MORE TO THIS LIFE: Intentionality, identity and integrity 9-10-23

MORE TO THIS LIFE: Intentionality, identity and integrity 9-10-23

 

INTRODUCTION

 

God is doing a new thing!

There has got to be more to this life!

Identity - who are we

Integrity - internal and external

 

Intentionality

Intentionality and evangelism

 

A few years ago George Barna reported some amazing facts. Most Americans, including profession Christians, believe that people are inherently good and that their primary purpose is to enjoy life as much as possible.

 

a). 38% believe that it doesn’t matter what religious faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons.

b). 44% believed that all people will experience the same outcome after death, regardless of their religious beliefs.

c). 55% believed that if a person is generally good or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in heaven.

 

There is a need for evangelism!

 

• Ninety-five percent of all Christians have never won a soul to Christ.

• Eighty percent of all Christians do not consistently witness for Christ.

• Less than two percent are involved in the ministry of evangelism.

          (Evangelism Statistics from Michael Parrot, Acts Evangelism, Spokane, WA, 1993, pp. 9-11.)

Intentionality

           Importance

               Priority

               Initiative 

 

I.  IMPORTANCE

 

               A.  Born again

 

“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.””

               John 3:3 NIV

 

          B.  Newness

 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

               2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

 

               C.  Not perishing

 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

               John 3:16 NIV

 

Paul Harvey said, "Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium."

 

Paul Little in his book "How to Give Away Your Faith" defines witnessing: "Witnessing is that deep-seated conviction that the greatest favor I can do for others is to introduce them to Jesus Christ."

 

II.  PRIORITY

 

At the 1968 World Congress on Evangelism, John W.R. Stott said, "The Church engages in evangelism today, not because it wants to or because it chooses to or because it likes to, but because it has been told to. Evangelistic inactivity is disobedience. It is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms; just as a fire that does not burn is a contradiction." 

               Christian Theology in Plain Language, p. 162.

 

               A.  The hope of faith

 

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.””

               Romans 1:16-17 NIV

 

               B.  The message of Jesus

 

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

               John 14:6 NIV

 

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.””

               Acts 4:12 NIV

 

LAS VEGAS (BP)–Penn Jillette, the verbal half of the magician duo Penn and Teller, and an outspoken atheist, has posted a YouTube video exhorting Christians to share their faith.

 

Penn and Teller are headliners in Las Vegas, and their shows generally are marked by foul language and shock appeal. Penn Jillette, though, used no coarse language in telling about an audience member who gave him a New Testament.

 

Jillette was signing autographs after a show last fall when he noticed the man standing over to the side of the crowd.

 

“And he had been the guy who picks the joke during our psychic comedian section of the show. He had the props from that in his hand because we give those away. He had the joke book and the envelope and paper and stuff,” Jillette said in the Dec. 8 YouTube video.

 

The man walked over to Jillette, complimented him on the show and handed him a Gideons New Testament.

 

“And he said, ‘I wrote in the front of it, and I wanted you to have this. I’m kind of proselytizing,'” Jillette said. “And then he said, ‘I’m a businessman. I’m sane. I’m not crazy.’ And he looked me right in the eyes.

 

“It was really wonderful. I believe he knew that I was an atheist. But he was not defensive, and he looked me right in the eyes,” Jillette said. “And he was truly complimentary. It didn’t seem like empty flattery. He was really kind and nice and sane and looked me in the eyes and talked to me and then gave me this Bible.”

 

Jillette then stated he doesn’t respect people who don’t proselytize.

 

“I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward, and atheists who think that people shouldn’t proselytize — ‘Just leave me alone, keep your religion to yourself.’

 

“How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?” Jillette asked. “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? If I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn’t believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

 

Jillette reiterated his impression of the man’s demeanor.

 

“This guy was a really good guy. He was polite and honest and sane, and he cared enough about me to proselytize and give me a Bible, which had written in it a little note to me — not very personal, but just ‘Liked your show,’ and then listed five phone numbers for him and an e-mail address if I wanted to get in touch,” Jillette said.

 

“Now I know there’s no God, and one polite person living his life right doesn’t change that. But I’ll tell you, he was a very, very, very good man, and that’s really important. And with that kind of goodness, it’s OK to have that deep of a disagreement. I still think that religion does a lot of bad stuff, but that was a good man who gave me that book. That’s all I wanted to say,” Jillette said at the end of the short video.

               Erin Roach, “Atheism: Penn Jillette Urges Evangelism”, Baptist Press, February 12, 2009.

 

III.  INITIATIVE

 

"Evangelism is not a professional job for a few trained men, but is instead the unrelenting responsibility of every person who belongs to the company of Jesus."

               Elton Trueblood

 

               A.  Go

 

 “for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And 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 they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!””

               Romans 10:13-15 NIV

 

          B.  Proclaim

 

“He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

               Luke 24:44-47 NIV

 

            C.  Compel

 

“When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 

 

Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. 

 

Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ “ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ ””

               Luke 14:15-24 NIV

 

A Christian man owned a barber shop. One night, at a revival meeting, the barber felt greatly burdened to do more with his testimony for Christ. The next evening, the barber began attending a "soul winners class" at his church. He attended faithfully every night for two weeks. He rehearsed all the material, took extensive notes, and memorized the assigned Bible verses. At the end of the two weeks he received a plaque acknowledging his completion of the course.

 

The next morning, in the barber shop, he hung the plaque and bowed his head. "Dear Lord," he prayed, "help me to witness to the first man to come through that door this morning." At that moment in walked the biggest, meanest, foulest man the barber had ever seen. It seems this man had recently lost a bet with some "biker" buddies and now he had to get his head shaved. Needless to say, the barber did not feel very comfortable quoting the "Roman Road" to a man with a tattoo on his neck.

 

The rest of the day did not go any better for the barber. At 5:00 p.m., the barber was sobbing with shame. He had not witnessed to a single person. He bowed his head again. This time he prayed, "Lord, if you will allow one more opportunity, I promise I will do my part." At that, the door opened and in walked a pleasant looking gentleman. The man smiled at the barber, apologized for coming in so late and took a seat in the chair.

 

As the barber draped the man in his protective sheet, he began to try to remember what he was supposed to say. He began to get very confused. As the barber put shaving cream on the man’s face, he tried to remember the answers he had learned to the possible objections. As the barber began to strop his razor, he realized that he simply could not remember a thing he had learned. This made the barber very nervous and soon sweat began to break out on his forehead.

Finally, in desperation, he shook the razor at the man and screamed, "ARE YOU PREPARED TO DIE??!!!"

               Sermon by Howard Parnell

 

CONCLUSION

 

Lee Strobel tells the story of a time when he felt God prompting him to go and share an Easter invitation in the business office of the newspaper where he worked. He didn’t know why. But, he listens to God. When he arrived, he saw his friend who was working in the business office.

 

It was an average routine day, and I was packing my stuff up to go home and I felt like God was kicking me in the butt and real specifically to go into the business office of the newspaper and invite my atheist friend to come to Easter services at our church. Because Easter was coming up, so I thought this is great. If God is really leading me to do this so specifically, this is gonna be spectacular. He's probably gonna repent right there, get on his knees and receive Christ. This is gonna be fantastic!

 

So, I walk over to the new business office with great anticipation. I walk in and look around. I see my friend behind his desk.

 

Perfect, so I said, “Hey how are you doing?”

 

He said, “I’m doing great”.

 

I said, “Hey, you know Easter is coming up?”

 

He said, “Lee, I’m an atheist, I don’t observe Easter”.

 

I said, “Yeah I know but Easter is when we remember that Jesus rose from the dead.”

 

He said, “No, he did not”.

 

I said, “Well actually there is good historical evidence he did.” I began to talk to him about the evidence historically Jesus rose from death and I'm trying to get in a bunch of stuff in and you could see his eyes are glazing over. So, I thought okay this isn't going well.

 

So, I took another tact, I said, “So um yeah, do you do you ever think about God?”

 

He said “No”.

 

Okay um, I said, “Do you have any questions about God”.

 

He said, “No”.

 

Okay um Hey look I said, “I know you like music, our church has got great music. Why don’t you come to Easter services, I think you’ll like the music”.

 

He said, “I don’t want to go to your stupid church.”

 

“Hey okay, um thanks. Um.. I’ll talk to you… you know where my office is if you ever have a question”.

 

I thought I screwed up and I thought what the heck was that. Why did God tug me so specifically to go and invite him to church and talk about Jesus and the resurrection? To this day he's still an atheist and I'm telling you this bothered me for years. 

 

But I'll tell you now the rest of the story.

 

Several years after that, by then I was a pastor at this church outside Chicago, I'd preached on a Sunday and a guy came up to me and said, “Can I just shake your hand and thank you for the spiritual influence you’ve had in my life.”

 

I said, “Well, that’s very nice. Who are you?”

 

He said “Well let me tell you my story. A few years ago I lost my job and I was panic-stricken. I didn’t have any money in the bank. I was gonna lose my house. I was going to lose my car. I went to the newspaper, and I said, “Hey you have any odd jobs I can do to earn a buck at the newspaper.”

 

And the guy said, “Well, can you tile floors?” and I said well “Yeah I’ve titled my bathroom. I think I can tile the floor.”

 

The guy said, “Well, we need some tiling installed and repaired at the newspaper so if you can do that we can pay you for a while”.

 

So, he said, I went to work at the newspaper. One day, an average day before Easter, I was in the business office of the newspaper, and I was on my hands and knees on the floor behind a desk working on some tile on the floor and you walked in the door. And I don’t even think you knew I was there. You start talking this guy about God, you start talking about the resurrection, you start talking about the historical evidence that Jesus really did rise, you started inviting him to church. But this guy was shutting you down and I’m on my hands and knees behind this desk. And my heart’s beating fast. I’m thinking I need God. I need to go to church. So as soon as you left, I called my wife. 

I said, “We’re gonna go to church on Easter”. She said, “What!”. I said, “Yeah”.

 

We came to your church that Easter. I came to faith. My wife came to faith and our teenage son came to faith. And I just wanted to thank you.”

 

I thought to myself, “This is a new form of evangelism.” Ricochet evangelism is where you share your faith, and it bounces off a hard heart. You just don't know where it's gonna go.

 

Friends this is the unexpected adventure of the Christian life. You don't want to miss this we can't do this in heaven this is our one chance so let's ask God to take us on these unexpected adventures.

               See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeO0HwS7Zi0

 

We must be intentional about evangelism.  It is important.  It must be a priority.  We must take the initiative.

 

INVITATION

 

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.