How to Share The Gospel with ANYONE | There Is More: Endgame | Pastor Josh Howerton

Hey guys, thanks for checking out this Bible teaching. Every week we release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon. It's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free. An episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Point YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free now. Enjoy this Bible teaching. All right, it's going to be a good day. It's going to be a good day. Hey, if you guys got your Bibles, head over to Acts 25 and 26. I want to do something real quick because let me cut something off of the past. I get it every Mother's Day, every Father's Day. Let me cut it off the past. So, every Mother's Day and Father's Day, a bunch of the single people in the church, they grab me and they're like, ah, you do stuff for moms, you do stuff for dads, and you do more stuff, singles mixers or whatever it is. So let me just, it happens every Mother's Day, I'm going to cut it off of the past. Right now, at all of our campuses, if you are a single dude that loves Jesus and are not creepy, would you raise your hand right now? Right now, I'm serious. Hey, I ain't joking one bit. Thank you. Keep it up. Keep them up. Get them up.

Don't, listen. Right now, get them up. Get them up. Don't put them down. Don't put them down. Don't put it down. All right, all the ladies, you look around. Everybody look around. Keep them up. Keep them up, man. She might have started looking over here. She hasn't got to you yet. Keep it up. Keep them up. All right. Ladies, everybody look around. All right, y'all do what you're supposed to do. I'm going to do Father's Day. Okay, that's great. Okay. Now, here's what we're doing today. If you're brand new with us, I just need to give you a heads up. Here's how we roll here at Lake Point. If you're brand new and you're like, oh, man, he's going to do a cotton candy sermon. It's going to be 18 minutes and three poems and two verses and a story about being a mom. That's not what I'm going to do. If you're new here, here's how we roll. The ladies of Lake Point, what they want is they want the Word of God. That's what they want. Okay.

That's what we're going to do. We're rolling right in. We are in a series right now called There Is More End Game where we are preaching verse by verse through the Book of Acts all the way up to the end of the Book of Acts. The events of these books, what it's going to do is it centers around a guy named the Apostle Paul. Now, what you've got to know about Paul, I want to remind you of this, what you've got to know about Paul is he starts the Book of Acts as literally a religious terrorist. Think ISIS, think Hamas. He's literally traveling around killing people for being Christians. Then he meets Jesus, bends his knee to Jesus, it gets on him, then it gets in him, then it changes him. Then he, for the rest of the Book of Acts, he literally, check this out, he walks, rides, and sails somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 miles, planting these little churches, telling everybody about Jesus in primarily Greece and Turkey. Then by the end of the Book of Acts, the dude that started by killing Christians for being Christians, he ends up, after the events of the Book of Acts, being killed and beheaded in the city of Rome for being a Christian and testifying to Jesus Christ. Now, I just want to say this side note. If you got dragged here by mom or grandma and you're like, I'm not into this, in fact, I hate this thing, I just want to warn you, man, and I mean this for real, you better watch out because this thing will get on you, it'll get in you, it'll change you. God can use anybody. He can use you. He can use anybody. That's a whole bunch of people's story in this room right here, so watch out. What we're gonna see in Acts 25 and 26, this is like the linchpin thing that sets off the chain of events that leads to the apostle Paul's beheading. Now I want to set it up like this. I'm a church rat, I'm a third generation pastor, and so people send me, I collect church signs.

They send me church signs. I got a little folder on my computer of dumb church signs. My favorite ones I've ever been sent, somebody sent them to me six years ago, and here's why, I was told that there were two churches in Ohio, okay? So let me set it up like this. Now first, it started with Our Lady of Martyrs Catholic Church, going to put it up there, and I don't know what, they just got a weird, they just were feeling funky one weekend and they went, all dogs go to heaven. I don't know where that came from, but I don't know where a lot of their stuff comes from. That's a whole different sermon, okay? So this is where they started. Now, the Presbyterian church across the street did what Presbyterians do, and they needed to correct everybody else's theology. So this is what, they fired off the next week, only humans go to heaven and read the Bible. It's very Presbyterian, very Presbyterian. Okay, now, the next week, the Catholics, they weren't done, so the Catholics fired right back. Here we go, and they went, God loves all his creations, dogs included, okay? Now we got a thing going, so we got a thing going. So the next week, the Presbyterians come back, and they're not done yet. Dogs don't have souls, this is not open for debate, okay? So now we're, this is an escalating warfare situation. Now, the Catholics aren't done, they go back the next week, we're five weeks running, Catholic dogs go to heaven, Presbyterian dogs can talk to their pastor, this is what they say, okay? Now again, Presbyterians, you know, they got some fight in them, so next week, Presbyterians, converting to Catholicism does not magically grant your dog a soul, this is what we have. Now the Catholics, they're gonna, let's take it a different direction. Free dog souls with conversion,

that now we're marketing, now we're marketing. Now we go back across the street at the Presbyterians. Dogs are animals, there aren't any rocks in heaven either. I got theological quibble here, but that's a different discussion. Now, the Catholics aren't done yet either. Now we finished, all rocks go to heaven. We finished where we started. Now, here's my point. Check this out, here's my point. What we are awesome at, what we are awesome at as Christians a lot of times, is fighting with people on the inside instead of reaching people on the outside. We're awesome at that, awesome at it. What you're gonna see in Acts 25 and 26 is everywhere the Apostle Paul went, he viewed himself as a spirit-filled ambassador of the kingdom of heaven. God making his appeal from heaven to people. This is what you're gonna see right here is it's the Apostle Paul's, it's his most clear example of here's how, it's very practical. Here's how you share your faith with somebody. This is what Paul does in Acts 25 and 26. Now, I gotta get a run and start into it. So this is like previously on Yellowstone. Here's what happens, okay. In Acts 23, Paul gets arrested

and there's this whole little group of Jewish assassins, for real, that they make a blood oath that none of them are gonna eat or drink anything until Paul's dead. These guys were probably guys called the Sicari. By the way, a little side note, that's where we got the title for that movie, Sicario, a few years ago, for real. That's where that came from. There were these little Jewish dagger assassins. Think little Jewish ninjas, if you can do that in your head. And they go, hey man, none of us are gonna eat or drink until Paul's dead. Now, I need you to know this because this is my job as your pastor, okay. This is not a cute mama's day sermon. So here's what you need to know. Everywhere the Apostle Paul went, he was attacked and opposed and they tried to kill him. Heads up, you've been lied to. You becoming a Christian is not the way to punch your ticket to a low-maintenance, hassle-free life where everybody loves you and praises you all the time. In fact, what you need to understand is when you became a Christian, yes, you gained God as your heavenly father, but the Bible says that when you were transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, from the, listen, from the kingdom of Satan to team Jesus, that you gained God as your father,

but you also gained Satan and hell as your enemy, which is why I like to consistently say that the birthmark of a believer is a bullseye, that you have to expect opposition because you're on team Jesus now and before you were on team Jesus, hell had no reason to wage war on you. This is what happens to the Apostle Paul. Now he gets rescued and he gets put, he gets taken to this place called, today it's called Caesarea Maritima. You can go there, Google it later, you can see all the maps. All the ruins we talk about on the podcast of what we're talking about right here are still there today. So he goes Caesarea Maritima. He is there in a prison cell for two years. Now I want you to think about this. The Apostle Paul spends 12,000 miles telling people about Jesus and planting churches. I'm sure what Paul was thinking while he was two years in a prison cell, God can't, man, couldn't I be doing something better? Why you got me in this waiting season? And heads up, here's what I know. Some of you, especially on Mother's Day, you're thinking, man, it's a waiting season. Maybe you're like my family who struggled with infertility for decades

and you're waiting for a baby. Maybe it's like, man, you're waiting for God to bring you Mr. Right. Maybe you're in a spot where honestly, moms and dads, you're waiting. You've been praying for years and decades for a prodigal son or a prodigal daughter. And you're like, God, why are you making me wait? Well, check this out. Paul was thinking that too. He's in prison for two years, but check this out. While Paul thought that he, it was like a diversion from his calling. It was a wasted waiting season. It was actually while Paul was in prison in the book of Acts that he writes the books of the Bible, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. So think about this. The season in Paul's life where he probably thought the most, what a wasted season, it ended up producing the ministry that God has used in every single one of our lives for Christians for two millennia to bring us closer to Jesus. Here's the point, with God, listen, with God, a waiting season is never a wasted season. He will redeem your season. He can turn it in his, he can restore the years the locusts have eaten, the Bible says.

This is what God does in the apostle Paul's life. Now, when we get to Acts 24, 25, and 26, Paul is gonna stand courageously in front of three Roman political leaders, a guy named Festus, a guy named Felix, and a dude named Herod. Festus, Felix, and Herod. Now, here's what, this sermon, I got, it's gonna be very practical, like way more like practical, and here's why. When somebody's drowning, they don't need the Greek word for life jacket, they just need you to throw them one. That's like my conviction as a preacher. So here's what I need you to do. I need you to think of your one more. Who's the one person that's closest to you, but farthest from God? Like actually get a name in your head right now. A whole sermon, I want you to have this name in your head. And the whole time I'm preaching, I want you to be going, this is how I share Christ with that person. What Paul does in this passage is it's practical. I'm gonna call it the A, B, C of sharing your faith. Most Christians want to, they don't know how to. This is the A, B, C of sharing your faith. Okay, so here we go, real practical, real right at it. Number one, A, what Paul does in this passage is he, watch this, A, he assumes people are interested.

He assumes people are interested. Now, here's what keeps most people ever from sharing their faith is you go around and you look at people's exterior and you're like, man, you'll see what they look like and you're like, oh, they wouldn't be into what I got because of what you see on the outside. Maybe it's what they look like, maybe it's their vibe. They're just sort of standoffish, they look angry. Maybe, honestly, maybe they're real successful and happy and you're like, ah, they're not into this. Maybe it's their political beliefs. Maybe they're from Austin and you're like, ah, they wouldn't be into that, that's it. And you think, you look on the outside and you think they wouldn't be interested in what I have to say, but can I say something to you? The Bible says that man looks at the outward appearance, but God works on the heart. And you don't know what's going on in their heart. You don't know what that person's hurts are, what their unanswered or answered prayers are. I'm gonna get this in a second. You don't know where God might have visited them in dreams and visions to prepare them just for this encounter they have with you and you're the only chance they will ever have to hear the gospel before they go to hell. You don't know that. Paul does the opposite, man.

Paul assumes everywhere he goes that people are interested. Now let me show you this. Now when I read it, you're gonna be like, I don't know why that's a big deal and then I'll show you why it's a big deal. Here's what Paul does. So he's standing in front of Agrippa and Agrippa said to Paul you got permission to speak for yourself. So Paul motions with his hand and he begins his defense. King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today. In other words, I'm so glad we're talking. I'm assuming this is a big deal to you as I make my defense. Then he goes against all the accusations of the Jews especially so because you, now this is really interesting, I'll show you why. You are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Now, let me bobble the nerd out for a second. Let's go a layer deeper. When you read Acts 25 and 26, you gotta know this. There's two names in the Bible that trip people up and here's what they are. Because there's a whole bunch of Herods and there's a whole bunch of Marys and it's hard to keep up with who's who, okay. In the Bible, you read the word Herod a whole bunch of times. That's not one guy, that's four guys. Now, the guy Paul's talking to here,

bookmark this in your head, is a guy called Herod Agrippa II. This is important, Herod Agrippa II. The other three Herods are related to Herod Agrippa II. Let me show you his family tree and why it's a big deal. Paul's going, I bet you're interested in what I gotta say, okay. So the first Herod that's mentioned in the Bible, this guy's great-grandfather was Herod the Great. He's mentioned in Matthew 2. This is the Herod who sends a bunch of people to slaughter all of the Jewish boys under the age of two in Jesus' hometown because he's trying to kill Jesus. So that's this guy's great-grandfather related. Now, the second Herod the Bible mentions, his great-uncle was a guy named Herod Antipas. He's mentioned in Luke 9. Luke 9, this is the Herod that beheads John the Baptist, cuts his head off, puts on a silver platter and gives it to his little mistress. That's that dude. So right now we're two for two. Great-grandpa tried to kill Jesus. Great-uncle actually did kill John the Baptist, okay. But there's a third one. This guy's dad was Herod the Great of the first. He's mentioned in Acts 12. Acts 12, this is the Herod that beheads James,

the apostle James, beheads James and arrests Peter and tries to kill Peter. Now, with that in your head, think about this. Paul's standing in front of this guy. Paul's on trial, can easily be sentenced to death. Paul knows and Agrippa knows that Paul knows that his great-granddad tried to kill Jesus, his great-uncle did kill John the Baptist and his dad is the one that killed James and imprisoned Peter. Paul knows this. Paul has every reason to think, this guy hates what I gotta say, but Paul does the opposite and he assumes that the Holy Spirit has gone ahead of him to open Agrippa's heart and he's gonna be interested and watch this, Paul's right. Look at what he says. Agrippa says this, I would like to hear this man myself. He assumes he's interested in the Spirit's prepared him. Now, can we be honest? I wanna be practical and honest. I'm gonna confess my sin here real quick. What we usually do is we'll look at people and we assume the opposite based on what we see on the outside, but they don't want what I got. I'm gonna give an example, a failure for my life. So what I do, I gotta go to move, okay? But you need to go to move. Iverson had a crossover and Dirk had to fade away.

LeBron's got the flop here, but you need to move. That's a joke, that's a joke, that's a joke. My go-to move is especially on airplanes because you're traveling with me for two hours. My go-to move is on an airplane. I get three. Question, here's practical. I get three questions deep, and then I say, hey man, can I pray for you? So I just ask question number one, man, hey, how you doing? Hey, okay. Question number two, man, tell me about that. What do you mean just okay? Oh man, this is like a literal conversation on a plane from two months ago. Oh man, I gotta give both of my sons news today, one good news, one bad news. Question number three, oh man, do you mind me asking what the bad news is you gotta deliver to your son? Now we're for real, for real. I get three questions deep, and then I just go in a non-cringe way. I just go, hey man, I'm a person of faith. Would you mind if I prayed for you? Or I'll be praying for you. 90% of the time they say yes, and 60% of the time it opens up to more conversations. That's my move.

So I'm on this plane, it's a Southwest flight. I sit in, everybody chooses their seats back in the day on Southwest. Southwest flight, this is years ago. And I sit in the middle seat, because I'm hoping if I sit in the middle, nobody else is gonna sit on this seat or this seat. But then this girl comes, and she sits where I didn't want her, so she sits down. And I look at her, and it's like, literally the exact stereotype of who you would think would not wanna talk to me. It's like, the hair's a certain way, the whole vibe's a certain thing. She gets out her laptop, and it's like a shout your abortion sticker on the top of the laptop. And I'm like, okay, it's, you know. And then, no joke, she picks up a magazine, a print magazine she'd gotten at the airport, opens it up. And the title, there's no joke, the title of the article she's reading next to me on the plane is, Mega Church Pastor Resigns Because of Sexual Misconduct. So I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me, you know, that kind of thing. And then I'm like, am I gonna do my move? So I'm like, am I gonna do my move? So finally, you know, I'm just like,

I'm debating, I'm thinking about it. Finally, she just turns to me, no joke, opening line. This is the first thing she says. So what do you do for a living? So in that moment, I'm telling you a failure. In that moment, I'm like, I gotta decide, am I gonna lie? And literally what came out of my mouth was, well, I work for a nonprofit, you know. Now, like 30 seconds later, it was like the Holy Spirit wrecked me. And it was like the Holy Spirit said, yep, you are a nonprofit. That's exactly right, a nonprofit is what you just were. Now here's my point, think about that moment. That's a for real thing, think about that moment. I assumed based on external appearance, she wasn't interested in what I had to say. But here's what I've wondered every day since then, what I've wondered is, what I really think was happening is God intentionally positioned me in that seat to be sitting next to her while she was reading that article so that if I had been a man and stood firm and acted like a man with some courage, that God would have used me to flip everything she thought and misconceptions she had about Christians. You see, I missed it. You've got to assume that everybody around you is interested and can I give you a heads up,

if you've been on Team Jesus for a minute, can I tell you something? The bad thing about being on Team Jesus for a long time is you start forgetting what people who aren't on Team Jesus think like, you start forgetting it. I'm gonna give you one example of this and then I'm gonna move to B. So a couple of years ago, there was a girl at Lake Point who I asked on Instagram for some help on a sermon. She posted this comment and when I read it, remember, you, I guarantee, you've probably forgotten what lost people think like. So watch what she said right here, she said this. Yes, invite family and friends. I have family who are not Christian and they live in another state. They started hanging out with a Christian couple and they really wanted to go to church with them. The couple never invited them. Now, when I read this next sentence, watch this, you forgot what people who aren't on Team Jesus think like, I guarantee it, this is what they thought. These family members of mine didn't grow up in church and they felt like they'd be inviting themselves if they just showed up. They didn't wanna be rude by showing up at their church without an invite. See, you forgot what people think like. Some people are waiting and hoping

you'll extend the invitation. Here's all I'm saying. We need to do what the apostle Paul does and assume it's called the doctrine of provenient grace. We need to assume that everywhere a spirit-filled Christians goes, the Holy Spirit went ahead of us and prepared the people that we were gonna come in contact with for that divine encounter with us and opened their heart to us. You need to assume that. You need to assume, I'll give one example. You need to assume things like our international partner, Lake Point's international partner in rural Northern Ghana is a pastor named Mohamed Zeblim. He pastors Shalom Baptist Church in rural North Ghana. Now, you may be going, why is a pastor's name Mohamed? Well, here's why. His dad was an Islamic imam. When he was 15 or 16 years old, he had, by the way, this is happening to Muslims all over the world right now. He had a dream of a man in white who explained to him in the dream that he was Jesus Christ and that he was the way, the truth. and the life, and that someday someone would come to tell him about the way to salvation through Jesus. Kids 15, dad's a Muslim imam.

When that missionary comes, listen, what that missionary could have done is gone, that guy's a Muslim imam's family, he definitely is not interested, but Jesus Christ had gone ahead, and where everybody else would have said, ain't no way they're interested, listen, God's a way maker, he can make a way where there is no way. You've got to assume, assume people are interested. Let me do the others quick. B, once you assume people are interested, watch this, build a bridge, not a wall. B, build a bridge, not a wall. This is what Paul does. Now check this out. What some Christians do that are really bad at this, here's the worst strategy to share your faith ever. You'll find somebody that's not on team Jesus, and you'll figure out all the stuff that you disagree on, and you'll make the whole relationship about the stuff you disagree on. Instead of building a bridge, you're building a wall. So you end up making a whole conversation about politics, or about media, oh, you watch that, I don't watch that, that kind of thing, that kind of thing. Or maybe they got sin in their life. They're like a little rough around the edges. Hey guys, let me just remind us all of something. Hey, heads up, newsflash,

lost people act like lost people, newsflash. So some people are like, oh, you're trying to clean them up. Hey guys, Jesus is the one that washes us white as snow. He does the cleansing. You don't get people to wash their hands before they hop in the shower. You don't got to clean them up. We just got to get them to Jesus. Jesus will clean them up in his way, in his time. That's his job, we do our job, okay? So you just got to remember this. So what we got to do, what Paul does, is he does the opposite of finding what they disagree on, and talk about that. He finds the one thing they got in common, and he's like, I'm gonna make the relationship about that. Check this out, watch how he does it. It's actually kind of funny. So he's talking to them and he goes, I too was convinced I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. That's just what I did in Jerusalem, on the authority of the chief priest. I put many of the Lord's people in prison. When they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. This is kind of funny, here's what he's doing. He's going, oh, you like killing Christians? I used to be into that too. We got a thing together, this is what he's doing.

Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them, I even hunted them down in foreign cities. He builds a bridge. So here's what it looks like. When you got your one more, you're gonna win your one. What you do is just like whatever they're into, you're into. Or you're into sports, I'm a sports guy now. You're into bass fishing, I just bought a Zebco. And then you're into bowling, I'm gonna go get some shoes. You like cats, well, somebody's gotta go to hell. You know, that's a joke, that's a joke. That's a joke, if you're new here, that's a joke. I had a bad experience as a kid. Let's calm down over there, I had a bad experience as a kid. Now, what I wanna point out to you is listen, let me go a layer deeper on something I said just in one sentence last week. Check this out. What some of you do is you look at a guy like me and you're like, oh, that's easy for you, man. You're a professional Christian. It's like, you're like, I'm not like you. Listen to me, listen to me. The fact that you're not like me, that's your advantage, not your disadvantage. Because all your friends would look at me and be like,

I don't wanna be a Christian like that. But they'll look at you and go, oh, I could be a Christian like him. I could be a Christian like her. That's your advantage. In fact, I'm gonna give you an example. So last week, it was the biggest party ever. Last week, largest baptism weekend in Lake Point history. And last week in one week, and they're sitting all around you. And so they need to hear us. Listen, last week in one week, 741 people went public in their faith in Jesus Christ. Come on, man. That's you, man. I'm proud of you. Proud of you. Proud of you, man. In one week. Proud of you. Welcome to the team, Jesus. Welcome, okay. Now I'm gonna show you pictures of three of them and I'm gonna do this to make a point, all right? So this one right here, this is Ms. Carolyn. This is shout out for any campus over there. Ms. Carolyn, she started, she's at a senior care facility in the DFW area. There was some ministry from the Forney campus going on over there.

She starts watching us online through that ministry. She gets saved, bents her knee to Jesus, but problem, she's in a senior care facility in a wheelchair. Well, the dudes over at Forney are like not on our watch. So literally she comes in a wheelchair. These big burly guys are at Forney. They pull her out of the wheelchair, carry her down in the water, baptized Ms. Carolyn last week. Come on. Proud of you, Ms. Carolyn. So senior care facility. Now this one, this is Sue, shout out Sue, Sue S-U. Sue is a Korean woman who moved to Japan. And I just wanna say this real quick because Sue might be watching. I got to meet Sue last week. Sue, about a year ago, she saw some of our stuff online, started watching church online every week, started listening to podcasts, started studying her Bible alone in her apartment in Japan. Bends her knee to Jesus halfway across the world in Japan. Last week, she fell in love with Jesus. Last week, she flew here to be baptized with you. Shout out, Sue. Shout out, Sue. That's amazing, man. That's amazing, okay. Now this. Yeah, I wanna meet this guy.

I didn't get to meet this guy, I don't know what his name is. Face tats, tats all the thing. Here's my point now, okay, now here's my point. I'm a stereotype, I don't know anything about their friends. I'm sure their friends are all wonderful, but I'm gonna make a point here. Sue, senior care facility. If her friends met me, they'd probably be like, man, who's that young, dumb whippersnapper? They don't wanna listen to me. If Sue's friends met me, they'd probably be like, who's that dumb white kid from rural Kentucky? You know, I don't know, that's probably not what they'd say, but whatever, you get the point. They don't wanna listen to me. If this guy's friends met me, they'd probably be like, who's that soft fella up there? That's my guess, okay. They'd listen, they wouldn't listen to me. But do you know who they would listen to? They'd listen to her and her and him. They'd listen to them. You see, you gotta understand, you're the bridge. You're the person that God has appointed as an ambassador of Christ into all the friend groups you got. Now, let me give an example of what we need to be as a church, and then let me land it on the third thing. So check this out, lay point, heads up. This is an anchor story in my life.

What I'm getting ready to say, it tattooed itself on my soul. So my first ministry job ever, I was 22 years old, I was a youth pastor in rural Kentucky. And we had our little worship service, little youth worship service, it was called WOW, which stood for worship on Wednesday, because we were cool like that, you know. And what I would do is I would, every Wednesday, I'd go across the street to the Papa John's there, and I would get a bunch of pizza to like bribe the kids who didn't wanna come. And I went to the same one at the same time every week, and the same guy was working every week, and we just got to know each other. And this was the kind of guy who like, when you saw him, you would just kind of go like, man, this guy has probably not lived a very easy life. He was missing some teeth, I don't know why, kind of might've looked like from some drug use. He had the same little Papa John's gear on, and it was just like caked in Papa John's grease, same little pair of jeans, every week, holes all up in it, and everything sort of had like, there was like a smell to the thing. But I just liked this guy, and I just wanted to know Jesus. And so here was my move with this guy is I was just like, hey man, me and my wife are new to the area, we don't got any friends yet, do you wanna come sit with us at church? We don't really know anybody yet.

And I did it every week. And finally, there came a week where he was like, you know what, I'm in. I was like, okay, man, I'll meet you there. And I told him we're meeting. So then the next Sunday I showed up and I was 20 minutes early. Heads up, if you ever invite somebody to church, if they're not a church person, they're gonna be super early, that happens a lot. So I'm 20 minutes early standing in the lobby, and 20 minutes early, I'm waiting, and he doesn't come. And then 15 minutes, he's not there. And then 10 minutes, not there, five minutes, not there, service starts, he's still not there. And then five minutes after service starts, still not there, 10 minutes after, still not there. And I'm going, man, I got a job, I gotta go do my job. So I just go in and I don't see him. The next Wednesday, I go over to the Papa John's, and I'm like, hey bro, man, I missed you. And his face kind of falls and he goes, oh, man, actually I did come. I'm like, what do you mean? He said, man, I came, but I had a shift right after church, so I just wore my Papa John's gear. And as I was walking in, there was a man in the parking lot in a suit, and he stopped me and he said, son, don't you have anything else to wear?

We wear God's best into God's house. And dude, when he said that, man, I just sort of choked back the thing, and I was like, oh, man, I'm so sorry. And I just went out in the parking lot, my little 96 green Kia Sophia, and I just, man, honestly, I just wept. And it wasn't because I was driving a 96 Kia Sophia, you know, I was just like, something broke in me. And when that happened to me, there was like a decision that I made in that moment, it was like something that sort of crystallized non-verbally in my heart. What I decided in that moment is, hey, man, if I ever get to decide what a church is like, if I ever am the one who sort of gets to set the culture and the vibe, something's gonna be very clear at whatever church I get to pastor. And here's what's gonna be clear. If you're a lost person that's trying to come to church to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, dress code's gonna be very simple. Here's gonna be the dress code, please wear something. That's it, that's all we want. Just please wear something, man, if you're trying to get to Jesus, just come exactly like you are, you don't gotta dress up. Here's what I'm saying, if you're trying to get to Jesus, come exactly as you are, man, come with your doubts, come with your fears, bring all your failures. You bring your sins up in here,

bring your addictions up in here, we want them up in here. Bring everything you got, just come to Jesus. Lake Point, we gotta tear, it's tearing down walls, it's building bridges for the glory of Jesus Christ. Build a bridge, last one, C. What Paul does in this passage, is he, last one, just go with me on this, he converts a first down, A-B-C, convert a first down. Now here's what I mean by this. Paul's sharing his faith, it doesn't end how you think. Doesn't end how you think. So Paul ends telling this guy about Jesus, and here's what he says. He says, I'm saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen. That the Messiah was gonna suffer, and as the first to rise from the dead, he would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles. Now, Paul's finished sharing his faith with somebody. Now what you would think is Paul, greatest evangelist in church history, greatest church planner in history. What do you think, actually go to the next slide. At this point, don't put up the next thing yet. At this point, Festus interrupted Paul's defense. Now, how do you think Festus responded to the greatest evangelist a church has ever seen? Do you think he went, you know what, I'm cut to the heart, will my son be saved?

Do you think he went, hey man, I wanna raise my hand because something solidifies in you spiritually when you respond physically, one, two, three. Do you think, no, he didn't. Hey, Paul, can I pray this, pray, can I do it? That's not how he did it. Watch what he said, here's what he says. He says, you're out of your mind, Paul, he shouted. Then Agrippa said, do you think in such a, watch this, short time, you can persuade me to be a Christian? In other words, it didn't get this dude over the line. He didn't get over the line. Now, here's my point, check this out. He said, short time, do you think in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian? Now, here's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna finish a sermon like this. What you're getting ready to see is like an anchor sermon illustration at Lake Point. My predecessor, Pastor Steve Stroop, the founding pastor of this church, one of the greatest pastors our nation has ever seen, this is a Pastor Steve Stroop illustration that he did for many years. He is a rat, he shares faith with everybody. This thing, it just, it makes it super easy and practical. So here's what I'm saying, check this out. What I'm saying is, what most people think, imagine this. People don't get saved how you think they get saved.

What I want you to imagine is this is zero, everyone's a number here, this is zero. This is the point of them crossing the line of faith. Everybody you meet is somewhere along the way, this is negative one, negative two, negative three, all the way down to negative 10. Everybody you meet is somewhere along this spectrum of number of steps away from making a decision to bend their knee to Jesus Christ. Now, here's a big idea. What a lot of people think is that, oh, I need to figure out in one conversation how to get them over the line and for them to trust Christ. Okay, listen, if you think your job is to do everything in one conversation, you won't be able to find a way and you'll end up doing nothing. So what we need to do, you see this in the New Testament, is be comfortable converting first downs, you don't gotta make every conversation a touchdown. First downs, not touchdowns. So check this out, here's how this works. I wanna make this super practical, super practical so you can, this stuff with your one more, okay? Now, here's how people get saved that you don't see because I see it all the time, I just watch it happen. Here's how people get saved. They'll start right here. And where it starts is at Lake Point, we say that everybody has a one more.

Your one more is the person that's closest to you but farthest from God. That's why we give you this little one more cards. Where it starts is a Christian starts praying, they got a one more and a one more card, they start praying for that person. Now, here's what you do with that. You take it, you write the name of the one person that's closest to you but farthest from God. Then you put it in a place that's like super visible so that you pray for them every day, that for God to give you an opportunity to share the love of Christ with them. Now, heads up, let me give you a tip. Don't put it in a super public place. Like don't put it on your computer screen in your cubicle so that Hank walks in and he's like, hey man, why is my name on that card? And you're like, well, you're going to hell Hank, that's why, you know? You're gonna burn in the lake of fire and I'm trying to, don't do that. What I do, I put mine on my bathroom mirror so that when I brush my teeth in the morning and in the evening, I'm just praying for God to give me a chance to show the love of Christ to that person, okay? Now here's what happens, you start praying, God begins to supernaturally soften that person's heart and they don't even know it

but they go from a negative 10 to a negative eight. That's how it starts. Now, usually around right here, negative eight, seven, six, something around there. What happens next is it's usually, it's a loving interaction with a Christian that changes how they think about Christians. So check this out, here's what me and Jana do. I'm giving you our moves, here's what we do. When we go eat out, the waiter or waitress almost always figures out either that we're a Christian or I'm a pastor. So what we like to do is we like to give really, really big tips, like tips they're gonna remember so that when they leave. Let's say before then, they always thought Christians were kind of stingy and jerks. When they leave, they're like, man, those, that Christian family, those are the best people I waited on all day today. And they were thoughtful and caring and they blessed me. And it changes how they think about Christians and they go from here to like maybe a negative five, something like that, they just move up. Now, it's about right here, where here's what we need, man, we're disciples of Jesus Christ. About right here, the best thing you can do is you just need to be public, I'm on team Jesus. You need to be public about this.

Jesus said, if you deny me before man, I will deny you before my father who is in heaven. No secret agent Christians. So if the world has the courage to come out of the closet for worldly things, hey guys, Christians need to have the courage to come out of the closet for team Jesus. That's it, it should be really obvious. So this is really easy, it's just like, hey man, it's wearing the shirt, it's your buddy at work is like, hey, how was your weekend? Good, hit the bass pond, went to church on Sunday, it was great, you just drop something non-cringe in that sends a signal, I'm on team Jesus. So it's about right here. Maybe you share something on social media. This would shock you, the number of people who end up at Lake Point because they're like, hey, we go, hey, how'd you end up here? And they go, well, I was driving around and I kept seeing this little stupid sticker with lines on the backs of all the trucks. And I was like, what is that? And they saw so many and people were like, oh, that's my church, I love my church. And they're like, it just sort of moves them like here. So then they're in traffic, somebody cuts them off at Lake Point sticker

and they go back like this. That's how it happened. Okay, now, once they get like, somebody gets like right here, here's what it is. This is where what Paul does in this passage is he just shares his story, that's all he does. Here's how you do this, okay? They'll be talking to you when they're about right here. They'll be talking to you about going through a tough time, their divorce, the cancer they're walking through. Here's what you're gonna do. You just drop in a little sentence like this. You say something like, man, I went through a divorce too about a decade ago. And you say something like this, I never would have gotten through it without Christ. And then you just leave it right there. No big sudden movements, you're gonna scare the squirrel away. Just leave it right there. Just like, no, just leave it. And if they ask you go farther, otherwise you just leave it right there, okay? Now, that's gonna move them like about right here. Now, right in this spot, that's where it's like, you see this in the Bible. Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. This is where you invite, it's like an invite to church where they're gonna hear a clear gospel presentation.

Let me explain something that a lot of Christians have a theological knot about. Every Christian is called to do evangelism. That's a big churchy word that just means share your faith. But there's about 10% of Christians who have the spiritual gift of evangelism. They're awesome at closing the deal. For some reason, God has given me that gift. And so listen, what you do is you invite them to church. That's why we do things like at the movies, they hear a clear gospel presentation and it's gonna move them over the line. Now, I'm gonna be honest with you. Here's what I know. The thing that keeps you from doing this stuff is I know it's in your head. You're scared they're gonna ask a question you can't answer. You're like, what are they gonna ask about dinosaurs? That's what you're gonna, you're scared of that. Now, the reason it's, first of all, let me explain this. It's okay for you to go, bro, I don't know. Let me see if I can go find that out. But here's what I know God did in my life. Here's what's tripping you up is you're confused about what your role in the courtroom is supposed to be. Here's what I mean. In Acts 1, Jesus gave us marching orders. Here's what he said.

You're gonna receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my, now check this out. The reason, you're getting tripped up here. The reason you're like, I gotta be able to answer every question is because you think Jesus meant something like you will be my prosecuting attorneys. Because what a prosecuting attorney does is they're like this. I'm gonna nail your butt to the wall. If you ask me a question, I can answer any question you're gonna answer. In fact, if you ask me a question, I'm gonna judo flip the question on you. I'll ask you a question that you can't answer and I can give an airtight defense for everything that I, on my side. That's a prosecuting attorney. Hey guys, Jesus did not command you to go into the world and be his attorneys. Here's what he said. He said, you will be my witnesses. Different spot in the courtroom. When an attorney makes an airtight case, listen, a witness just shares their side of the story. That's your job is just to go, man, here's what I know God did. That's all I know. Now, again, this is where it's like you make the invite to church right around here. Okay, now let me just say something.

This is the one part of this process. It's easier for you than it is for me. It's the only part. Because what am I supposed to do? Say something like, hey man, come to church and hear me preach. My mom says I'm amazing. What am I supposed to do? It's awkward. In fact, years ago, I had so many, you know, I ran an experiment. It was about nine years ago. It was at a Mexican restaurant named Tito's with a dude named Elvis. And, you know, I just, I invited, I tried this experiment where I invited him to church on Easter and I was just like, I'm not gonna tell him I'm the pastor. It was an experiment. So he came, it was on Easter, and he came in, we walked up to the front row. He's like, well, we gotta sit in front. I was like, ah, I just like it up here. And then, you know, we get to that spot in the service, lights go down, I started to get up. He literally grabbed the back of my belt buckle and he went, where are you going? I was like, I'll be back in 40 minutes, brother. You know, and I got up, did my thing, came back. Okay, now here's the deal.

Listen, listen, listen, let me tell you something. The best church service you ever attend, it actually isn't going to be the service where God works in your life. The best church service you ever attend is gonna be the one where you're one more that you've been praying for for three years. Your prodigal son, your prodigal daughter that you've been praying for for three decades. That they're with you. And then if you've been around, you've seen me do it. Well, I'm gonna get to this spot in the service. I do the same thing every time. It's like my favorite thing I ever get to do. I start leaking every time. We'll get a spot in the service where I start talking about Jesus. And then at the end of the service, I'm gonna say something like this. I say, everybody bow your heads and close your eyes. That's what I say. And then I go through the whole thing. I love saying it so much. I do the whole, on the count of three, raise your hand because something solidifies in you spiritually because you respond physically. And I say the same thing every time. Your heads are gonna be bowed. Your eyes are gonna be closed. And I say it.

I say, one, God loves you. Two, you came here for a reason today. Three, and then I just tell you, shoot your hand up in the air right now. Right now, shoot your hand up there. Now listen, every other church service of the year, you're supposed to keep your head bowed and your eyes closed. There's one time where you got my permission to cheat. And it's when you got your one more with you. And you're gonna have this moment where that person you've poured out tears in prayer for, and you just, I'm like, hey, shoot your hand up in the air. And you just do this little guy right here. And you're gonna see that shoulder move. And you're gonna see that hand shoot up in the air. And in that moment, you're gonna know somebody is gonna spend eternity with Christ in heaven because God used me. God used me. That right there, as disciples of Jesus Christ, that's what God's calling you to do as ambassadors of heaven. So man, I wanna pray over that right now. Right now, let me pray over it. So would you bow your heads and close your eyes? And Father, would you please do that? Would you make us a church of tens of thousands? We don't wanna be crowds, Lord. We wanna be disciples of Jesus Christ.

We're in, we're in on team Jesus. And so Father, just like Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost, God, would you make us people who seek and save people with the love of Jesus Christ? Father, make us spirit-filled men and women. Make us men and women of courage and conviction. Give us spirit-filled wisdom just to move them one click closer. Father, would you do it? I pray for a tidal wave of grace and salvation. And all the people that are on the hearts of all these people will be caught up into the kingdom of heaven because of it. In Jesus' name, and all God's people said, amen. Amen, amen, amen.