We're here for those not here...yet

 

“The church is the church only when it exists for others.” 

                                                                Dietrich Bonhoffer

 Church consultant, surveyed members of nearly a thousand churches asking the question: “Why does the church exist?” Of the members surveyed, 89% said, “The church’s purpose is to take care of my family's and my needs.” Wow! Essentially, that means the job of the pastor is simply to keep those attending happy. Only 11% said, “The purpose of the church is to win the world for Jesus Christ.”

  It’s heartbreaking that there are many churches which are little more than “religious social clubs.” They’re satisfied with those who are already there and only looking for those to come that are like them. How can we have that mentality when Jesus commanded us to reach our world? How can we have that mentality when our world is so hurting and such a disaster?

  That’s not us! At Grace, we’re committed to being part of God’s search and rescue team. It’s why we get excited about every new person who walks through our doors. We don’t care if they just got out of prison or flew in on a private jet. Jesus died for every single person that you will meet and every person that you meet is going to spend eternity somewhere. By God’s grace, we want to take as many with us to heaven as we can. It’s why we are here for those who are not here yet. We live in a lost and hopeless world. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope!

  If you’re a Christ-follower, you are part of Jesus’ mission team. The Great Commission is for every Christ-follower. Jesus told us, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Our community is our end of the earth. Your family, your workplace, your neighborhood is your end of the earth. God has placed you there to be His EMT, His salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16).

  The Bible compares evangelism to farming. Everyone knows that farming is a process. You must prepare the soil and cultivate. Then, you sow the seed and finally reap the harvest. All three functions are essential. Yet, we don’t know what part of the process we’re in with the lost around us. No one sows seed one day and expects to pick the harvest the next.

  So, how do we reach out to those in our circle of influence that don’t yet know our Savior?

  We must start with prayer. Jesus prayed frequently. Paul prayed. Early lay leaders like Stephen prayed. This is God’s work so we must pray for His power. God wants us to pray for those who don’t know Him in our circle of influence. Jesus specifically asked us to pray to the Father and ask Him to send more workers into the field (Matthew 9:37-38). Every believer is a “worker.” The field is our world, specifically our neighborhood, workplace, and community. So, pray for those in your circle by name. Maybe target half a dozen of them that you have a relationship with and pray for them on a regular basis.

  And when you pray, pray for compassion. We can become so caught up in our own world that we overlook the needs of those around us. Compassion motivates us to have conversations. It helps us to cry over the lost and to come to God with a humble request for their salvation.  

  Then, pray for the desire to witness. As you pray this regularly, the Lord will give you a passion to share Jesus with others. Along with that, pray for boldness and the courage to speak up when there’s an opportunity.

  The great Scottish Reformer, John Knox prayed, “Give me Scotland, or I die.” Let’s pray that the Lord will give us Burlington and Waterford…and the surrounding area for the gospel. 

  We must slow down and build gospel bridges. Building relationships takes t-i-m-e. Most of us try to cram 10 lbs. of life in a 5 lb. bag. As a result, many are talking yet few are listening. To reach people, we must be listeners. Jesus was the best listener.

  Find out what they’re interested in and what they care about, and then use that to develop a friendship and hopefully a relationship with the Savior. Jesus is the model. When He met with Peter the professional fisherman, He talked about fishing. That’s what it means to be incarnational. We must enter their world and speak their language. Take the time to take a coworker to lunch or have a neighbor over for a meal. Build a friendship.

  Share what you have so you can share the Savior. If you’re a gardener, share some of your produce with a neighbor or co-worker. If you’re at the store and there’s a sale on something like fruit, buy extra and give it away. I love books and am a thrift store-aholic. I frequently look for books to give away to my friends that I know would be of interest to them.

  Break out of the holy huddle and get involved in the community. Many Christians only have Christians as friends, but you don’t fish in a fishbowl. So, at work, go to the office party. Go out with them after work.  

  Develop relationships in the community. If your children are involved in sports or school events, help out. They’re always looking for coaches or assistant coaches or any type of volunteer. Join the PTO. Help your child’s teacher. Ask the teacher or school how you can help. Every organization in our community is looking for volunteers. It’s why our church helps out at community events or organizes events to serve our community.

  If you love to play a sport, join a tennis or golf club. Invite someone out of your circle to play. If you fish or do crafts, invite them to join you. The opportunities are endless. Use what you love to show Christ’s love to them.

  Humbly ask for help. Ours is a culture that loves to help yet is too proud to ask for help. Yet, you can’t be a Christ-follower without first humbling yourself and admitting that you can’t fix your own life. You desperately needed Jesus to die for your sins and rescue you. Humbly admitting to a co-worker or neighbor that you could use help will amazingly open doors. It might be something as simple as asking for assistance moving a large piece of furniture or borrowing a cup of sugar. I’m not mechanical but had a neighbor who was. Asking for help laid the foundation for a friendship.

  Being part of the Jesus’ rescue ministry has eternal significance. Look at the focus and time usage of your life. What else that you’re investing your time in truly has eternal significance? You’re the missionary in your world. Are you seeking to reach your world for the Lord Jesus?

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Now THIS is exciting!

 

“If coming to know Christ is the greatest thing that has happened to you, it only makes sense that the greatest thing you can do for someone else is to introduce them to Him.”  Bill Bright 

Did you watch Sunday’s Super Bowl? It was a nailbiter, particularly if you were a Chiefs or Eagles fan. In the nearly seventy Super Bowls only about a dozen have been close like Sunday night’s game. 

  Can you imagine though if after the Chiefs win that there is no confetti, no party streamers, and no presentation of the Lombardi trophy? Kansas City had something like half a million fans lining the parade route last  Tuesday to welcome the victors home. But what if there had been no victory parade, no celebration…nothing?

  What gets you excited? What news do you find that you just have to share? Do you share with everyone when your team wins? Or, when you graduated from high school or college? How about when you got engaged? Or, had your first child? Everybody gets excited about something, right? So what is it that does that for you? When we’re excited, we have to share it.

  Many years ago we had a woman attending our church who was given a terminal cancer diagnosis. Her doctor told her, “Just go home and prepare your will…your terminal.” I’ll never forget my conversation with her later. What could I say?

  Fortunately, she got a second opinion, and what the first doctor diagnosed as terminal cancer, turned out to be cysts which though serious, were safely surgically removed with no further complications. Do you think that she was excited? Do you think that she had to share her good news with everyone? You better believe it!

  As Christians, we have much better news, the greatest news. Prior to salvation, we were doomed to a Christless eternity. Now we’re forgiven but not just for the sin we committed in the past but for every sin that we will commit in the future. We have a new Father and a new family, one that is so huge it will fill all of heaven. We will never be alone ever again. Jesus has promised to always be with us. We have a new citizenship and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We’re given a new nature so we desire things that are good and wonderful and have eternal value. We even have a new body awaiting us. And the list goes on and on and on.   

  What we have is better than winning the Super Bowl, the World Cup, the World Series, the Stanley Cup, the Mega Lottery all rolled into one, plus so much more. All of those things are only for this life, yet salvation is for all eternity. Redemption is the best thing that will ever happen to any of us.

  Those words from Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade, have echoed in my heart since I read them a few weeks ago. What a powerful insight! “If coming to know Christ is the greatest thing that has happened to you, it only makes sense that the greatest thing you can do for someone else is to introduce them to Him.”

  Sadly think about all of the things that we talk about BUT Jesus. I’m not talking about being some religious nut. The last thing a lost world needs is another religious wacko. Yet our world desperately needs those who are born-again to share the gospel. The gospel is this world’s only hope.

  Today we’re celebrating our 5^th Anniversary in this building. We built this building as a tool. We built it to be a place where believers can get a bigger view of our awesome God as we study God’s Word together so they leave here to share Him with all those they come in contact with. We want it to attract those who haven’t yet met the Lord Jesus so that we can introduce them to our Savior. As a church family, we want to be Jesus’ PR people.

  African-American pastor, E.V. Hill, pastored Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in L.A. for over forty years. One of his most well-known sermons was entitled: When is God at His Best?

  He began his message by referring to the book of Genesis. He talked about creation and described what happened during those first seven days in such amazing detail. Then he said, “This was amazing. It was powerful—but it wasn’t God at His best.” He turned to Exodus and talked about how God delivered the Hebrew people from bondage. He described the plagues, miracles, and the parting of the Red Sea, and again, Hill said, “This was powerful and amazing but it wasn’t God at His best.” He followed this same line of reasoning with the birth of Christ, His crucifixion, and His resurrection. Each time he’d say, “This was powerful and amazing but it wasn’t God at His best.” So when is God at His best? At the end of his sermon, Pastor Hill finally answered that question:

  But God is at his best when he saves lost souls. Would you like for me to tell you when He was at His best? It isn't even in the Bible. God was at His best nearly 51 years ago, with a little country boy, whose mother couldn't make enough money to feed him, and who some people in the country helped raise. At 11 years old, walking down Grandma Jodi's lane, this great, big, old God came all the way down and got right into my heart. Then He got up in my head. Then He got all over me. I didn't know what was happening to me; I didn't understand it. I had to go home and tell Mamma about my experience. She said, "I think God has saved you, boy."

  That is God at his best — when He saved me. When He — the great God of the universe — came all the way down and got into the heart and spirit of an 11 year old boy. Every time He saves a lost soul, that's God at His best. Not the moon and stars. Not the hills and mountains. Not the trees and valleys. Not the rivers and lakes and oceans. But God picking up a drunkard and making him a preacher, picking up a prostitute and making her a singer, picking up people down and out and putting them on their feet, causing us to stand and say, "Glory, He saved me. I'm saved."

  That's God, the Savior, at His best. God is at His best when He's saving. I am but a wretch. It took a miracle to put that sun in place. It took a miracle to put the moon in space. But when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole, that was God at His best.”

  At Grace Church, we’re committed to being part of God at His best! That’s what must excite us! We’re committed to sharing with those around us how they can be part of God at His best! Our DNA is sharing how others can meet our Savior so they too can experience God at His best! 

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

WHO'S YOUR ONE?

 

“We think of missionaries as God's ‘super servants,’ Jesus’ Navy Seals. The word ‘missionary’ is never used in the Bible, however, not even once. That's because all of God's people are sent; all of God's people are commanded to go. There is no ‘special class’ of sent ones.”  J.D. Greear 

  What freaks you out? We all freak out over one thing or another, sometimes for understandable reasons—if you’re alone when a zombie apocalypse breaks out, by all means, freak out—or sometimes we freak out for really silly reasons. 

  The media seems determined to freak us out. We have 24-hour news channels that by their very nature focus on the latest tragedy or extreme news story, replaying it over and over and over…

  Social media isn’t far behind. We will see things on social media from the hilarious to the terrifying, pushing us ever closer to the freak-out zone.

  A snake will do that for some. It does it for me. So I was on the edge of my seat when I heard the recent story about one Georgia woman.

  Trish Wilcher thought she saw a “piece of fuzz” on the floor under the bed in her home in Augusta, but when she reached for it, it suspiciously moved. “And then a second later another piece moved, and I went to my husband, ‘We have snakes!’” In fact, they had 18 snakes.

  “Ok we have turned the bedroom upside down…found 17 babies and the momma,” she posted on Facebook amid the slithery ordeal. Her husband, Max Wilcher, was able to use a grabbing tool to contain the snakes in a linen bag. He released them outside near a creek, she told WJBF. A wildlife catcher later told the couple that the reptiles in their home were non-venomous garter snakes.

  Well, that’s a sssscare that would freak me out. Who wouldn’t freak out if they came face to face with a large snake family under the bed?

  Most of us don’t like to be freaked out like that. Sure, some of us occasionally like to be freaked out, like teens watching a horror movie.

  I’m not sure what freaks you out. But if you’re a follower of Jesus and want to be freaked out, picture walking up to someone to boldly tell him or her about Jesus. You know, like talking to your church-hating coworker, atheist family member, or that neighbor (the one who freaks you out). No wonder Christians are freaked out at even the thought of sharing their faith.  

  But doing that is a bit of an ambush or at least a shocking surprise, similar to finding snakes underneath your bed. It’s not though what God has called us to do. Sharing the gospel isn’t to be some type of sneak attack.

  Somehow in the Church we’ve created a version of Christianity that makes us freak out over sharing the best news in the history of the universe. Think about it. Why would we be so apprehensive, anxious, tongue-tied and introverted when talking about the very thing that Jesus came to do for us? How can we sing so joyfully about the gospel in a church worship service but then be just as tightlipped about Jesus in our workplace or neighborhood? If Jesus means so much to us, why do we so rarely talk about Him?

  How can we be so quick to speak about a million other things that are often little more than trivia, yet can’t seem to talk about the message that set us free and bought us eternal forgiveness? How can we learn to share Jesus and the gospel by how we live and what we say without freaking out?

  Think about anything and everything that you’ve talked to your neighbors and coworkers about in the last six months. Yet, studies show that something like 70% of believers have not told a soul about Christ in the previous six months. More troubling is a LifeWay study with the discovery that out of eight attributes of growing believers, sharing Jesus ranked at the bottom. Why is evangelism ranked so low?

  Jesus’ last command to us, as His followers, was to share the gospel. Today we’re starting a new series, Who’s Your One? Sadly, we’ve made sharing the gospel something that it’s not. It’s not public speaking, which is one of most adults’ greatest fears (probably higher than a fear of snakes). It’s not some aggressive, ambush plan for type A folk. It’s not a program or some memorized sales pitch where you have to get all of the information just right (I don’t know how many Christians over the years have told me that they shared the gospel with someone but hope they didn’t blow it).

  We’re not going to try to make you the next Billy Graham or Apostle Paul. God has made you you and simply wants you to share His story your way with your personality and relationships just as He has the host of believers in the New Testament and throughout history who have shared the gospel around the world. Some of God’s greatest work of sharing His message hasn’t been done by professionals or preachers or missionaries. It’s been done by people like those described by Michael Green in his book, Evangelism in the Early Church: “In contrast to the present day, when Christianity is a highly intellectualized and dispensed by professional clergy to a constituency increasingly confined to the middle class, in the early days the faith was spontaneously spread by informal evangelists, and had its greatest appeal among the working class.”

  Our world today is freaked out over nearly everything. Maybe it’s time for Christians to freak out a little, yet only about things that truly matter.

  God has placed our church in this community to be a rescue station with His life-changing message of the gospel. God has placed you and me in our families, neighborhoods, and workplaces to be a light for His glory and to share His message of true hope, love, grace, and forgiveness. That won’t happen unless Christians get back on mission.

  When you trusted Christ as your personal Savior, God made you part of His missions team and strategy. You and I are part of something that is making a difference in eternity.

  This is going to be an exciting and challenging series. Please come prayerfully. Please commit to joining us each Sunday as we work through Who’s Your One?

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

The One Trait You NEED To Be Used By God: INADEQUACY

 

“The great mistake made by most of the Lord’s people is in hoping to discover in themselves that which is to be found in Christ alone.” A.W. Pink

For all four years of high school I wrestled. During the last two, my junior and senior years, some of the greatest wrestlers in the country were on our team. The college that Maranatha Baptist Academy was associated with had Olympic Gold Medalist, Ben Peterson, for their head wrestling coach. As it was a dormitory school, young wrestlers from around the country came to work out with Ben, but being around such great wrestlers didn’t help me. I was still inadequate. My wrestling skills just didn’t cut it.
  Our conference included the Wisconsin School for the Blind and the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, as well as Ethan Allen, a school for juvenile delinquents. There’s something very humbling about being pinned by a blind guy, a deaf guy, and a convicted felon.
  None of us like to be embarrassed or feel foolish or inadequate. America loves winners not losers. Winners get accolades, the girl and a new car. Losers slink off into obscurity. Yet, those who are inadequate are the very ones God uses. They don’t have to be convinced that they can’t do it – they know that they can’t do it, and it’s precisely why God can use them.
  One of the primary reasons that Christians don’t share the gospel is that they feel inadequate to share the gospel. They feel that they don’t know enough or that they’re going to say the wrong thing or look stupid. But they’re wrong. God loves to use the inadequate, the “losers” so that it’s His power and He gets all of the glory!
  One of my favorite accounts in the Bible is found in Numbers 22. Someone dubbed it the “Minor Minor Prophet.” It’s so encouraged me through the years. It’s about a wicked prophet named Balaam and his “ride.” Though Balaam was a wicked prophet, he was not a false prophet. He did hear from God and God did give him some true prophecies to speak. But he was also materialistic and greedy. He was a prophet for hire.
  Balaam was hired by an evil king to curse God’s people Israel. God told him, “No,” but Balaam still wanted the big payday. Like a spoiled toddler, he kept begging God to let him go, and finally, God conceded. Here’s where the “Minor Minor Prophet” comes in.
  The next morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and left for Moab but God sent an angel to take out Balaam on the way. The donkey that Balaam was riding could see the angel, but Balaam couldn’t. And when the donkey three times moved to avoid the angel, Balaam was angry and beat the animal. “Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth” (Numbers 22:28), and it rebuked the prophet for the beatings. “Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn” (verse 31). The angel told Balaam that he’d have killed him had not the donkey spared his life. Ironically, a dumb beast had more wisdom than God’s prophet. The angel then repeated to Balaam the instruction that he was only to speak what God told him to speak concerning the Hebrews. His ride, that donkey, was a “Minor Minor Prophet.”
  That’s so encouraging for us! If God can use a dumb donkey to speak and accomplish His will and share His Word, then He can surely use us.
  One of the most amazing traits that you’ll find repeatedly in Scripture is that God uses the very ones the world overlooks to accomplish His will. In fact, often God humbles very talented, natural leader types so that He can use them. It wasn’t until Joseph was a slave and a prisoner that God used him to rescue His people. Moses was a fugitive turned shepherd when God called him to lead Israel out of Egypt. David was the baby of the family. When Samuel was looking to anoint a new king, his family had forgotten all about him. Peter was a rough, a “stick your foot in your mouth” fisherman that God used to preach on the Day of Pentecost and thousands came to Christ. Paul was a brilliant theologian but God struck him blind to make him realize how impotent he was before God saved him. We don’t know the name of the little boy that gave up his lunch that Jesus used to feed the 5,000. Check out the Bible for yourself. You’ll find individual after individual who was a nobody that God greatly made a somebody but it was only because the Somebody had His hand on their life!
  In evangelism we are in a spiritual battle. There is no way mere mortals could accomplish or win this battle on our own. God gave us this responsibility so that He could use us and He’d get all of the glory!
  Most of us are hesitant to share our faith or build a bridge with a lost family member, neighbor or friend because we feel like such spiritual losers…God loves to use a loser!
  If you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, you already know how powerful He is – after all, He saved you. Next Sunday we’ll have the joy of seeing several individuals be baptized. None of them came to Christ because a light broke through the heavens or an angel appeared to them. They came to Christ because God worked in their heart. They came to Christ because some inadequate believers cared enough to share the gospel with them. I love 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”  Why don’t we share the greatest message that the world desperately needs?
  We feel inadequate. We are. Yet, God never gives us a responsibility without also giving us the means to accomplish it. Evangelism is not some specialized call. God has already provided all of the divine resources that you will ever need to share His message. He’s indwelt you with His Spirit. While we are inadequate, He is more than adequate.
  We think that we don’t know enough. We feel we don’t understand the gospel well enough to share it with someone else. We’re afraid we won’t have the answers to questions that someone might raise. We don’t have to have all of the answers. We know that once we were lost and now we’ve been found. We’re like the blind man who only knew that he’d been blind and now that Jesus had healed him, he could see (John 9).
  Do you want to reach your world? Start by knowing the names of those around you, that neighbor and co-worker. Begin praying for them. Be friendly and kind to them. Learn what they care about and who they are.
  If you and I will simply care, if we will be Jesus to those God has brought in our paths, it’s amazing what God will do…not because we’re super Christians but because He’s a Super Savior!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Hitting a grand slam for Jesus!

“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is." Bob Feller

  For me, baseball and Hank Aaron are nearly synonymous. It’s hard to believe it’s been over forty years, but I still remember April 8, 1974. That was the day Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record, sending his 715^th career home run out of the ballpark.

  In his autobiography, I Had A Hammer, Aaron recalled that he and his wife, Billye, hosted a party after the historic game. When he got some alone time, Aaron realized the true impact of his achievement. “When I was alone and the door was shut, I got down on my knees and closed my eyes and thanked God for pulling me through…I had done something that nobody else in the world had ever done, and with it came a feeling that nobody else has ever had—not exactly, anyway. I didn’t feel a wild sense of joy. I didn’t feel like celebrating. But I probably felt closer to God at that moment than at any other in my life. I felt a deep sense of gratitude and a wonderful surge of liberation all at the same time. I also felt a stream of tears running down my face.” The Atlanta Braves weren’t a great team when I was growing up but Henry Aaron was a great player. He gave me a love for the game that’s never waned.

  Maybe that’s why a recent story about Colby Rasmus caught my attention. Rasmus played baseball for the Cardinals from 2009-2011 when he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays. His story is much more important than baseball. It’s a story about life, eternal life. It’s a wonderful account of how the gospel and the power of Jesus changes lives.

  Colby Rasmus hadn’t had a great career. His tenure with the Cardinals was very rocky partly due to the fact that he never played up to the expectations people had for him and partly because he and the manager, Tony LaRussa, didn’t get along. The Houston Astros, Rasmus’ new team, faced the Cardinals in a spring training game which led to an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. This is where it gets really good. In the interview for the article, Colby Rasmus, shared that he was at peace now because he found Jesus Christ. “I was lost for a while. I can remember (former Cardinal) Lance Berkman sitting next to me on the bench, talking about Jesus Christ and I didn’t really understand it. At the time, my family hadn’t really bought into that. Looking back, I see Albert (Pujols) and Lance and (Matt) Holliday and (Adam) Wainwright and I see this aura, this presence they had about them. I always wondered how they got that. Now I see what it’s about and it’s changed my life big-time. I focus on my family and I don’t get caught up in all that stuff like I used to. My time in St. Louis…the fans were always good to me and it tore me up a little bit when I didn’t play well, so I went through some rough times. Surrendering my life to the Lord helped me relieve those demons, so to speak.”

  Wow! Sometimes we think the famous and rich are beyond the gospel. They’re not. Colby Rasmus came to Christ the same way everyone else does. It’s the same pattern that God may have used to reach you. It’s the same pattern that God will use to reach your loved ones and friends.

  Most people come to Christ because of the influence of their friends. When talking about coming to faith in Christ, Rasmus mentions by name four guys who reached out to him, sat next to him on the bench, and cared about him as a person. The first step to influencing others for Christ starts with just being their friend. It can be talking at work or across the street. It’s just spending time with the lost, building bridges for the gospel.

  A normal Christian can be a more powerful witness than professional Pastor. The people who pointed him to Jesus were guys he worked with not a pastor, not the team chaplain. You have far more opportunity to influence someone you work with or live next door to than most pastors ever will have. I’ve said it so many times, I hope it comes back to you in your dreams – God placed you in your office, neighborhood, on a team, or in your school to be His light to people who’d never be interested in talking to a pastor. Insiders (like teammates) often have far more power to influence than outsiders (like pastors).

  A normal Christian struggling with a normal life has a super influence. As Christians, we need to be both like and unlike people who don’t follow Jesus. Rasmus’ Christian teammates shared the same job, temptations, struggles, lifestyle that he did. Your friends should look at you and realize, “You can be a Christian and be normal, have a family, be successful at work, have fun, etc…” Yet, he also said that he noticed his Christian teammates were different than him. Christians should be different in their integrity, generosity, patience, kindness, how they handle adversity, etc.

  The heat brings out the gold and others see the shine. Everyone eventually faces tough times. It’s often in those times that they’re willing to consider the gospel in a more serious way. For Rasmus, adversity came in the form of a disappointing performance on the field. For your friends it might be a broken relationship, loss of a loved one, health issues, marital struggles, depression, or a job loss. In those difficult times they’ll turn to someone to talk to. Have you built a good friendship, have you expressed your care and concern, have you proven safe and trustworthy so that in their moment of need they’ll turn to you?

  When something or someone is important to you, you naturally talk about it. Rasmus says that his teammate Lance Berkman sat on the bench with him and talked about Jesus. If Jesus is important to you, if you have a vibrant relationship with Him (not just a Sunday morning one), you’ll talk about Him because He’s always on your mind. Because we know how much Jesus loves us, we want to tell others how much Jesus loves them. Often, it’s best to put it in the context of your own life. Explain how you became a Christian and what Jesus means to you. Most people are interested in hearing your story.

  The things that are vital and make a difference take time. When it comes to the gospel, most of us are too easily discouraged. When those we care about don’t immediately respond to Christ or come to church when we invite them, we quit. As Rasmus’ story proves it takes time. Several years elapsed between his first exposure to his Christian teammates and his becoming a Christian, and that’s normal.

  Want to be a winner? Win your friends to Jesus? It’s much better than breaking some sports record. It will count for all eternity and they will be eternally grateful that you were a true friend who cared about their soul. 

Being willing to get your hands dirty

“The Savior moved from divine doctrine to dirty feet in a very short space of time. We would do well to remember this.”  Derick Bingham

  Earlier this past week, Jane and I were able to spend some time with my “son” and his family. Though our time was limited, it’s so fulfilling to see his love for the Lord, his wife and his two little girls. True, it wasn’t my biological son, it was my son in the faith, Dustin Rider.

  During that brief window of time when God dropped Dustin and Erin, and their two precious little girls into the Grace Church family, I was instrumental in Dustin’s salvation. I’d regularly meet with Dustin and Erin for an evangelistic Bible study to work through the basics of salvation and life in Christ. And though Dustin and Erin were just baby Christians and struggling with a boatload of concerns, like moving to a job that was better for their family, and the normal issues of young Christians, they reached out to Nicole Poltrock.

  Because of their faithfulness and testimony, Nicole came to Grace Church and more importantly, came to Christ. Erin was instrumental in Nicole’s salvation. So not only am I a spiritual father, I may be a grandfather…at least a spiritual uncle.

  Now some of you are thinking, “Well, of course you did that – that’s what we pay you to do.” Wrong answer! If you’re a believer, “that’s what you were saved to do.” And if you really know Jesus, and if you’re growing in your faith and becoming a mature Christian, you’re nearly OCD about serving and sharing your faith. It nearly drives you crazy to NOT serve, to not show gratitude, to not share the greatest news that there has ever been of how you can be forgiven, of how you can have the Spirit’s power in your life to conquer sin, and know that this temporal, empty life is not all there is – you are going to be with Jesus for all eternity!

  The simple truth is that there’s something seriously wrong with a Christian who does not want to serve, share or give. If Jesus really saved you from your sins, if you’ve accepted His free gift of salvation truly comprehending that He died for you so that you wouldn’t have to face eternal judgment, then there is overwhelming gratitude. Not only did Jesus save you from something, He gave you new life, His power and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If there’s new life, there’s a new value system, a new behavior and a new worldview.

  Can you imagine a Muslim professing to having come to Christ, yet claiming that they follow both Jesus and Muhhamad? If you know anything about Christianity, you’d be dumbfounded and quickly point out to them that you can’t follow both. Jesus is Lord of all or He’s not Lord at all. The biblical reality is that you either have committed your life to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or you haven’t and are an idolater, or you’re a spiritual adulterer. It’s as foolish as getting married but still wanting to date. It doesn’t work.

  Salvation is revolutionary. It changes everything. When you come to Christ and realize how much He loved you and gave for you, you want to give, share and serve Him. You long to. You’re driven with a passion of unbelievable gratitude.

  Anyone studying their Bible, comparing much of what is called Christianity in America to what is normal Christianity in the Bible, quickly realizes that in America our churches are filled with people who know about Jesus but probably don’t know Jesus. One of the greatest indicators of that is that most “Christians” worship at the altar of consumerism.

  This was recently illustrated in our area when a mega-church planted a multi-site church. It was a reasonable decision. They had a large percentage of people who attended their church that were driving 30 to 45 minutes each week to attend. So they logically assumed that those individuals would want to worship locally. More importantly, they knew that these same church attendees would be much more effective reaching their lost friends in their community if they had a local church.

  Think about it. While a Christian might drive some distance to attend the “right church,” a lost person isn’t going to. They might do it a time or two but for them, a church is a church.

  Here’s the shocker! Though there was now a local church, though it was the same message (though the preaching is via video feed), though the new site needed workers who could minister in the new church plant, though it would help them more effectively reach their lost friends and neighbors – a huge percentage still drive every weekend over half an hour to the “mother church” to worship there. The original obviously does it a little better, bigger and brighter than the new multi-site church. I can’t help but wonder if a possible motive is that it’s easier to attend with no responsibility to be involved. The greatest problem though is that they’re not part of reaching their community and are disobeying the Great Commission, just to satisfy their own consumer desires.  

  Some 80% of our community do not attend church anywhere. What an opportunity we have. That’s why our ministry fair is so important. First, it helps YOU get to know others in this church better. Second, it gives you an opportunity to see where you (and even your family) might plug in to serve Jesus – the one who loved you and gave His life to rescue you.

  It comes back to this. If you truly know Jesus, you love Him and are overcome with gratitude toward Him. That means that you don’t really even need to be asked to serve, you’re looking for ways to serve. You don’t have to be asked to give, you can’t help yourself. And when Jesus has revolutionized your life, unsaved people are almost ready to pay you to shut-up because you can’t help but share His love and forgiveness with them. When you realize how much Jesus has done and given for you – you want to pour your life out in giving back to Him.

  Do you really know Jesus? Show me your calendar, show me your checkbook…tell me the last time that you shared the Gospel with a lost person. If you really know Jesus, when you’re in love with Jesus – no one ever really wonders. About five minutes with you and they know that you’re in love with the Lord of life who gave His life for you!