❓ What do these grades mean?
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
🧐 Overview
Theological Verdict & Summary
Sermon Summary: A passionate call to intimate evangelism and relational discipleship, challenged by significant theological distortions regarding grace, salvation, and the nature of prayer.
Pastoral Analysis: The sermon exhibits high energy and a strong desire for soul-winning, yet it is fundamentally compromised by a critical misinterpretation of God's irrevocable gifts, which borders on antinomianism. Furthermore, the homiletical structure relies heavily on moralistic imperatives for evangelism without anchoring them in the regenerative power of the Gospel, resulting in a 'dead orthodoxy' that demands action without providing the spiritual life necessary to sustain it.
Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Sardis — The sermon presents a 'name that it is alive, but is dead' orthodoxy. While it maintains the external form of Christian activity and evangelism, it fundamentally lacks the life-giving power of the Gospel. By promoting antinomianism regarding salvation and relying on moralistic effort for sanctification, the teaching severs the vital connection between grace and obedience, resulting in a dead works-righteousness that cannot save or sustain the soul.
Big Idea: Christians are called to move from identity to action by cultivating an intimate relationship with God in a 'secret place' and living out their faith through obedient, relational evangelism rather than theological perfection. [00:54:30 ▶️ 📄]
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: Acts 1:8
- Usage Classification: Thematic
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: Moderate
- Pulpit Decorum: ⚠️ CAUTION - The sermon contains coarse language and pejoratives ('witchcraft', 'crystals', 'ouija boards') used to describe secular behaviors, which may alienate listeners and lack pastoral sensitivity.
✝️ Christological Focus: Moralistic/Imitative
"Christ is presented primarily as the model for obedience and the object of evangelistic focus, rather than the source of the believer's power and identity."
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 8 | Referenced: 4 | Alluded: 2
📖 View 3 Passages Read Aloud
-
Psalm 23
[00:40:58 ▶️ 📄]
"the lord is my shepherd i lack nothing he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters he refreshes my soul he guides me along the right path for his namesake and even though i walk through the darkest valley i will fear no evil nothing will i fear for you are with me god for your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever"
-
Acts 1:8
[01:03:02 ▶️ 📄]
"you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and in all judea and samaria and to the ends of the earth"
-
Luke 10:2
[01:18:19 ▶️ 📄]
"the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few ask the lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field"
Key References: Romans 8:23, Romans 8:19-22, Acts 1:8, Luke 10:2
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 7,196 words
📌 View 17 Key Topics Addressed
-
Evangelism and Being Sent
[00:54:18 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor frames the sermon as a continuation of a two-week series on evangelism, moving from the identity of being 'sent' to the action of 'living sent'. -
Divine Sovereignty in Daily Life
[00:55:21 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues that life circumstances like work, school, and neighborhood are not random but are specific assignments placed by God. -
Identity vs. Action
[00:57:28 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor contrasts merely claiming Christian identity (e.g., Instagram bios) with the necessity of living out that identity through obedience and evangelism. -
Intimacy with God vs. Religious Activity
[00:58:49 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor identifies a disconnect in the Western church where people do things for God without knowing Him, contrasting this with doing things from a place of intimate knowledge of God. -
Intimacy with God vs. Religious Activity
[00:58:49 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor contrasts doing things for God without knowing Him against doing things from a place of intimate knowledge of God, identifying this as the 'missing link' in the Western church. -
Identity: Sons/Daughters vs. Employees
[01:00:58 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues that believers are not employees but sons and daughters, citing Jesus' example of doing only what He saw the Father do, which implies a relational basis for action. -
The Secret Place
[01:03:25 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor defines the 'secret place' as a consistent, consecrated time and location to meet God, essential for receiving the Holy Spirit's power and intimacy. -
Evangelism through Testimony
[01:10:42 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor clarifies that believers are called to be 'witnesses' who share their personal stories and experiences, rather than theologians who must have all the answers. -
Witnessing vs. Theologizing
[01:10:26 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor contrasts being a 'theologian' with being a 'witness,' asserting that believers only need to share their personal story of transformation rather than having all the answers. -
Obedience and Discipleship
[01:14:23 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor emphasizes that the believer's role is obedience to share the gospel, while God handles the results ('the increase'), citing the story of Tyler's rejection on the golf course as an example of faithful obedience regardless of outcome. -
The Harvest and Workers
[01:17:59 ▶️ 📄]
> Using Luke 10:2, the pastor argues that the 'harvest' (people ready for God) is plentiful, but the 'workers' are few, urging the congregation to stop being preoccupied and start stepping into situations God is already working in. -
Awareness and Notice
[01:22:15 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor introduces a framework for evangelism starting with 'noticing people,' encouraging believers to pray for awareness of who God is highlighting in their lives rather than just focusing on tasks or schedules. -
Noticing People
[01:22:22 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor argues that Christians must move from being preoccupied with tasks to actively seeing and caring for the people around them, starting with a prayer for awareness. -
Investing in Relationships
[01:24:02 ▶️ 📄]
> He emphasizes building genuine, long-term relationships ('iron sharpening iron') through consistent check-ins and shared life, rather than treating people as projects. -
Inviting to God
[01:25:03 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor instructs believers to point people to Jesus rather than themselves, specifically by praying with them and inviting them into spiritual moments. -
Redefining Success
[01:28:11 ▶️ 📄]
> He reframes evangelistic success as the believer's obedience to act, regardless of whether the other person accepts the invitation. -
Corporate Prayer
[01:30:34 ▶️ 📄]
> The segment concludes with a fervent, corporate prayer for specific individuals to be saved and for God's power to break their chains.
🖼️ View 10 Illustrations & Stories
-
Sermon Illustration
[00:53:04 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his friend Tyler leaving his Bible on the dashboard of the pastor's car, using it to transition into a discussion about the Bible as a 'sword'. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:52:15 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor uses a rhetorical comparison involving the President of the United States to illustrate the magnitude of God's presence in the room. -
Sermon Illustration
[01:00:12 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor uses an analogy of corporate America, where employees seven levels down execute tasks from a boss they have never met, to illustrate the disconnect of working for God without knowing Him. -
Sermon Illustration
[01:05:19 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor references an influencer leadership video about marriage, stating that couples must evolve together in new hobbies or initiatives to maintain intimacy, using this to parallel the need for consistent time with God. -
Sermon Illustration
[01:07:49 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor contrasts the hopelessness of explaining death to a non-believer with the hope of explaining it to a believer, citing the biblical promise that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. -
Sermon Illustration
[01:12:14 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor tells a story about his friend Tyler, who brought an excessive amount of items to a golf game, including invite cards for church. Tyler handed an invite to two men on the course; they rejected it, but the pastor uses this to illustrate that the goal is obedience to share the message, not the immediate result, as God plants the seeds. -
Sermon Illustration
[01:16:54 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares statistics from his church's Easter Sunday service: 90 new people attended, but only 4 returned. He uses this to reframe success, arguing that those 4 can reach a thousand, emphasizing that the pressure should be off the believers to 'win' people and on them to be obedient. -
Sermon Illustration
[01:20:47 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor describes a hypothetical scenario of a stressed co-worker to illustrate 'delayed obedience is disobedience.' He explains that believers often wait for perfect conditions to speak to others, but are called to act immediately when God prompts them to engage with those already burdened or searching. -
Sermon Illustration
[01:24:33 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal habit of calling a friend named Tyler every Tuesday morning at 8:30 to check in and 'rub shoulders,' illustrating the concept of consistent investment in relationships. -
Sermon Illustration
[01:27:30 ▶️ 📄]
> He shares a personal conviction that some of the most powerful 'church services' he has experienced occurred outside of a church building, in rooms where people were crying and God was moving, redefining 'church' as the gathering of people.
🚀 View 9 Calls to Action
-
Pastoral Charge
[00:54:05 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor asks the congregation to verbally affirm the sermon title 'Live Sent' to commit to the message. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:55:43 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor asks the congregation to verbally acknowledge their life as an 'assignment' from God. -
Pastoral Charge
[01:03:48 ▶️ 📄]
> Consecrate a specific time and place for consistent, intimate meeting with God. -
Pastoral Charge
[01:10:42 ▶️ 📄]
> Turn to a neighbor and verbally affirm their identity as a witness. -
Pastoral Charge
[01:10:42 ▶️ 📄]
> Turn to a neighbor and verbally affirm their identity as a witness. -
Pastoral Charge
[01:17:43 ▶️ 📄]
> Verbally repeat the word 'obedient' as a declaration of intent. -
Pastoral Charge
[01:23:04 ▶️ 📄]
> Pray a specific prayer of awareness to identify individuals God is placing on the believer's heart for evangelism. -
Pastoral Charge
[01:28:47 ▶️ 📄]
> Identify 1-3 people far from God, write their names down, and stand up. -
Pastoral Charge
[01:30:59 ▶️ 📄]
> Pray out loud for the specific individuals identified, asking God to use the congregation to reach them.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Fundamentally in Error
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Presentation | ❌ FAIL | The Gospel Engine is not intact. The sermon failed to ground its practical commands in the Gospel's grace, relying instead on moralistic effort and behavioral modification without sufficient reference to the Holy Spirit's regenerative work. |
| Soteriology | ❌ FAIL | The sermon contains a Critical error regarding the irrevocability of God's gifts, suggesting that divine gifting operates independently of moral repentance, which undermines the biblical link between justification and sanctification. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | While the sermon prioritizes subjective experience, it does not explicitly deny the authority of Scripture, though it risks subordinating it to charismatic disruption. |
| Hermeneutic | ⚠️ WEAK | The interpretation of 'irrevocable gifts' ignores the broader biblical context of sanctification, and the use of subjective charismatic language bypasses the ordinary means of grace. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | The sermon acknowledges God's sovereignty and power, though the prayer style leans towards manipulative coercion rather than submissive trust. |
| Sacramentology | ⚪ N/A | No sacramental errors detected; sacraments were not the focus of the report. |
| Confessional Depth | ❌ SHALLOW | The sermon lacks depth in explaining the theological 'why' behind the 'what,' relying on anecdotes and commands rather than robust doctrinal foundations. |
⚙️ The Core Gospel Framework
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
❌ The Law And Wrath: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Total Depravity And Inability: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Active Obedience Of Christ: Not observed in the sermon.
✅ The Cross And Atonement:
"they overcame who overcame the believers of christ overcame by the blood of the lamb which means i was saved by the blood of the lamb i overcame by" [01:11:18 ▶️ 📄]
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🔴 Critical Antinomian Misinterpretation of Irrevocable Gifts
Root Cause: Antinomianism
"The Bible says clearly the gifts of God are given without repentance. Meaning that you can live however you want to live and you still be gifted by God to do something." [00:59:02 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: The pastor asserts that 'you can live however you want to live and you still be gifted by God to do something,' separating divine gifting from moral repentance.
Why It's Dangerous: This teaching promotes antinomianism, suggesting that salvation and gifting are independent of sanctification, which destroys the biblical link between grace and holy living.
Biblical Correction: For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (Titus 2:11-12)
🟠 Major Homiletical Imbalance (Moralism)
Root Cause: Moralism
The Belief/Behavior: The sermon emphasizes practical advice and moral effort for evangelism and devotion, failing to ground the message substantively in the Gospel's grace and the Holy Spirit's regenerative work.
Why It's Dangerous: This leads to a 'dead orthodoxy' where believers are commanded to act without being empowered by the Gospel, resulting in burnout and legalism.
Biblical Correction: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
🟠 Major Coercive Prayer and Manipulation of Divine Will
Root Cause: Coercive Evangelism
"Lord God would you call us to notice them... Lord God would you flood them Lord flood their spaces with the presence and the power of God that they would get a glimpse." [01:31:24 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: The prayer treats God as a force to be manipulated, using coercive language to 'call us to notice,' 'invest,' and 'die to ourselves,' and demanding that God 'flood' spaces with power to achieve specific outcomes.
Why It's Dangerous: This undermines God's sovereignty and reduces prayer to a technique for forcing divine action, rather than a posture of submission and trust in God's timing and will.
Biblical Correction: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:10-13)
🟠 Major Charismatic Mysticism and Disruption of Biblical Order
Root Cause: Charismatic Mysticism
"God is here we're not too cool we don't have it all together i need god I'm all about to open your eyes Shake up the ground of all my tradition Break down the walls of all my religion" [00:42:21 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: The pastor sings 'Break down the walls of all my religion' and claims to 'open your eyes,' elevating immediate spiritual experience over the objective authority of Scripture.
Why It's Dangerous: This bypasses the ordinary means of grace and biblical order, suggesting that true communion with God comes through disruptive mystical experiences rather than the Word.
Biblical Correction: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
✅ Commendations
Evangelistic Passion | Relational Evangelism Framework
The pastor provides a practical, accessible framework for evangelism that emphasizes relational presence, listening, and consistent investment in others, moving beyond transactional approaches.
Pastoral Application | Redefining Success in Ministry
The pastor effectively reframes the metric of success from immediate results to faithful obedience, relieving the congregation of the pressure to 'win' souls and encouraging them to trust God with the outcomes.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:00] You love my project, that's my, that's my brother.
[00:08:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:08:04] Keep that phrase going, put your hands together like this.
[00:09:37] You love.
[00:16:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:16:14] Get y'all, isn't God are some first-time guests.
[00:16:26] If you're here for the first time or it's been a long time since you've been here, welcome home.
[00:16:33] Welcome to where God's called you to be, amen.
[00:16:35] Guys, can we welcome our first-time guests?
[00:16:43] So, if this is your first time here or it's been a long time, pull that card out, the U-card.
[00:16:49] You'll see it behind me on the screen.
[00:16:51] Take three minutes, fill it out.
[00:16:52] I promise we won't hound you, we'll call you one time, maybe send you a text.
[00:16:57] We just want you to know that you're at home, amen?
[00:17:00] Amen?
[00:17:00] Guys, let's welcome our guest again.
[00:17:06] As we begin to continue our worship, right?
[00:17:10] You know, when we give, that's a continuation of our worship, right?
[00:17:14] So, I want to challenge us with this this morning.
[00:17:17] Before we bring our offering, say, my offering, because it's God's tithe.
[00:17:25] You get that?
[00:17:26] it's my offering it's god's time i wanted to recognize something here i got a script this morning so this morning i'm up usually pretty early in the house and um i was sitting in my
[00:17:40] living room and i could see the open my door there's like a half moon and i looked out there ever seen that where the um where the sun is coming up and the uh the moon is disappearing
[00:17:54] and i looked at that and said my god that's beautiful you know you saw the little landscape there and the moon was disappearing and the sun was coming up. And you know what came to my mind?
[00:18:07] Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. He says his mercies are new every single morning. You may have had a terrible night, but he said my mercy and my grace is new this morning. I don't care what you've gone through. I don't care what the devil's brought
[00:18:29] your way. His mercy is new every morning. And I sat there and I began to cry because you know what?
[00:18:36] Sometimes you go through stuff, but you have to remember He is always there. Is somebody here?
[00:18:46] Someone needs to hear that. He is always right there. See, the darkest part of the night is just before the sun comes up. And He says this, even though you don't see Him, doesn't mean He's not
[00:18:58] there. So hear that. As you begin to bring your offering in God's tithe this morning, remember that God is right there with you. Amen. Let me pray with us this morning. There are three ways
[00:19:14] you can give. Very simply, you can scan the QR code behind me. You can text multiplylakenorman to 77977. Or you can give as the offering baskets are being passed this morning. Let me pray.
[00:19:27] Father God this morning in Jesus name we thank you for your presence Holy Spirit we just want you we just want you to take control of the service do what you do best and God as we bring
[00:19:40] our offering and your tithe have your way in this church have your way in our homes have your way in our families have your way in our marriages have your way in our children and God we thank you for what you do
[00:19:53] and we give you praise in Jesus Christ name Amen
[00:19:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:19:57] amen father we thank you for those new mercies as you stand to your feet we're going to go into
[00:20:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:20:05] another time of worship together i am an instrument of exaltation and i was born to lift your name above all names you hear the melody of all creation but there's a song of praise that
[00:20:36] only i can who else is worthy who else is worthy there is no one only you jesus who else is worthy Who else? There is no one but Jesus. You are the infinite, God of the angels. Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place.
[00:21:20] Who healed my brokenness, showed me your clothes of thanks, not even angels sing.
[00:21:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:21:35] Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one but you, Jesus.
[00:21:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:21:49] Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one but you.
[00:22:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:22:01] but have a surrender once again more specifically i believe there's people in this room that have
[00:39:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:39:11] just been weighed down by life just been weighed down by their circumstances they've been weighed down by their situation i'm not minimizing the pain but i am elevating the predicament so that you guys can see that the lord's will for your life is to not carry burdens every single day
[00:39:31] of your life and so i'm going to read a scripture but this is what i want us to do man this is a moment where it's just between us and god here's the thing don't ever want to step foot in this
[00:39:44] property and people do not experience transformation and so man we open these altars what is the altar the altar is a place where sacrifices happen but we can lay down our burdens before the lord
[00:40:00] he says cast your cares upon me because i care for you and some of you are carrying burdens that aren't even your burdens you're carrying burdens for your friends and your family some of you have
[00:40:15] family members that you are praying to god for their salvation and you're up to the point where you're like god i can't do anything else i just want us this morning if we would be so willing
[00:40:26] willing to surrender again and cast our burdens before the lord and so after i read this scripture i'm gonna ask man if your heart is feeling the heaviness of life would you come up into this
[00:40:42] altar and bow before the lord and we're going to go back into worship and i just want you to lay and cast your cares upon him this is what the scripture says in psalm 23 it says the lord is
[00:40:58] my shepherd i lack nothing he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters listen to this he refreshes my soul he guides me along the right path for his namesake
[00:41:16] and even though this is for some of us right now even though i walk through the darkest valley i will fear no evil nothing will i fear for you are with me god for your rod and your staff
[00:41:33] they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies that means he's preparing a place for you to rest in the midst of your circumstance in the midst of your enemies
[00:41:47] he's preparing a place for not just rest but nourishment you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and i will dwell in the
[00:42:02] house of the lord forever come on if you if you need something from god i just want you to without hesitation just come up to this altar and bow before a holy god and cast your burdens upon him
[00:42:14] come on there's no more waiting there's no more guessing god is here we're not too cool
[00:42:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:42:21] we don't have it all together i need god I'm all about to open your eyes
[00:42:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:42:27] Shake up the ground of all my tradition Break down the walls of all my religion Your way is better, your way is better Shake up the ground of all my tradition Break down the walls of all my religion
[00:42:56] Your way is better, your way is better Break down the walls Could we go?
[00:49:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:49:37] Could we go for the nourishment and the refreshing of our souls, Lord God?
[00:49:48] Lord, better is one day.
[00:49:52] One day, God.
[00:49:53] One day in your presence, Lord Jesus.
[00:49:56] Lord God, than anything else that we could be doing, better is one moment.
[00:50:00] Holy Spirit, commune with you, Lord God, than a thousand other places that we could be.
[00:50:07] Lord God, because those other things, they just satisfy us for a moment.
[00:50:13] But Holy Spirit, you satisfy us for eternity.
[00:50:16] you satisfy us forever today we recognize that we don't just recognize it but we surrender to it god lord you are the anchor of our souls but i pray that the anointing would be upon the rest of this
[00:50:37] service where god your word says that the gifts of god are without repentance or god i don't want to just be gifted i want to be anointed to do the work that you've called us to do would you
[00:50:51] anoint the rest of this service let your word go forth with power in jesus mighty name come on if you love jesus can you give him some praise in the place come on amen amen amen amen you guys can be
[00:51:08] seated you guys can be seated man let me just let me just say this if you're at multiplied church for the first time and you're like man what the heck was that that is the presence in the holy
[00:51:21] Spirit. That is the presence of God. The Bible says that he, meaning Jesus, inhabits the praises of his people. Inhabits to me means to live within. And so as you humbly come before the throne of
[00:51:36] grace into a church or into a place of worship and you give your praise before the Lord, he lives in it. And so when you start to praise, the presence of God starts to move. And when the presence of
[00:51:49] God starts to move there's things in your life that you get convicted of and I get convicted of and man we see what God can do when we lay our burdens at his feet and there's I don't know if
[00:52:02] you can kind of kind of sense this but there is it is lighter in the room so can we just give God praise that he's here okay if the president of the United States walked in here y'all would be crazy
[00:52:15] Can we give God some praise because the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is in this room?
[00:52:25] Amen.
[00:52:25] Come on, we got some rowdy people today.
[00:52:28] Amen, amen.
[00:52:29] Well, hey, my name is Trevor.
[00:52:31] I am one of the pastors here at Multiplied Church.
[00:52:34] And you can obviously tell that I am not Pastor Bill, clearly.
[00:52:39] Pastor Bill, he sends his greetings and he sends his love from New York, y'all.
[00:52:44] He's celebrating, him and Pastor Marianne are celebrating their 50th year wedding anniversary.
[00:52:50] Come on.
[00:52:52] Yeah.
[00:52:53] So today I have the honor and the privilege of bringing the word of life today.
[00:52:59] If you got your Bible, say word.
[00:53:02] Say it again, word.
[00:53:04] All right, my buddy Tyler, we went golfing, and my guy brings his Bible literally everywhere, okay?
[00:53:10] And he left his Bible on the dash of my car after I dropped him off.
[00:53:15] and I was going to text him a picture of his Bible.
[00:53:18] He beat me to it.
[00:53:19] He said, I forgot my Bible.
[00:53:20] And I was going to text him a picture of it and say, hey, you forgot your sword on the dashboard of my car.
[00:53:26] So actually, instead of saying words, say, I got my sword.
[00:53:31] Cool, cool, we got our swords today.
[00:53:33] The Bible says that the word of God is sharp and active than any other double-edged sword.
[00:53:38] It is able to cut between the bone and the marrow, the soul and the spirit.
[00:53:41] It is able to strike down every precept that brings itself above the knowledge who is in Christ Jesus, that means anything that doesn't sound like God, look like God, or whatever, you can have a scripture to defeat that perspective,
[00:53:54] that thing, right? So that's why it's your sword, okay? The sword of the Spirit, part of the armor of God. Everyone say this with me. Say, live sent. Say it again. Come on, guys. We could be a little
[00:54:05] better than that. Say, live sent. Live sent is the title of today's message. We are in a two-week series. I'm kind of finishing off the two weeks today about evangelism, about being sent by God,
[00:54:18] commissioned by God to go out and do the will of God. And here's what I want to say before we jump into this message. You don't have to be perfect, but you need to be available, okay? You don't have
[00:54:30] to be perfect, but you need to be available. So let me kind of recap. Last week, we talked about how when you said yes to Jesus and you started walking this thing out you were saved okay you
[00:54:43] were saved but Pastor Bill kind of put some identity on it and he said something like this you're not just saved but you're sent and so last week we talked about our identity as Christians to
[00:54:54] be sent and today I kind of want to kind of put some action to it and and kind of take us from identity to action and so yeah we might be know that we're sent but how do we live sent say live
[00:55:05] percent. So let me start by saying this, that your life is not random, okay? Your life is not random. Where you work, you might have thought that you did everything you can do to get that job,
[00:55:21] but God says in his word that he placed kings and people in high places of authority before man ever does. So you might have thought you got that job, but I would even venture to say that God gave you
[00:55:32] that job for a reason. So it's not random where you work, where you go to school, any college students or teenagers in the room, where you go to school is not random. Your neighborhood that
[00:55:43] you live in is not random. None of that is accidental, okay? It's an assignment. Everyone say assignment. We thought that when we graduated high school and maybe even graduated college that we were done with assignments. No, when you said yes to Jesus, you actually signed up for an eternal
[00:56:00] assignment, okay? So it is an assignment where you live, work, go to school. Every place you step foot can be territory for God to gain for the kingdom of God, okay? So through your obedience,
[00:56:15] everyone say obedience. I'm going to say everyone say a lot today because I need us to get this in our spirit, in our head, in our hearts because we got to live this thing out. We got to live this
[00:56:24] thing out because there's souls in the balance that do not know God. Here's the reality is that if you know anything about end time prophecy or end time or eschatology, what I would say is you would understand
[00:56:36] that every passing moment, we are getting closer and closer and closer and closer to the return of Christ.
[00:56:42] And so the reality is, is that the Bible says that Jesus says that I desire that none shall perish.
[00:56:48] None, that means the people that you overlook, the people that you walk by, the people that might smell a little weird, look a little weird or whatever, he desires them to know him and to be saved.
[00:56:59] so that's why it's an assignment and that we need to live this thing out so your obedience is what people should be hearing when you walk up to them and you start talking about the good
[00:57:13] news of Jesus Christ your obedience so I want us to shift today from identity to action because it's one thing for us to know that we're sent but it's another thing to actually live it out
[00:57:28] Does anybody know what I'm talking about?
[00:57:29] It's one thing to say I'm a Christian, but it's another thing to actually live this Christian life out, right?
[00:57:36] I tell this to students all the time.
[00:57:38] I'm a youth pastor, a young adult pastor, and whatever Pastor Bill tells me to do, Pastor.
[00:57:42] And so what I tell a lot of young people is this, is that, hey, you can't just have Romans 8.23 in your Instagram bio and live partying and getting drunk and all this stuff like the world and living crazy throughout the week, okay?
[00:57:55] It's one thing to say you're something, but it's a whole nother thing to live it out.
[00:58:01] And so for a lot of people, I think this is, man, where we get stuck, where we, this is the hinge pin on our life and relationship with God.
[00:58:10] It is not because you don't care.
[00:58:13] It's not because you don't love God, right?
[00:58:15] But it's because sometimes we just don't know where to start.
[00:58:19] And the topic in the context of evangelism, the Great Commission, a lot of times we just don't know where to start.
[00:58:26] And so I want to set the stage for us this morning because I believe that this right here is the missing link or the disconnect that we see in the Western church today, the American church is this, is that it's doing things for God, but not even knowing God versus doing things from a place of knowing God intimately.
[00:58:49] I'm going to say that again.
[00:58:50] Doing things for God without even knowing God versus what we should be doing is doing things out of a place of knowing God intimately.
[00:59:01] I just said it earlier.
[00:59:02] The Bible says clearly the gifts of God are given without repentance.
[00:59:09] Meaning that you can live however you want to live and you still be gifted by God to do something.
[00:59:16] But I don't want to just be gifted.
[00:59:18] i want to be anointed by god because this is what the bible says the anointing breaks the yoke of bondage so i could be a good communicator up on stage but do i have the anointing that when my
[00:59:30] words come forth and regurgitating the word of god is it breaking something within you that's the difference so i can do something for god and be gifted and not know him or i can do something
[00:59:45] and everything I do is a byproduct of my intimate walk with him. So, in other words, we can do so many things and not know God's heart. We could do so many things for God and not really know
[01:00:01] what he wants us to truly do. We can, I'll even put it this way, we could do a task for our supervisors, for our managers, for our higher-ups, for our superiors, and we don't even know them.
[01:00:12] man, I can tell you thousands of thousands of conversations upon, hey, my boss is telling me to do something, but to be quite frank with you, I've never even seen my boss. Some of you, you
[01:00:33] guys work in the corporate world, corporate America, you know this to be true. You might be like seven levels down doing like the downline of communication, the organizational chart that you're like down here and your boss is up here, but he's saying the vision that he wants and it's
[01:00:46] communicated down the line, and you guys are all doing different tasks, but you don't even know him or her. You don't know, but that's not the way it is in the kingdom of God. That's the world's way.
[01:00:58] That's not the kingdom's way. Why? Because in the kingdom's way, you're not employees. In the kingdom, you are sons and daughters, and the difference between sons and daughters is this. Jesus, he would say this to the disciples, and he would say this to the Pharisees when he would perform a
[01:01:15] miracle or when he would do something out of bounds crazy that just blew our minds and blew the disciples minds they would just ask the craziest question like lord how are you doing these things just like basic any of us would ask god how are you doing these things and jesus he
[01:01:29] says this to them he says nothing you've seen me do i do by myself i do it because i've already seen my father do it this is the difference between an employee working for god and not
[01:01:43] knowing God versus a son and a daughter working for God from an intimate place of knowing God.
[01:01:49] So we have to get that first. You aren't workers for God. You are sons and daughters of God that your life is your work for God. We can't have pastors and preachers that preach the word but
[01:02:03] don't live the word. And not only that, we can't have believers sitting in pews and seats on Sunday that hear the word but don't do the word.
[01:02:12] We gotta know God.
[01:02:14] We have to have an intimate place with God.
[01:02:17] It has to start here because here's the reality.
[01:02:20] If we don't have a biblical vision for our life, then we submit to this idea that we are just employees.
[01:02:26] We're just employees.
[01:02:27] We're not children of God because children see what their fathers do.
[01:02:33] So today, it's not about giving you more information.
[01:02:37] I don't wanna just give you information.
[01:02:39] I want to give you a direction.
[01:02:42] I want to give you a clear, simple way to go out and evangelize your world.
[01:02:51] But I want to lower the pressure first.
[01:02:54] Because a lot of us think that we've got to do this thing on our own.
[01:02:56] But here's what the Bible says in the book of Acts.
[01:02:58] Acts 1.8.
[01:02:59] Some of you know the scripture very well.
[01:03:01] It says this.
[01:03:01] It's going to be up on the screen.
[01:03:02] But you, say me, will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
[01:03:09] and you say me will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth what's the first thing we have to be with Christ we have to be with Christ we have to
[01:03:25] have a secret place what is the secret place the secret place is a place that you go to meet God consistently some of you your secret place is in a room in your house some of you your secret place
[01:03:36] says, man, it's driving your car, and you, man, that car is Holy Ghost filled. You have moments with God in that car on your commute to work or wherever you're going. Some of you, you're just like, well,
[01:03:48] I just pray without ceasing. Well, yes, but you need to have a place. You need to have a place where you go to be with God. You need to consecrate a place that says this, God,
[01:04:03] God, this is the place where I meet with you.
[01:04:09] This is the place where I cry to you.
[01:04:12] This is the place where I get mad at you.
[01:04:15] This is the place where I cast everything to you.
[01:04:20] And if you do that, God will speak to you.
[01:04:22] God will speak to you in that secret place.
[01:04:24] But we have to have one to begin with.
[01:04:27] We have to have time, consistent time.
[01:04:32] Because why?
[01:04:33] we have to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to go out and to do the work that God has called us to do. If you do not have a secret place, you are missing out on the best part of your relationship
[01:04:46] with God. That is the intimacy piece. Let me be a little just blunt with you guys. If you're married in the room, if you don't have intimacy, then you're missing out on the best part of your
[01:04:59] relationship, okay? The reason for that, and I'm not just talking about sexual intimacy. I'm talking about real connection. One of these influencer leadership guys, I don't even know his name. I was watching one of his videos, and he said something that really resonated with me
[01:05:19] that I want to apply to my marriage. It's this. It's kind of crazy because, like, I don't see it happening the way it should, but it's like, it makes sense. He said, hey, whatever you're doing,
[01:05:33] if you're reading a new book, if you're starting a new initiative, if you're, you're, you're doing a new, you're, you're taking up a new hobby, whatever you're doing, you should do it with your spouse. Because, and the reason for that he was saying is because if you don't, then one of
[01:05:48] you is evolving and one of you is being left behind. And so, so, so it's not just sexual intimacy. It's what are you, are you doing things together? Are you together? The intimacy, if you
[01:06:03] miss it on that, man, you're missing out on the best part of your relationship. Likewise, if we miss out on the secret place with God, we are missing out on the best part of our relationship
[01:06:13] with him. And so you have to have a secret place because you have to be empowered by God. Romans 8 19 through 22 it says this i'm going to paraphrase a little bit it says all the earth
[01:06:24] all of creation is groaning for the sons and daughters of god to be revealed romans 8 19 through 20 i'm gonna read again all of creation is groaning when for the sons and daughters of
[01:06:44] earth to be revealed, of God to be revealed. We have something different that the world has to offer people. And man, if we can get that in our spirit, hey, I'm not just keeping up with the
[01:07:02] Joneses. I have a hope that so-and-so needs. I have the answer that so-and-so has been looking for. I have a hope that no one else knows about. I'll give you a couple examples when there's
[01:07:15] sickness in the world and and because of sin man with their sickness in our lives and there's these these terrible terrible things that happen in disease and all this stuff because of sin because of the fall of man but to look at someone that does not have a relationship with god and them
[01:07:31] have no hope of a potential healing versus looking somebody looking at somebody that is faith-filled walking with the lord and says no the bible says let's gather the elders around anointed with oil and the sick shall recover there's a hope that i get to explain to people let's take death for
[01:07:49] example death people die in this world loved ones they pass on from this life and they go into eternity i'm gonna give you i'm gonna give you two things the first thing is to look at someone
[01:08:05] that has no that has no faith in christ and try to explain the concept of death to them and to say things like man i'm just i'm sorry i'm praying with you i'm mourning with you whatever it
[01:08:16] is, and that's what the natural response, even if you're not a believer, that's what the natural response is. But to look at somebody that is faith-filled and say, I know a God that raises dead people to life, and that might seem a little zealous to you, but man, I feel like we just need
[01:08:30] to make a little bit more faith talk in our lives, right? Faith talk that says, hey, I know a God that can raise the dead to life, but even if he doesn't, even if he doesn't, here's the hope. To be absent
[01:08:43] from this body is to be present with the Lord. To be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. Someone that does not have faith in Jesus has no second thing. Like, do you know the
[01:08:52] whole thing that was going around a while ago? YOLO, you only live once. Well, that's not right for believers. You live twice. And so to explain to somebody that has no hope in God, like, hey,
[01:09:03] you know, they're just gone and I'm more. But imagine what it would be like to give somebody that someone's just passed away in their life, you say, hey, you know what?
[01:09:16] If they love Jesus, if that person had a relation with God, the Bible says that to be absent from this body is to prove present with the Lord.
[01:09:26] They are rejoicing pain-free.
[01:09:29] They are rejoicing at the feet of Jesus.
[01:09:31] And guess what?
[01:09:32] I'll take it even a step further.
[01:09:33] If you don't know God, there's a chance that you won't see them again one day.
[01:09:38] But man, if you can surrender your life to Jesus, that loved one that you are mourning over and caring about so deeply, you will see them again one day in heaven. We have a hope that this
[01:09:49] world does not have. God is not looking for the perfect denomination. He's not looking for the perfect church. He's not looking for the perfect man or woman. He's not looking for the perfect congregation. He's not looking in the church house. He's not looking in the white house.
[01:10:11] he's looking for sons and daughters to manifest the works of Jesus here on the earth that's what he's looking for he's looking for you and I to manifest the works of Christ but I want you to
[01:10:26] notice what Jesus says in Acts 1 verse 8 he says you'll be my witnesses he doesn't say you'll be my theologians he doesn't even say you will have all the answers he says you will be my witnesses
[01:10:42] turn to your neighbor say you're a witness and so what do witnesses do witnesses they simply share what they've seen and they share what they've experienced witnesses share what they've seen and shared what they have experienced that's it which means which means this you don't need to
[01:11:06] have all the answers you just need your story every single one of us has a story every single one of us has a has a past has a testimony that god has has blessed and transformed our story
[01:11:18] to be redemptive in nature and to be able to communicate that to other people and this is what the bible says it says that they overcame who overcame the believers of christ overcame by the blood of the lamb which means i was saved by the blood of the lamb i overcame by jesus's
[01:11:35] sacrifice on that cross but it says and by the word of their testimony which means I am saved but I'm also overcoming by the word that I share with people and the word that sits deep richly in
[01:11:48] my heart about the experience of what I've seen by God and what I know by God what he's doing in my life you just need to share your story you know it's so funny I'm like in church world we make
[01:12:02] this thing so, so kind of cringy and weird. Man, just go out and start talking to people and have conversations with people. I'll tell you a quick story. It's not in my notes. I gotta bring up
[01:12:14] him again. My guy Tyler right here. We go golfing a lot, and I still beat him every day, by the way.
[01:12:25] Joking, joking. But this past Easter, we were, we were, we were golfing, and we were on the, on the course, and if you know Tyler, you know that he does everything like extra. Everything's extra,
[01:12:39] right? And what I mean by that is my boy had his golf bag in the back of the cart, but he had his backpack with his two work computers in the cart. He had his Stanley, this Stanley water bottle that
[01:12:51] does not fit in the cup holder. He's got food for everyone, and when I say everyone, I mean people that are just passing out. You want some food? Like this is what he does. This is real, okay?
[01:13:00] And not only that, we're sitting there, and I'm like, bro, you got a lot of stuff.
[01:13:03] And the reason why I said you got a lot of stuff is because spilling out of, if you ever golf, the golf carts, the little carrier luggage spot, it's small, okay?
[01:13:13] Spilling out of the golf cart as we're driving away is all of these invite cards for Easter to come to church.
[01:13:19] And I remember, like, we're driving, whatever hole we're on, and these guys are like, you know, we play a little slow because we're not that good.
[01:13:27] And so the guys are pushing up on us, and they're at a good pace, right?
[01:13:33] And these guys, they get up to the tee box.
[01:13:36] We haven't even teed off yet, okay?
[01:13:38] So you know, like, this is bad.
[01:13:40] This is not good etiquette, right?
[01:13:41] And so we're about to tee off, but Tyler don't care about pace of play.
[01:13:45] He's going to witness, okay?
[01:13:47] He's going to witness to somebody.
[01:13:48] And so he goes up to the guy, and there's two guys.
[01:13:51] They're sitting there, and he gets out.
[01:13:53] He hands them to them and goes, hey, I just wanted to invite you to my church this Sunday.
[01:13:56] If you're not going anywhere for Easter Sunday, I just want to invite you guys.
[01:13:59] Here's a card.
[01:14:00] Service times are on there, whatever, what have you.
[01:14:01] The guy, I kid you not, the guy literally took the card, said, no, I'm good, thanks, and handed it back to him.
[01:14:09] But here's the thing.
[01:14:11] It's not about Tyler being or I were being rejected.
[01:14:15] It was about his obedience to then go out and just do what God has called him to do.
[01:14:23] And here's the beauty of that.
[01:14:24] Because the scripture says, some plant, some water, but God ultimately brings the increase.
[01:14:32] We don't know, based off of that little interaction, what seed was planted.
[01:14:40] That guy's grandma could have been praying for him for years to come to know God.
[01:14:44] And all of a sudden, he's like, man, I was golfing and this guy, he was just like, not like any other Christian man.
[01:14:49] He would come up to me just like, just unashamed and asking me about Jesus and giving me this invite card.
[01:14:54] Those are seeds that are being planted, and we don't have to worry about whether, man, I won them to God or I didn't win them to God.
[01:15:01] That's not our job.
[01:15:03] Our job is just to be, watch this, obedient, obedient, because God ultimately brings the increase.
[01:15:13] And so just have conversations with people.
[01:15:16] You know, some of you feel pressure.
[01:15:18] You're like, you know, I don't know enough.
[01:15:21] I don't know enough.
[01:15:23] That's why you have a testimony.
[01:15:25] because at least you know that. At least you know what God has brought you through. He doesn't say you'll be my theologians. He says you will be able to tell people what you've seen and what
[01:15:38] you've experienced. And so to the person that's dealing with an addiction in your life, you can go up to them and say, hey, look, I really don't know a lot about theology, and I'm not like a
[01:15:50] Bible scholar, and I'm really not that educated at all in this, but one thing I do know is that I've tried every meeting. I've tried counseling. I've tried everything, and all those things are good, but then I met Jesus, and that's when something changed forever. That's when something
[01:16:10] shifted forever, and you could tell somebody that, and all of a sudden, that hope that's in you is being made manifest out to them, and they start to say, oh, wait, wait, wait. Maybe God
[01:16:20] can do this, and then all of a sudden, they step foot in the church doors for the first time in years, and they bow their heart at the altar, and they give their life to God, and they're surrounded
[01:16:29] by people that are going to walk with them and hold them accountable. And little by little, that addiction is either going to break in one moment, or it's going to break over time based off of
[01:16:37] the community and the iron that's being sharpened by community and church. I'm giving you these practicals so you can see how this thing really works. It's not just, we try our best efforts, and we put on this performance, and oh my gosh, it's really great. Come to Jesus. Can I be honest
[01:16:54] with you? There was 90 people came to church for the first time on Easter Sunday. 90 brand new people. Four of them came back. Why am I telling you that? You might say, well, y'all didn't do
[01:17:11] good enough. That's what we talk about in meetings. Like, oh, maybe we didn't. But then Pastor Bill, in all his wisdom and his authority, really, he said, hold on, guys. You don't see what I see. You see 90 or you see 86 that left. I see four that stayed. And those four can reach a
[01:17:33] thousand. So we have to get the pressure off of us and just be obedient. Say obedient.
[01:17:43] The second thing is I want to reframe the mission field, okay? Right? So let's talk about where this actually happens. Because most people think evangelism is something out there. It's out there.
[01:17:59] But Jesus says something interesting, and it's in Luke chapter 10, verse 2. He says this, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. It says the harvest is plentiful. In other words,
[01:18:19] people are ready. People are ready. Why? Because people are hurting. People don't have hope.
[01:18:28] People are searching for meaning and purpose in life. People are open. I'm gonna share just a quick, it's not a statistic or anything like that. However, amongst people that work in this field, the youth space, the educational space, the church space in youth and young adult ministries,
[01:18:48] one thing we're seeing is that this generation is more open to things spiritually than any other generation before so that doesn't always translate into faith sometimes that translates into i'm gonna be honest i think we just got to say it in church sometimes that translates into witchcraft that
[01:19:05] translates into crystals and sage and ouija boards and tarot card readings and that translates into all this stuff which is demonic but the point i'm trying to make is that they are open to something
[01:19:22] spiritually more than any other generation before. And so that is why your and I, our roles are so vitally important because people are wanting God. They just, man, the harvest is plentiful. That is set in stone. But the workers is the problem. The workers are few. The problem is not that no one
[01:19:48] wants God. The problem is that not enough people are stepping to what God is already doing in people's lives. It's called a fancy church word we use called discipleship. Not enough people are stepping into what God is already doing in so-and-so person's life. Why? It's because
[01:20:09] we're not, it's because we're busy. It's because we're preoccupied. And so I want you to listen to this. I want you to just hear what I'm saying and hear my heart. You're not creating opportunities
[01:20:22] for people to know God. You're not creating it. You're stepping into what God is already doing in that person's life. Like that guy on the golf course. We don't know what God has been doing in
[01:20:33] his life up until that moment. But we are called to be obedient to step into situations that maybe we're going to water the seed a little bit. And that's not random. I want you to think about that
[01:20:47] co-worker that's always stressed out at work. And man, I know this to be true because it happens to me. And look, like, we'll stand far off, and we'll see, like, a situation. Take this co-worker that's
[01:21:00] stressed at work, right? And we'll see this situation, and it will be like, okay, God's prompting your heart to go and talk to them. But you stand there, and you wait, and you wait, and
[01:21:12] you're like, God, you make these little side contracts with God. You're like, oh, God, well, maybe if they turn towards me, God, I'll step. Or maybe if they, like, sit next to me at lunch
[01:21:21] break, I'll say something. But that's not the case. You are to be obedient when God starts to speak.
[01:21:30] Delayed obedience is disobedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Is there grace? Yes.
[01:21:37] But do you want to see God use you or not? That's the question. And so the co-worker that's always stressed, that friend that's walking through something heavy, that family member that's searching for God. They're searching for God, and man, they're, they're just, they're, they're
[01:21:54] burdened. They're, they're bound. These are the people in our lives, and that's not random. That's your mission field. That is your mission field. So I'm going to give you guys three quick, three quick things, kind of a framework to evangelism, a framework to evangelism. It's going to be very
[01:22:15] simple. The first thing is, I want you to start noticing people. I want you to notice people.
[01:22:22] Jesus, when he would walk the earth, the scripture talks about it many times, he would enter in a place and it says that he would have compassion on them. What was Jesus doing? He was noticing
[01:22:34] people. We can't just be so preoccupied that we pass our neighbors on the way to church, but not tell them about church and tell them about Jesus and tell them about the community, right? We have to notice people. This starts with awareness, right? Most of us, we're moving
[01:22:50] fast through life, we don't actually see people. We see tasks. We see schedules. We see the next thing, but we miss the people right in front of us. So to live sent starts with this prayer. And
[01:23:04] this is the prayer that I pray in my life. It's this, is that God, who are you highlighting in my life? God, who are you bringing to my heart? Who are you bringing into my mind? So this is
[01:23:14] very practical church. Like when you wake up in the morning, God, who are you highlighting today in my life. When you walk, you step foot at your workplace. God, who are you highlighting in my
[01:23:23] life? Not just to say, hey, you need to do a task for me, but to say, hey, how are you? How's your soul? What do you mean by that? You know, because it's what we do. Hey, how are you? I'm tired.
[01:23:34] What does that mean? Have real genuine conversations with people, okay? So God, who are you highlighting in my life? Who's the one person at work? Who's the one person at school, right? Because you cannot
[01:23:45] reach who you don't see okay you cannot reach who you do not see the second thing is after you've noticed somebody invest in somebody so once you noticed once you notice them you invest in them
[01:24:02] right this is where we build relationships this is this is the vision of the church life family freedom purpose this is discipleship this is ironing sharpening iron the iron sharpening iron And this is you investing and being in community with somebody, knowing their family, knowing what they're going through, like those types of things, right?
[01:24:20] These aren't projects.
[01:24:22] These are relationships.
[01:24:23] These are people.
[01:24:24] So you show up.
[01:24:25] You listen.
[01:24:26] You care.
[01:24:27] How?
[01:24:28] Maybe it's grabbing coffee.
[01:24:29] Maybe it's grabbing lunch.
[01:24:30] Maybe it's just checking in.
[01:24:33] On Tuesday morning at 830, I call Tyler every single Tuesday morning just to talk, just to check in, just to rub shoulders together and talk about life and talk about the things of God.
[01:24:47] And sometimes it's him sharpening me and other times it's me sharpening him.
[01:24:53] And so it's very simple, invest in people.
[01:24:56] Who's that one person that you have on your heart?
[01:24:58] Third thing, invite people, invite people, right?
[01:25:03] Because you don't want to point somebody to you, you want to point somebody to God, okay?
[01:25:08] You can be somebody's accountability partner, man, and they trust you. You can call them out. They hear you. They understand you. They listen to you.
[01:25:15] They apply what you say. But if you do not then invite them to see God, then you're missing it because then they'll just rely on you and they'll never step into relying on God. And so you have to
[01:25:30] invite people. So at some point in this relationship, you invite. You invite them into a space or you invite them into a conversation. You invite them into a moment with God. Hey man, let me pray with
[01:25:40] you. Let me pray with you. I know you're dealing with some stuff. I just want to pray with you right here. And this is what we say. Let's get rid of this, guys. Let's get rid of the whole thing
[01:25:48] like I'm praying for you. Yeah, I'm praying for you. Let's be honest. How many times do we say I'm praying for you but never pray? How many times do we say, yeah, I'm praying for you as an escape
[01:25:59] to get out of the conversation, but we never actually pray? I want you to start doing something different. I want you to say, you know what? No, no, no. Let's stop. Let's pray right now.
[01:26:06] let's pray right now and let's put some faith to this thing let's put some some action into what we confess and believe because people need this message it doesn't have to be a complicated thing
[01:26:22] but man if you understand i'm saved my name's written down in heaven but i don't want to just fatten myself up with god's blessing no i want to pour out with god's blessings i want to notice
[01:26:42] people. I want to walk by someone and the discernment of the Holy Spirit comes on me and says, Trevor, turn around. Go pray with them. Go talk to them. I want to then invest in them. I want to
[01:26:58] follow up. Hey, we had that brief conversation, man, and it was powerful. I love getting to spend some time with you. But hey, can we get something consistent on the calendar? Let's just do it
[01:27:09] right now. Invest. And then after some time and you've built that trust, man, it's like, hey, listen, man, you want to come to church with me?
[01:27:22] And matter of fact, like, you don't even have to wait till Sunday.
[01:27:26] Here's what I'm reading.
[01:27:27] Here's what God's speaking to me.
[01:27:30] Some of the most powerful church services I've ever had have never been in church.
[01:27:34] Now that sounds kind of like oxymoron, like that doesn't make sense.
[01:27:38] It's contradictive.
[01:27:39] But the reality is, is that church is the people.
[01:27:42] And so when I have a church service, it's when the people gather.
[01:27:45] And so some of the most powerful church services I've ever had have been in a room somewhere where I'm crying and they're crying and God's moving and he's revealing things.
[01:27:54] So invite them into relationship with God.
[01:28:01] So I want to make it doable because I know what you're thinking.
[01:28:03] What if I say the wrong thing?
[01:28:04] What if I say no?
[01:28:05] Or what if they say no?
[01:28:06] What if it's awkward?
[01:28:08] I want to reframe the success for you.
[01:28:11] Success is your obedience.
[01:28:14] Success is not whether they say yes or no to coming to church, yes or no to joining your small group, yes or no to coming to your Bible study.
[01:28:21] success is you saying yes to God and walking it out. That's success. So you're not responsible for their yes. You're responsible for how you respond to God. And so I want to make this real
[01:28:36] right now. I don't want this to just be a message you hear. So right now, right now, I want you guys to think for a moment. I want you to think in your head, one to three people, one to three people.
[01:28:47] I want you to take out your phones, get your notes, whatever your pad, your little note-taking pad right next to you, your journal, write it next to your Bible, write it next to Acts 1A. I want you
[01:29:01] to think of one to three people in your life who are far from God. You already know who they are.
[01:29:12] It might be a friend, it might be a co-worker, a neighbor, a family member. I just want you to lock it into your mind. I want you to write it down and we're going to do something bold. We're
[01:29:29] going to do something bold. I want everyone to stand. Everyone to stand all across the room after you've written that down.
[01:29:35] I want to do something bold because like I said before at the front side of this message, man, it's not enough just to say these things, but I got to live these things.
[01:29:43] I got to live these things.
[01:29:44] There'll be more people coming to know Jesus.
[01:29:47] Our world will look a little different if the people that flood pews and seats on Sunday mornings would actually live this thing out.
[01:29:52] Man, I'm so convicted of this thing because I've lived a life of just kind of doing ministry and being far from God.
[01:29:59] I've been there.
[01:29:59] Trust me, I'm being vulnerable so that you can see it's not just you, it's me too.
[01:30:03] Trevor, you have to live this thing out.
[01:30:07] Because people's souls weigh in the balance.
[01:30:11] We're not going to pray casually.
[01:30:13] We're going to pray fervently.
[01:30:18] We're going to pray with faith.
[01:30:20] Faith says they can be saved.
[01:30:23] Faith doesn't say, oh, they're too far gone.
[01:30:24] Or, oh, just leave them alone.
[01:30:26] Faith says they will be saved.
[01:30:30] Faith says they will change for the glory of God.
[01:30:34] So let's pray together.
[01:30:35] I'm going to lead us in prayer.
[01:30:37] I just want you to pray out loud.
[01:30:39] I know this is kind of a, it can be awkward, but I want to stretch you this morning because, man, we can be comfortable staying like this, but when we start to lift our voice,
[01:30:48] something dies inside of us, and that's called our pride.
[01:30:52] And if you want God to use you, we got to kill that thing.
[01:30:57] So I want us to pray together.
[01:30:58] Let's pray.
[01:30:59] I don't want to be the only one praying.
[01:31:00] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, Lord, I lift up these people to you.
[01:31:06] Lord, I lift up their souls to you.
[01:31:08] Lord God, you already know who they are.
[01:31:10] You already know what they've gone through.
[01:31:12] You already know what they're in need of, Lord Jesus.
[01:31:15] Lord God, would you use us, Lord God, to be the voice, Lord, to be the hands, the feet of Jesus.
[01:31:21] Lord God, would you call us to notice them, Lord God?
[01:31:24] Would you call us to invest in them, Lord God?
[01:31:26] Would you call us, Lord God, to die to ourselves, Lord God, and not just point them to us, but point them to you, Lord God?
[01:31:33] We pray, Lord God, the prodigals into the kingdom.
[01:31:36] Lord God we pray for our loved ones Lord God we pray for the co-worker that's stressed and downtrodden Lord God would you lift the heavy burden right now Lord God every situation that comes against them Lord God
[01:31:48] would it be broken in the name of Jesus every chain and addiction Lord God would it come crashing down because the anointing of God Lord God comes over them wherever they're at in their rooms in their schools
[01:31:59] Lord God wherever they're doing right now Lord God would you flood them Lord flood their spaces with the presence and the power of God that they would get a glimpse.
[01:32:09] Man, there's some people in Mooresville, North Carolina that are invading heaven on behalf of their souls.
[01:32:15] Lord God, they would come to know the name of Jesus Christ.
[01:32:19] We pray all this in the matchless name of Jesus.
[01:32:23] Can you seal that with a praise right now?
[01:32:26] Come on, praise God right now.
[01:32:28] Amen.
[01:32:34] So this is what I want you to do.
[01:32:35] I want you to take one step this week.
[01:32:37] Whether you notice somebody and you reach out, whether you've been noticing somebody and you, and you just, now you need to invest in them.
[01:32:43] I want you to take that step. Or maybe you've been investing in them and you've been waiting for the right moment to bring them and just point them to Christ. Now's your moment. I want you to
[01:32:51] do that this week. Just take one step because you're already saved, but now you're being sent.
[01:32:58] You're being sent to live this thing out and go win people for Jesus. Amen. Amen. Hey, really quickly before we go really quickly before we go i want to remind you guys of a couple of things
[01:33:11] first thing is youth camp is coming up youth camp is coming up parents you can send your kids to any you you can tell them don't go to anything in youth ever but bring them to youth camp send
[01:33:24] them to youth camp this is where their faith is going to be challenged they're going to be stretched some of them are going to give their life to jesus for the very first time if you have
[01:33:32] a 6th to 12th grader or a rising 6th grader, you can scan that QR code and sign up and bring them to camp. It's July 5th through the 9th. There's a ton of fun stuff. You can see me afterwards if
[01:33:44] you want more information on what actually is going to happen at the camp. Also, if you were not baptized the past couple weeks and you want to be baptized, you'll be receiving an email this
[01:33:54] week on when that is, okay? So we did not forget. We did not leave you hanging. You're going to know exact date that you can be baptized amen amen hey well life family freedom purpose that's what
[01:34:10] we're about and so when you leave this place live on mission live on mission live sent okay we'll see you next week same time same place as you continue to love jesus and change the world we'll
[01:34:26] see you next week





