading up our salt youth, our salt youth. We're excited. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, if you have a teenager, a middle school student that wants to get plugged in, and we've been on hiatus for a little while because of the current crisis. Some of you online right now, you have kids as well, and you're not here at this current time.

But if you are ready to get back together, they are hosting an event next weekend at 1 o'clock at Jungle Golf at the Oceanfront. And just an opportunity to start rolling again, get connected, start meeting again, get to know each other if you're new. And we're super excited about that. We're going to put out some more about that this coming week. They're going to have a few things for you.

And swag's coming your way, youth. You know, everybody loves swag, right? I mean, we all want T-shirts and things like that. That's coming your way, and we want to get that launched again because we just believe that you guys are the heart of this church, the heartbeat of this church. And we know that you're going to carry this even past me and our leadership into the next century or the next generation.

And we're just super excited about what God's going to do with our church and with our youth and with all the things that are going on. Can you all give God a hand clap, a phrase? We just love you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God, for what you're doing.

And I think it's interesting. COVID can't stop the church, right? It can't. Yes, we can be reasonable and respectful, but what's great is that our church continues. It's very interesting.

There's a lot of churches that are hurting right now. We're praying for those churches. My brothers and sisters in ministry, we talk a lot during the week, and some of them can't get back together. Fortunately, we've been able to do this and do it well, keep everybody social distance. But I was sharing with my leadership this morning, our church is growing, and it's continuing to grow.

And our online presence, we thank you guys out there. A lot of you are out there online watching right now, and we thank you so much for tuning in. We realize that you're at home, and we want you to be safe. But we just thank you for being with us. Interact online.

Connect with people. Start a watch party. Start connecting with some other people. We've reached thousands of people just with our online services, and we've had people connecting with us underneath technology-wise and letting us know how much they're blessed, people giving their lives to Christ, people asking for prayer, and wanting to connect with the SALT group. It's just been really amazing how a God is doing.

Even when the government says not to have church or limit church, we're going to continue. The church thrives and flourishes, right? As we honor authority, our main authority is Jesus Christ, and we honor him, and he's going to keep doing what he does. Amen? Under oppression, the church keeps growing.

Hallelujah. And we're so thankful for that. So we are in a series called Change Your World, and it's an interesting time to live in because the world is so radically different right now. But we can still do it, and the church is called to do it. And this series, the idea of this series comes from why our name is SALT.

A lot of you ask, well, why are we SALT? Why do we call ourselves SALT? I had somebody text me or sent me a private message one time and said, do y'all worship SALT? You know, it's like, no, no, no. That's actually biblical.

Jesus teaches that. And, you know, you are the SALT of the earth. It's actually found in Matthew 5, 13. You are the SALT of the earth. And what is interesting about SALT is it's a preservative.

It's a flavor enhancer. And a little bit of, we have a saying around here, SALT always makes a difference, and a little SALT goes a long way. Why do we believe that? Because Jesus said it, and we believe it, and we are the hope of the world. The church is the hope of the world.

And he goes on to say in Matthew 5, 14 through 16, you are the world's light. I love how the TLB says it. You are the world's light, a city on a hill glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light. Let it shine for all, and let your good deeds glow for all to see so that they will what?

Praise our Father. Praise our Father. And that's why we do what we do, because we know that a little bit of SALT goes a long way. SALT always makes a big, big, big difference. And God is making a difference through you.

And the idea of this series is to help you see that, and know that, and experience that, and walk that out. That you have, you are a world changer. We have a place filled with world changers, and we can change the world. So we talked about in week one, the world. Changing the world, and what that means for the church to change the world.

And I introduced you to seven major streams of influence, as was given a vision to Bill Bright many, many years ago. And I believe we need to research this, that these streams of influences are mind-molding pieces, mind-molders that shape generations and shape society. Those are church, business, education, media and arts, and entertainment, politics, and family. And that every one of us has influence in one of those areas. And I know there's people in here right now.

And you know what? I would love to meet with you and ask you. The Question How Can We Serve? How can we serve those areas in your stream of influence? How can we meet needs there?

Because really it's about serving and loving. Even when we disagree and when we don't line up exactly right, we are salt and light. So we want to go into these streams of influence and we want to take them back for Jesus Christ. Christ started these. God started these.

God, this is nothing. At the very foundational level, these are God things and we want to enter into the stream of influence. You can go back and listen to that message before I start that message all over again because I get so passionate about it. But last week we talked about, and we brought it down a little more, our world. We have a world.

And that's the people, the place, the passion, the people that you're around, the places that you work and go, and the passions that you have. And God wants to use that. You can change your world right where you are. You can go back and listen to that message as well. But today I want to narrow it down even further.

And I want to talk about that person. You have a people, but more than anything, you have a person. One person at a time. We are reaching the world one person at a time. And we have that person.

And when Jesus was gathering his disciples together, what's interesting is when he met Peter and Andrew and James and John, you know, the fishermen, he didn't go up to them and say, hey, if you follow me, I'll make you holier. He didn't say, if you follow me, I'll make you better. He didn't say, if you follow me, I'll make you more benevolent. You know, you'll be more needs driven and things like that. He didn't say, I'll make you more spiritual, or I'll give you a better family, or I'll give you a better, you know, situation or whatever.

He said this. He said in Mark 1, 17, Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you what? Fishers of man. Jesus said, I'm going to use you to impact someone else. You're no longer going to be fishing for fish.

You're going to be fishing for people. That's what I want. Follow me. The very first thing he said is, I'm going to make you fishers of men. In fact, Jesus, and you can't even get away from this in Scripture, guys.

Throughout the start of the Gospels to the end of the Gospels, if you go back to the Old Testament through Revelation, you see that Jesus' heart, that God's heart for people is to reach them. Evangelism is the goal of God. God. Evangelism is often a scary thing, though, but we need to talk about it because here's what Mark 16, 15 says. Jesus said to his followers, go everywhere in the world, not everywhere, and tell the good news to everyone.

But it often scares us. Some of you have already checked out, well, evangelism, that's a very scary thing. You know, you're like, it's like a horror movie to you. You know, oh, my goodness, you know, I've got to go out there and share the Gospel with people, share the good news with people. That's kind of a scary thing.

But why does that scare us? Really, let's just think about that for a minute. Why does evangelism scare us so bad when we think of that word, sharing the Gospel, preaching the Gospel? If I think about when I was young and I think of evangelists, the first thing that would come through my head is, I don't know why they all look like this, but they had that black, slick back hair, you know, that was like calmed wet, you know, and they had red faces, and they had white suits, I guess. I guess that was like the uniform for evangelists, and they would just kind of spit, and we're like, that's evangelism, you know?

They're just, they're preaching hell, fire and brimstone, they want people to come to salvation, you know, and well-meaning. Organs play in the background, you know? It's like, you know, you see them on TV, you still see them. You think of evangelists. But let me ask you this.

Now, think of the person that was responsible for you coming to Christ. Think about that person that was in your life, whether you accepted Christ at that point or not, that had that influence in your life. What adjectives would you use to describe that person? What would you use? A kind, maybe?

A gentle? Patient? Forbearing? Forbearing things with you? All those things.

So, I want us to rethink evangelism. When we hear the term evangelical, there's so many terms that go with that. Oh, those evangelicals, they're just so far removed from this world. They don't understand it. They can't connect the culture.

But it's not like that at all. In fact, we're called, Acts 1-8, you are to be my witnesses, right? Witness. That key term, witness, in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Now, let's just think about that word witness for a second.

When we think of witness, we think of a courtroom. And when you have a courtroom situation, what do you have? You have a prosecutor that's, you know, prosecuting and they're kind of hardcore and they're thinking about what that other person has done and trying to win the case. And then you have the defendant that's defending them and trying to help them and keeping them from being condemned, basically. But there's this also witness.

And what is the witness? The witness. The witness tells the story. See, we're not called to be the prosecutor, nor are we called to be the defendant, right? But we're called to witness.

We are called to share our story. We have a story. All of us have a story, but some of you are like, well, they're not interested. They're just not interested. People are just not interested.

They don't want to hear my story. Why would I share with a bunch of uninterested people? Well, a recent Gallup poll, probably about five or six years ago, it may be different now. In fact, it probably is more even since the crisis, said this. Out of 65 million people that decided not to attend, come to church, online church, whatever it might be, 65 million people, 34 million of those are just waiting for an invitation to church.

They're ready. They want to hear. They want to listen. You would be surprised the people that really want to hear, the people that really need hope, the people that really need help. And we're, well, they just don't want to listen.

They don't want to listen to my story. I might freak them out. I might scare them. But they're ready. Even teenagers, they did a poll with teenagers of rock music and, you know, games and sports and all the things that they're interested in.

The number one thing that they were interested in was spirituality. Spirituality. So, what does that tell me? What does that tell you? That we have...

People that are ripe and ready and they just want to hear. They want to be asked. They want to be invited. Followers fish. If we are followers of Christ, there's no way of getting around it.

We are called to fish. We are called to share the gospel. Well, I don't like this message, pastor. You know, like this is just out of my comfort zone. And, you know, I'd rather you teach something for me.

You're telling me to go and do things for others. But, you know, tell people. But, you know, I like deep. You know, you get this people, you know, I like those really deep sermons, man. I like those deep messages because it really feeds me.

I want it deep. Let me give you something deep right now. You want something deep? You've got to put arms and legs to what you're reading right here. That's deep.

You sit around. You can, hey, they may, you know, the Greek word for life wrath may be important for us, but they just want one, right? They want you to throw one to them. You know, we can have all the information, but we have to put our walking shoes on. We need to put arms and feet to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Look what 2 Timothy says in chapter 4. Preach the word of God. What does it say? Be prepared whether the time is favorable or not. Work at telling others the good news.

You have to work at it and fully carry out the ministry God has for you. A lot of people say, well, what is my ministry? What is God calling you? Well, it's right there. It really is right there.

He has called us to be prepared to work, to share the gospel, to fulfill your destiny. It is your destiny to be, whether you tag evangelism on your name or not, your destiny is to share the hope of Jesus Christ. So my goal is to try to demystify this a little bit or to decomplicate it, if that's even a word. Make it simple for you, because it's really not as hard and as scary as you think it is. So I want to give you four things real quick today to kind of help you here.

First of all, you've got to become aware. You've got to become aware. And you've got to become aware of two things. First of all, it is your ministry. That is your ministry.

It's an expectation that God has of us and for us to be able to share what we have with others. There was no plan B in Scripture. It always was this plan. Well, why? I don't know.

Jesus said it. God said it. He laid out the plan. That's why. Okay?

That's a good enough reason for me. And he has no plan B. It is his plan. In fact, Romans, I love the Romans 10, 14, 15 Scripture there. How then can they, who are they, the people that are far from God, the people that are lost, the people that are hurt, the people that are reaching, how can they call on the one they have not believed in?

Because they don't know, right? How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless what? Someone sent.

We are sent people. The idea of being apostolic is being sent. The church itself is being sent out into the world to be salt and light and to share the news with other people. And I love how he ends the Scripture. He says, how beautiful.

How beautiful. That, you know, when you think of beauty, you think of, you know, just art and, you know, flowers and beautiful people. You know, just beauty. He says, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Let me tell you something.

You can say, well, man, you know, a service to me, the best service, you know, a service that I really enjoy, and the best service I've ever been to is, it has good music, and it has good preaching, and it has all the stuff. You know, I love that. But I'll tell you what, I can promise you this. The best service you will ever attend is when you invite that person to church with you. They come into church, and at the end of the service, after the prayer and after, you know, after the message, and they get down to that very moment when we're all quiet, and eyes are closed.

And everybody's eyes is closed. As I always say, close your eyes. Everybody close your eyes. But your eyes aren't closed because you're looking over at that person. And you see tears streaming down their face.

And you see them raise their hand to God and ask God to change their lives. I guarantee you that will be the best service you will ever attend in your life. Above preaching, above music, above it all. It will be the best service you ever attended in your life. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news, who bring the good news.

2 Corinthians 5 20 says, so we are Christ's ambassadors. We are his representatives. God is making his appeal through us. He chooses us to make the appeal to the people. So we need to know that it's our ministry.

And secondly, be aware of how the process works. Not only is it our ministry, we just have to be aware that it is indeed a process, and it's different for different people, right? Sometimes it's immediate, I want to know Jesus. And you have a prayer with them right there on the spot. Other times, they're so far, they're just kind of going through different things.

And I kind of want to show you a little bit of what that looks like. Because 1 Corinthians 3 6 says, my work was to plant the seed in your hearts. That was Paul. And then he says, Apollos, which was the other pastor in that day that came along after Paul and took the church. And he says, works was to water it.

But it was God. Not we. Not me or Apollos. Not I or Apollos. But God who made the garden grow in your hearts.

So there's a process, right? A process. Some people water. Some people grow. Some people bring them in.

And there's a guy named Ingalls. He was a theologian that put together this system years ago. And I've shared this. And if you've been in our church at any length of time, I've already shared this with you at some point. This is kind of a rehash of it.

And there's this scale that he put together. And it kind of helped me see where people are in the process of knowing God and coming to God. And let me just share with that. He had it on a scale from negative six to about four, I believe. The first one is resistance.

That's when people are completely resistant of God. Maybe they have some hostility. Towards God because they don't like church or Christians. A lot of Christians have hurt people, right? Or they don't like church.

I just don't like church. Have you ever had anybody say, I just don't like Christians, you know? I love answering that when somebody says, I don't like Christians. I say, I don't either. In fact, I started my own church because of it.

I tell them that. And it shocks them. It says, oh really? Yeah. So, there's resistance there.

And you got to realize that some people are there. Some people are there. They're resistant. And you want to help them see God in a different way, which leads you to the next level, which is receptive. They're sort of receptive.

You're not asking Jesus to come into their, you know, asking them to, they're not asking Jesus in their heart yet. You're not praying the salvation prayer with them yet. But they're receptive. They're starting to open up. Oh really?

So, so tell me more about, you know, why Christians are like that and why God isn't like that. So, they become more receptive. And then they enter into the phase of seeking. Of seeking. They start asking questions.

So, so what does God think about? You know? You hear that? What does God think about my? What does God think about this?

This blank. You know, what does God think about my? Constant drinking. You know, they kind of put it in your face. You know, what does your God think about this?

What does your God think about the way I want to live? Have you ever had people like that? What does your God think about that? And, and my answer usually is, God's not really concerned about any of that. He's just concerned about you.

And once you, he just wants you to know him. And once you know him, he'll talk to you later about that. But he's really not concerned about that. So, people are seeking. And they're asking questions.

And they're digging a little deeper. And they're going a little further. And then it comes into the phase. And I love how he puts his consideration. They don't like where they are.

And they are considering what it could be. I don't really like where I am, you know? But, but, but there's something about, but, but I want to be somewhere else. But I'm not sure that's where I want to go right now. But I'm considering.

Maybe this is the path I want to go. And the truth is, they can try everything. But nothing in this world is going to fulfill them. It will eventually come that. They might, they might not feel it right now.

But at some point in their existence, in their, in their walk, they're going to come to terms with life. And they're going to discover that, you know, this isn't it. This isn't it. And nothing in this world fulfills me. I need to consider something else.

I don't like where I'm at. I'm in a place of, of, of emptiness. I'm in the bottom, I'm in the bottom of a pit right now. And I don't know where I'm going to go and what I'm going to do. I have money.

I have fame. I have whatever. But at some point, I don't care who you are, if you're super successful, or you're just, you know, somebody who's down and out, and just hasn't had a lot of luck in your life. At some point, they are going to know that there's something more. They're, they're going to want something more, and they're going to desire.

And then it comes to the point of understanding, and you start sharing simple truths, you know, about God. Because, because when they're searching, and they're seeking, they, and they're considering, then they start understanding. And God doesn't, you can, you can share things with them about God not wanting religion. He just wants a relationship with you. It's, it's not, you know, in fact, there's scriptures that say, sir, ma'am, that, that, you know, there's a lot of Christians that aren't even going to, or people that say they're Christians that aren't even going to go to heaven because they're religious.

They don't have a relationship. And there's, and God's not really concerned. He doesn't want your deeds. He wants your heart. And it's all about your heart and understanding.

And then it moves to the stage of being ready. They're ready. And this is where that, that 35 million people come into play. And that's, I mean, there's, there's people out there that are hot and ready at this stage. And they're waiting for an invitation to church.

They're waiting for an invitation to your home. They're waiting for the opportunity for you to reach out to them. And, and, and, uh, they're just waiting for that opportunity. And when that opportunity happens, they find Christ, a new life in Christ, and they get saved. And, and then from there, a lot of people stop there, right?

They stop there. Okay, I'm saved now, but they never move forward into new life. And then the, the, the next phase is, is just belonging, wanting to, that people want belonging. You are, you are wanted and you are welcome. They want to know that.

As a church, we say that you are wanted and you are welcome. I have multiple prayer requests come in and where people are in really bad places. And the first thing I always say is that you are wanted and you are welcomed. You are wanted. We want you.

We love you. And more importantly, God loves you and wants you and you are welcome. So you need to get plugged in to a church, to a body, to a family of people who love because you are wanted and, and welcomed. Or even a, a small group or a salt group. We have salt groups here.

Uh, getting connected and, and really start growing with the people that you're with, with your, with your local community of believers and, and, and people in your church. It's important to get plugged in. And then from there, we grow. We're, we're growing. We're growing.

We're entering into the stage of growing where we're discovering God, uh, what God has for our lives. When we're figuring out where we belong in the body of Christ. What position or what place or, or, or even if it starts just rolling wires on stage. Some of you here that have the gift of administration are looking at this, these wires over here and you're like, oh my gosh, I could go up there and fix all of that and put it away. Because even little small things are little gifts from God that God has put in your life and he wants to use them, uh, uh, and, and, and discovering who you are.

And then it rolls into serving what God has to offer. You can't be realized until you begin to really serve, to give everything and serve him. And, um, you know, God, God is speaking to some of you and he's moving you to serve. And you will never, ever, ever figure out exactly who you are in Christ until you become a serve, a servant, a servant. And then finally it goes down to sharing.

This is where it comes down. Sharing the gospel, sharing. Ultimately you are sharing Christ with others, which involves the rest of the scale for your entire life. And that's living in the fullness of Christ and fullness of God. I love how Sam Williams put it.

Evangelism is helping people discover what is already at work in their lives. So God is already working in people's lives. It's just, you know, he, it's just opening and revealing that, that for, for people. So he, he wants us to, to, to, to be aware. Secondly, he wants us to be, commit to prayer.

I was going to say to be in prayer, but to commit to prayer prayer and be in prayer. I'm praying. Let me just say this. I'm gonna make an announcement today that Labor Day weekend, I got that right, Labor Day. I always get more than Labor Day.

I think I finally got it after 42 years, right? Labor Day weekend is coming, right? And I've got a speaker that's coming, and he has an amazing story. Because I believe in the power of prayer. I believe that prayer can indeed move mountains.

I believe the power of prayer changes things in the places that we can't see. It's not just empty words that are going up to God. And when we pray for our loved ones, God is doing something. So here's, I want to mention two things. Okay, number one, Labor Day weekend, Sunday, September the 6th, is my birthday.

Okay? Everybody, that's my birthday! So, yeah, alright. And you don't have to get me a gift. You don't have to do anything.

Anything? The only gift I want you to give me is that you be here to listen to this message. Because my brother, my friend, I've known him for 25 years, has an incredible story about the power of prayer to change your world on Labor Day. This is a man that was involved in the occult, was involved in many different religions before he knew the Lord. He knows the power of the unknown.

He's experienced it. He can tell you for sure he's had astral projection experience. Where he was out of his body in other religions and occult things. And he says, I'm telling you, there's a reality out there. And you don't understand the power of prayer.

That your small words have power when you pray in the name of Jesus. And he's going to share that that weekend. I can't wait for you to hear his testimony. I'm just fired up about that. But here's just a few things I want to tell you about committing to prayer.

Number one, pray that the Father would draw them to Jesus. So, specifically pray these things. And you find that in John 6, 44. Just pray that the Father would just draw them. God draws people.

And we're praying for that. Secondly, pray against the spirit that blinds the minds of people. The spirit that keeps people from seeing the reality of who Jesus is. Pray for that. Thirdly, pray that they come to know God relationally.

That it's not just a stand-a-far-off kind of thing of God. That I'm just trying to get myself right. It always starts out that way, right? But we want them to understand that God really does indeed love them. And you dare them, dare them to know the love of God.

And know how much God actually really loves them. And pray for that, that they know God relationally. Pray that believers will cross their path. This is so important. Pray that believers will cross their paths and enter into positive relationships with them.

Not the bad people. We want the good people, the Christians, to come into their path. To encourage them, to help guide them along the path to know Jesus. And put them in the right spot with the right people at the right time. And perhaps that's even you.

You're that person that you're praying. God, put me in the right spot at the right time, right path to help this person. Or be used even as somebody else is praying for somebody. That I can be that instrument for them. We pray for that.

And then fifthly, we pray for revelation of who Jesus is and what he has done for them. So those are just small examples of praying. And then thirdly, show you care. Show you care. Because people don't care about what you know.

They just need to know you care. You can have a lot of knowledge, but if you don't care. And what this tells me is that I don't just need to be walking around checking off a box trying to close deals. You know? We can get caught up in that as Christians.

Oh, man, you know, we're working for Jesus. If I can get 100, 200, 300 salvations, you know, in my lifetime. Oh, man, you know. It's not about that. It's really knowing and caring for people.

Show them that you care. There was a story a pastor shared back when he was a youth pastor. There was about a mile down the road, there was a high school, and there was this young lady in his high school. It was kind of a local star. She was a basketball player.

She scored about 60 points a game, and everybody just knew her in the community, knew she was going to do big time. He said, the Lord just impressed upon my heart to go over and meet this young lady and go there. So he kind of walks into the game, and he gets an opportunity to walk up to her before the game. He says, hey, hey, I'm Pastor so-and-so, and I want you to know, you know, God brought me here and told me to come and meet you. And she kind of looked at him like he was a stalker or something, you know, kind of walked away and kind of looked at him.

And he just kind of went on. And then after the game, she kind of came back up to him and says, why are you here? Why are you really here? He said, I told you earlier that God really wanted me. The Lord impressed upon my heart for me to come and just connect with you because, you know, and I want you to know that God cares for you and this and that, and I care about you.

She says, that's not true because nobody cares about me. My parents don't even come to my games. They don't care. And the only reason everybody else likes me here is because I score 60 points a game. And he's like, okay, listen, I hate to hear that, but why don't you come over to my house?

My wife makes some excellent chocolate chip cookies. And you can come over, and we can talk, and we can just get to know each other. He didn't try to preach the gospel to him or anything like that. He just invited her into his home, and he said about four months of cookies coming over all the time, hanging out with him, just them loving her and developing a relationship with her. She finally looked over to him and said, so what are you going to tell me about this Jesus?

He's like, I'm not. And he was like kind of picking with her and trying to pull her in because he wanted her to beg a little bit. You know, he says, no, no, I want to know about Jesus. You're a pastor, aren't you? I want to know about Jesus.

And he said, she's ready. She was ready. And right there on the spot, he led that young lady to Jesus, and she's still serving for Jesus today. And praise God for that because he invited her over. However, he listened to God's calling to walk into that school and talk to that young lady.

You can change your world. And people just want to know that you care. I think about Zacchaeus. Jesus was just walking along the way. He looks up, and there's this man named Zacchaeus that nobody likes, right?

What did they do? Without sparing you the time to tell you the story, everybody knows that story pretty much. He was a tax collector. Nobody liked him. Jesus said, I'm going to your house and having dinner.

Let's just have some dinner together and fellowship together a bit. And what happened? Salvation came to that household because Jesus was there loving and caring for them. So we need to help them see and know that we care for them. We care for them.

We care for them. 1 Corinthians 9, 19 and 23 says, Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. I become like them. I walk with them. I love them.

I enter into their world. I put cookies out for them. I invite them into my home. I go out and share with them just the love I have for them. Because I have become all things to all man so that by all possible means I might save some.

And I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. And the blessings of the gospel because it is truly a blessing. It is truly fulfilling when you see that you are part of that process of bringing someone to Christ. And then fourthly and lastly, be ready to share. Be ready to share your story.

You've got your story. If that statistic is right, 35 million people out there ready to share. They're ready to be shared, to hear the story. They're there. All you have to do is share it.

If not, invite them to church. Invite them to church. That's a good starting point. Come to church with me. Just come to church with me this week.

I just want you to come to church. Hey, I know you don't know much about God. I know you think that Christians are bad people. I know you don't like church. But just come with me this week.

Just as a friend, come with me and just sit with me. And what we're doing in this process is we're just moving people around. We're moving people's steps closer to God. We may not take them all the way to salvation that day, but we're just literally moving people closer to God. That's why we exist, so that people can take one step closer to God.

Acts 20 says it like this, the most important thing that is that I complete my mission. This is Paul. The work that the Lord Jesus gave me to tell people the good news of God's grace. This is my mission. This is what I'm called to do.

This is the reason I exist. And it may not be a slick-headed evangelist on stage that I'm called to, but I am called to reach people in the name of Jesus. Jesus, if you would bow your heads with me as we pray today. I pray all over this place that God would just begin to touch the hearts of people. That God, you would begin to move people to think about the people that are around them, that one person that may be in their life.

That you would begin to even put faces on the people that you're calling them to. I pray that we would begin to be stirred in our hearts, that you would give us a hunger and a thirst to reach the people that you love so dearly. That we would be aware of what's around us, Lord. Show them that we really do care. That we commit it to you in prayer.

And we'd be ready to share this beautiful, beautiful message of your love. You placed the very stars in the sky, Lord, so that we would perhaps reach out to you and find you. You made us before the existence of even those stars, Lord. You thought of us before the existence of those stars, Lord. You were in our mind and you created it all for us.

And how beautiful is the message that your love, your love, your love, your overwhelming love that reaches for us. And runs after us and pursues us with passion, a Lord that loves us. What more could we do, Lord, for us who've experienced that overwhelming, indescribable love that you've placed on us, Lord Jesus. So today, I pray that you would just challenge all of us, every believer here, wherever we are in our spiritual journey. To just even take one step closer to knowing that, to experiencing that, to walking that out, Lord.

And in that same spirit of worship and that same spirit of prayer, with all heads bowed and all eyes closed, I'm praying, Lord. Maybe there's one person here. Maybe you're here and you realize that that's what you want. You want to know the love of Jesus because you've never experienced love before. Maybe you're in a place that you just feel abandoned.

Maybe you're just in a place of anger. Maybe you're in a place of indecisiveness of even where to go because you're unfulfilled in your life. Can I tell you, there is a God who loves you and wants a relationship with you. He doesn't care about you getting things right. He cares about having a relationship with you.

He wants you. He desires you. He pursues you. And you can have that relationship with him today. And there's no magic in the little prayer that you pray.

It's just a shout out of surrender to him. If that's you today, just pray this with me. And everybody in the house, just pray this with me. Father, I believe that you did come to earth, the Son of God, and die for my sin. I pray, God, that you come into my life.

I want to experience your love, Lord. Come in and just take your home in my heart and in my life. Transform me, Lord, from the inside out. I believe that you are God. And I believe that you created all of this for me.

And I believe that you love me, and I want a relationship. With You, Lord. So just come into my life, Lord. Make Your home with me, Lord, in Your name. Amen.

If you'll get a hand clap of praise for those who gave their lives to Christ today, hallelujah. If you did say that prayer, I want you to let us know things are going to begin to happen and change in your life. If you're going to experience new things, we want to help you along that journey to take the next steps. You can go to that Connect card at saltchurch.org slash connect.

Check off the box that tells you that you gave your life to Christ. And we have some information at the table if you want to pick up something today. We would love for you. We'd love to walk this journey with you. God bless you guys.

Thank you for being with us today. And join us for week two of our series, Change Your World.