Outreach

But thank you guys. We are grateful for a great group in the back that make things happen even in a sweaty moment like a microphone’s down. So I want you to imagine a scene quickly with me. And I’m going to have you just not so much shout but speak out a couple of responses to the question I’m going to ask you. A little fair enough front in instructions.

So let’s imagine that you’re walking in your neighborhood someplace. And you see someone’s house on fire. It’s it’s it doesn’t matter. You know just smoke or it’s full blown fire. But you don’t know these people.

There are a few blocks from you and you know you just don’t know them personally. But there it is. The house is on fire. No one else is around. What would you do?

That’s my question. Call 911. Pound on the door. Okay. Oh some would run in.

Okay. For me it depends on how big the flames are at that point. But I don’t I don’t know. But that’s okay. Let’s run into the house.

Kind of a short list. Yeah. Pray. There we go. All right.

What was that? Yeah. You know hey water puts out fire. So I’m going to grab a garden hose if I could. You know I don’t know maybe.

But now here’s the deal. No one said I don’t think I heard that they would walk up to the door. They would pound on the door to get for what purpose? Get out right. But no one said in pounding on the door they would if somebody came to the door have a a conversation that said hey I got a couple questions real quick here.

How did the fire start? And pardon me but were somebody careless? Was there somebody smoking in bed and fell asleep? Is there is there some sort of space heater that was placed too close to a curtain? You’re all giving me the look I was hoping for.

It’s like no that’s stupid. That’s ridiculous. That’s right. That does not. Why do we not ask that?

Doesn’t matter. It’ll come out later but that’s not what you’re there for. You see a desperate situation that calls for immediate action. And to say anything like I just suggested is to waste in my judgment valuable time. This house is on fire.

You don’t know who’s in there. Let’s verify they’re all out. And then later on we can ask those questions. Now I’m not the genius that came up with this fire analogy. Her name is Corey Tenboom.

She was from Holland and she hid Jews during the Holocaust. From a pursuing Hitler. She lived out the last few years of her life in the town I lived in in southern Cal, California. And she attended the church I came from those final few years. This is what she said.

If I straighten the pictures on the walls of your home, I’m committing no sin, am I? But suppose that your house were on fire. And I still went calmly about straightening pictures. What would you say? When she first said that, I think somebody said something like that.

But she went on. Would you think me merely stupid or wicked? What would you think about me? She concludes the lives of people are on fire today. What are you doing to extinguish the flames?

Now that’s pretty graphic. Graphic image I have you thinking about. But according to the Bible, not at all imaginative. Did you expect that? I’ve got you thinking about something that would just you talk about it forever.

But it’s not at all fanciful according to the Bible. Our problem largely exists two ways. People that are on fire conceal the smoke pretty well. Secondly, those of us that are called to notice aren’t really good at seeing smoke. It’s a two way problem.

If I ask most of us today inventory your friendship list, you’re going to know something about many of them. But most of us wouldn’t know fully whether their life was on fire or not. And so that explains the gas when something melts down in their life. And somebody comes to you and said, did you see this common? And you’re stuck.

It sure shows bad on you. It’s not meant to be a question to make you look bad, but I just seen the smoke. So let’s take a look at what Jesus did when he saw house fires. Ready? Matthew chapter 9 is the place to go.

We’ll stop at two spots briefly this morning. Matthew 9 is a fabulous place that the gospel writer Levi Matthew is capturing for us. Where Jesus seeing house fires has something to say. It describes the Jesus view, if I can go there, of people whose lives are on fire. So Matthew 9 the chapter ends verses 35 to 38.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, I’m looking at a crowd right now. If this gathering were tens of thousands, it also would be a crowd. We just don’t know how big the crowd, but when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because notice they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And then he said to his disciples, may I insert them in the scene that’s in your mind?

They were right with him. He says to his disciples who were with him, the harvest is plentiful. We don’t see this, but you got to imagine Jesus is looking up at the crowds that we’ve just heard about. And he says, the harvest is plentiful, but there’s a problem. The workers are few.

And he offers then a solution to the problem in the next verse. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field. Let me have you look at verse 36, we just crossed over it. And there’s an image that jumps out at me first off. Something that Jesus, Matthew actually reports about Jesus with regard to this crowd.

And that is that Jesus felt something for them. You can circle this word, write it down and remember it. Jesus felt compassion. He sees a crowd that’s their smoke and he was moved by it. He felt the word is compassion.

Just a very strong emotion. And it carries the idea of a deep sympathy. So when Jesus looks at somebody and sees smoke coming from their lives, he’s burdened by it. It’s not just an academic, hey, look like you’re about to spontaneously combust. No, it’s a picture of a person, an image that shouldn’t be.

Somebody’s on fire. And Jesus is, that makes me sad. And by the way, it makes him sad, we’re told in verse 35, for all, not for a few. Notice what he did. He went and traveled around and healed every disease it says.

Doesn’t say most diseases or the little ones that were easy. Said Jesus healed everybody, touched everybody he came in contact with. And he healed their diseases all of them and he healed their sickness. It’s not selective. That’s my point.

Why all? I think I have a point to make too that the Bible makes because Jesus never made somebody he didn’t love. Never. That’s huge. Is that not the point of John 3 16?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. That whoever, that’s an inclusive word, everybody that believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. Is that not the point of Romans 5a? God demonstrated his love for the good ones? The people that have their act together?

No. Us is inclusive. God demonstrated love for all that in a way that Christ died for us. That’s the image. That’s the picture.

The conclusion we’re supposed to come to. So a couple of takeaways right away and we’re going to move quickly here. The first is that Jesus communicated the good news. He shared the gospel. We’re told in verse 35.

He used words. St. Francis of Assisi is often invoked at this moment. Share the gospel. Always use words if you must.

He did not say that. His words did not go there. We have made those words powerful and by quoting somebody that’s a significant and stand out person in history. The Bible is emphatic about this in Romans 10 14. Who will believe on him unless they are sent?

Who will, unless they are told? Who will, who will tell them unless they’re sent? The Bible says it takes words. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10 17.

It’s important and that’s why Jesus starts with going around teaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. But notice secondly also in verse 35 and it spills into verse 36 that he demonstrated the good news. It wasn’t just words. Jesus spoke truth. That’s why I started with that.

He also showed the gospel, the good news. The gospel means good news and he spoke those truthful words and then he demonstrated it. He touched lives. That’s what verse 35 goes on to talk about. Verse 36.

So he used works as well. Jesus was, can I just say the obvious here, he was touched by people in trouble. Verse 36. It invoked for Matthew an image. Think about this.

Jesus didn’t say that they are people without a shepherd. Matthew said of Jesus, looking at the people, they were harassed and helpless, distressed and downcast as another translation. He’s making an observation about people that don’t have a sign that say, hi, I’m distressed. Hi, I’m downcast. Hey, see that?

I’m bullied. I’m harassed. No, no. Matthew was letting us see something that Jesus saw very clearly but we tend to strain our eyes to see. We don’t see it.

Most of us as well as Jesus did. The image he uses, they are like verse 36, sheep without a shepherd. Any way you slice it, it’s not good. Sheep are very vulnerable and they’re incredibly at high risk of ruin when they don’t have a shepherd. They don’t run real fast.

They don’t see a lion as it’s approaching. They think, hey, can’t we all get along? I know this didn’t work out real well for my relative a little while ago. But maybe it’ll be different from, I don’t know what sheep think. But they die easily, right?

And Jesus is saying, they’re like sheep without a shepherd. You want an Old Testament view of that? Look up Ezekiel’s words in chapter 34 verse five. He talks about the terrible picture of sheep that should have been protected by shepherds, human shepherds and they were serving themselves. They’d stopped caring a long time ago and they’re rebuked for it.

Why? Because well, God cares about sheep. This heart that Jesus has for the helpless here is what moved him to pray and implement a plan. That’s why the passage ended with, let’s pray. And the plan begins, man, look on, chapter 10, Jesus calls his 12 to stop, but here’s the plan.

So he’s just finished. Okay, guys, these people are on fire. They’re going to burn to death. I care about them. And so starting point, let’s pray and pray that God would mobilize lots of people because there’s lots of them.

And chapter 10 begins, not surprisingly, by repeating essentially what we just read. Jesus calls his 12 disciples to him, gave them authority to drive out in pure spirits, heal every disease and sickness. Then he names them all in verses two to four. And these 12, Jesus noticed verse five, sent out with the following instructions. Among the Gentiles, to enter any towns or Samaritan, go to the lost sheep of Israel.

As you go, do what? Do what I just did. Verse 35 in chapter nine. As you go proclaim the message, the kingdom of heaven has come. And as you proclaim the words, do the works like I just did in verse 36 of chapter nine.

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons, freely you’ve received, freely give. Do the stuff that puts out that fire. That you see in people. I love this picture. And I’m going to stretch beyond this because I think that’s the purpose of all scripture.

It’s not meant for you and me to look back at a history lesson and go, wow, that was really something. That was kind of an entertaining lesson. Didn’t know it. This is meant to connect through to 2019. And it’s meant to connect to me.

And it has. And that’s why I can say it with the kind of fire I mix my metaphors there with the passion that I have. Because I believe that this is what God wants you and me to take away who are interested in being healthy. What’s the outreach look like today? How do we, can I put it in a question that I’d like you to write down?

How do I show and share the good news today? 2019. Retired. School or career. Man or woman.

Neighborhood. You pick your place. How do I share? How do I show the good news today? You’re going to have to leave this passage now and turn to the second and last one we’ll look at.

It’s over in Colossians. And it’s written by the Apostle Paul. He’s the human author of these words. And he shares some great principles. And in the midst of that prayer, he said this, as you sent me into the world, Jesus is his bow down.

He’s praying to his father. And he says to his father, as you sent me into the world, I send them my disciples into the world. Same deal, right? So I’m sending them on a rescue mission. I’m sending them on a rescue mission.

There’s a one to one relationship here intended by those words in John 17. So this is that mission. As Jesus came and completed it, you and I have been given it to carry it out. So we come here to Colossians two and, or four, verses two to six. And pray for us too that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains.

This was one of several New Testament books written known as prison epistles, Philippians, Colossians, and Ephesians, written by Paul while in prison in Rome. May proclaim it clearly as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders, make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone. Okay, let’s start with what he starts with, prayer.

That’s the first thing in verse two. Devote yourself to prayer. In fact, three times, verse two, verse three, and verse four, prayer appears. It’s a big deal. Pray, pray for impact.

Why so much about prayer? Well, I thought it was, you might be sitting here thinking, this is about fires and how does prayer work with putting people fires out? How does that work? And I got stirring more deeply about that and I thought, well, it’s a powerful tool for sharing and showing the gospel with people. Prayer is.

I’m an action guy and I think sometimes of prayer is one of those slow down moments, you know? Man, this guy’s on fire. I got to go talk to him about it. And God’s saying that’s good, that’s good, but start with prayer. And then I found a couple of reasons in the Bible.

Vivid descriptions that are provided for us that describe people as described as I’m saying this morning, people who are on fire. These are not insulting verses I’m about to show you. They’re insightful. They’re meant to give you and I a view of something that’s not, for most of us, I might even say for all of us, visible to the naked eye. But the Bible says here, let me pull back to Curt and show you what these people who are on fire are dealing with.

The first comes the very short second Corinthians four verse four. It says that Satan has blinded the eyes of who? Of me before I met Jesus. Right? I was an unbeliever.

And the Bible makes this point that my blindness was a spiritual blindness. And the source of that was Satan. He wants me to not to not see truth. He wants me to hear cool things about Jesus and go, well, that’s just cool, but it doesn’t matter. Doesn’t impact me.

And that’s true of all people before they met Jesus. Here’s the second one. And it’s just a short. This comes from second Timothy two. The last letter Paul wrote Timothy.

Very near the end of that letter, he says, Satan holds unbelievers captive. Is the two words that come to mind when I read the Bible that describe how people are without Jesus. They’re blind and they’re bound. So we’re supposed to approach people realizing that there’s some resistance we’re going to encounter, which is why prayer matters. It’s what it’s what softens the resistance.

Ultimately it’s what pulls the curtain open and their blindness goes away. In the case of the unbelieving Satan has blinded their eyes that they cannot see the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ is the fuller verse in second Corinthians four. They cannot see. So prayer says, hold on. Let’s turn on some lights.

Let’s pull back the curtain. Let’s let the truth be seen and heard. But they’re bound. However that looks picture, picture being, you know, restrained and held. Satan’s up to that as well.

So pray verse three adds more specifically for opportunities to share and they won’t just happen. Paul calls it for doors to open. Do you see this? Pray for us to that God may open a door. What is a door?

God doing here. Well, Paul, though in prison was asking for spiritual doors to be open. We could probably also add to that he was asking for this prison cell to open and I could be let out. That would be an open door, right? If I got thinking, what are doors today?

Door doors come in all kinds of forms, right? They come in the world we live in. They are a doorway is a school. Door way is your neighborhood. Door way is your club.

I’ve had great times of, you know, I work out there too, but I’ve had great times of, you know, kind of, hey, what do you do here? I see you’re here all the time and maybe they asked because they were wondering if I’m training for something, you know, and I, and then I, they seem disappointed when I said disappointed when I said, no, I’m hoping to have ice cream tonight. That’s my goal. And so, so I work out. You get the connection and everybody gets it, right?

But then I say, you know, I’m a pastor or sometimes I’m not even that bold. One of my neighbors is here this morning. I won’t call out his name, but when we first met 20 years ago or something, he came by and he’s just the greatest guy in the world and he’s walking his dogs up my street and I was watching to see if they would relieve themselves in my yard. And they didn’t, and they’re great dogs and he’s even a greater guy and his wife and, okay, it’s Bill and Beth. But anyway, they, they, we went to lunch and remember bowing my head with him.

I didn’t know this guy, but it was kind of a cool moment and he asked before that, what kind of work do you do? And I said, well, I’m, what did I say, Bill? I’m a salesman. And then I think he said something like, yes, so am I. And he and I laugh every time, you know, we, we mention that story because I, you know, I’m sort of, I’m peddling God, right?

I’m, I tell, tell people about God. That was a door. It didn’t need to be open because Bill loved Jesus. So did Beth and still do. Those are doors, right?

You go on about other doors. I wrote down home work. Some, some, it’s just home because you’re here, but your spouse isn’t or your children aren’t or whatever that is. Those are doors. He’s saying here, pray that a door would open wide for our message.

So when they open, walk through, right? We’ll walk through the door. And when you do, he adds two more suggestions. Let me, let me give you a suggestion that I read everywhere in the Bible and the people that are very effective in and walking through doors seem to have this down. Don’t give up.

Don’t ignore your before and after story. Okay. In church speak, it’s your testimony. Paul talked about his all the time. It really is true.

He, he’d address an audience like this and tell all these cool things that we’re talking about. And then he’d go, hey, hey, time out for a second. Can I tell you something? I used to be, I was a formerly in my former life, my before life. I was a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man.

I tried to kill Christians every time I got a chance. Seriously, Galatians chapter one, 1 Timothy chapter one, read the whole chapter and you will see Paul, man, he never lost track of who he was before. And then he says, but God’s great mercy and grace saved me and set me on a track. To tell people about him. And he did.

Charles Colson, does the name ring a bell? How many know the name Charles Colson? Okay, he was famous for a couple of reasons. One, he was known as the hatchet man in the Nixon White House. He was one office away from the most powerful man in the world, the President of the United States, Richard Nixon.

He was also indicted and tried and convicted for federal crimes and landed in a federal prison. His story is told in born again and in loving God. You gotta read those books, great stuff. He’s, by the way, he’s with Jesus now. But in lots of places and in those two books, he tells the before.

I was this big deal. I could order up an airplane, take me anywhere in the world and I didn’t have to have a counter signature. That’s power. I was a big name. People would say, yes, sir.

Mr. Colson, sir, I’d ask for water and several aides would come with a cup of water. I had that kind of power. And you would expect him to say, and I leveraged that power to do great things. You know what he says?

These are his words. My greatness did not come from the White House. His words, he came from the big house. And he was the founder and president of Prison Fellowship, a worldwide ministry in virtually prisons all over the world of the before and after gospel. I was thinking, cool.

I mean, that’s really good. And that’s what God keeps doing. He wants us to do it. So, verse five, another principle. “Pay close attention to how you live.

Therefore, be careful how you walk. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders.” Why? Because these are opportunities you don’t want to blow. That’s my paraphrase of verse five.

Make the most of every opportunity. Be careful how you walk. Lots more. I love the words of a guy named Melvin. Last name is Graham.

Melvin Graham, most of you have never heard the name. But you’re pretty aware of his famous big brother, Billy Graham. Turns out Melvin was a farmer. I don’t know if you knew that. And his words are simple, plain print.

These are what he said about being careful, making the most of the opportunity. Opportunity. I believe God called me to be a farmer, said Melvin. And I’ll tell you why. I don’t care what occupation you’re in.

There’s always a good chance in that occupation to be a witness. And I’m a witness. I’ve never been ashamed of it. And this is worth writing down. I’ve always said I just want to be a nobody who is willing to tell everybody that there is somebody who can save anybody.

I wanted to be the guy that says I’m a nobody willing to tell everybody that there is somebody who can save anybody. He is a evangelistic outreach witness farmer. I love it. Somehow that’s believable, I think. Don’t you think?

It’s plain. It’s reachable. So be believable. One final principle we’re done. Pay close attention to what you say.

That’s verse six. Always full of grace. What you say and how you say it, people, is in play. Full of grace means speaking away that causes a favorable response. You could probably, maybe you’ve heard it, you know, this in-your-face evangelism.

Turn or burn, Jack. You know, or get right or get left. Okay, it’s clever. But can I tell you something? I think it does.

I think it fails the grace test, right? I mean, isn’t that what we’re supposed to be? Seasoned with grace. Full of grace and seasoned with salt. Solved as pure and in penetrating words.

That’s how we do it. That’s how we outreach. God never made someone He didn’t love people. Let’s start there. And that goes for you.

I’m not sure I didn’t do the math before my message, but I would guess that that’s one of the most common points of resistance I hear from people here at GracePoint. Some version of God couldn’t use someone like me. I’m a screw up. I’m a mess up. I never went to seminary.

I’m a farmer. So we got to start there. God loves you whether you’re a farmer or the big brother of a farmer that shares these things worldwide or did. He loves you and there’s not an exception to that. And He left it to you.

If you’re one of His followers and to me. He left it to us whose lives, can I go back to the beginning? We’re on fire. But He put out the flames. He left it to you and me to do something whenever and wherever we see smoke.

I’m saying today, most of us would probably pass the burning house test. I’ve had a couple of house fires in my neighborhood in 25 years. And I didn’t just stand there and watch. One case right next to my other neighbors. We watched a winter fire take down their house.

And I remember being in the garage with that couple and just going, you know what? I can’t put out those flames, but I can pray for you right now. And I did. We have people in our lives who are on fire. Ask God to give you eyes to see the smoke.

And then do something about it. Would you bow your heads with me this morning as we thank you Jesus. That you started with us. We say we’re Christians and we have a before and an after story. And the reason there’s an after story, it’s before we met you and after we met you.

The flames are out. And then you said, since you know about fire, you know about smoke, you know how clever people are in concealing it. I want you to look for it. And you want to hear from every one of us today that know you. A willingness that says, Lord send me, make me one of those 12 that we started with in Matthew 9 and 10.

Make me one of those that you send out and tell people there’s a way out of the flames. I found the way. Follow me. So thank you Jesus for seeing smoke in our lives. Thank you for putting out the fire.

Thank you for rescuing us. And you did so by going to the cross. My cross and gave your life for me. As we take the bread this morning in the cup to remember what you’ve done for us. Move in us in a fresh way to move out and tell others about you.

In Jesus name. I everything I want to. I. I. I.

I. I. I. I. I.

I. So on the night that Jesus was betrayed right before him and his disciples were having a meal together was the Passover meal and it was the meal that reminded them of the physical freedom that God had brought them to. It’s interesting that in that same meal. Jesus. So right now.

This is my body. Broken for you. So right now. You know God. Jesus didn’t just.

Say those things so that we could be made healthy. And so we could be made holy. And so we could be secure as we are now. He wants us to take that health and that wholeness. And outreach.

To the people that need it most. And so whoever that is that God lays on your mind this morning during this next song would you pray for them. Would you just pray that God would give you an open door. To outreach to them this week. And to share about the health and the wholeness that you have in Christ with them.

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