This Will Change How You Share JESUS | Investigating Jesus | David Nasser

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. Thank you. Man, it's such an honor to be at your amazing church. First of all, let me just say God gets the glory, but I want to honor my good friend Josh Howerton. Whenever I am looking for just a sermon that will fill my heart, not just somebody who's going to teach me something new, but someone who's going to stir my affections towards God, Josh is on my short list. I love his commitment to God's word. I love his love for the nations, and I'm grateful for you as a church. When God planted this church years and years ago, he didn't just have the DFW area in mind. He didn't just have Texas in mind. God literally had the nations in mind, and so I honor you. I'm grateful for you, Pastor Josh, and so can we just give God a hand for all that he's doing in and through you? I know that there might be some visitors here today or even church members here today, and you're already disappointed. You're like, man, I came to church. I want to hear Pastor Josh, and now who is this Iranian guy in front of me?

Let me just keep going and just say lower your expectations, all right? This is going to be the kiddie pool compared to the deep diving expeditions that he is normally on a Sunday morning. We're going to be in one Bible verse this entire morning. I call it an altoid of a verse, meaning you know how in a little tin of altoids, it says they're curiously strong, and so it is tiny, but it is strong. It is actually a verse that Billy Graham calls the Bible in a nutshell. Guy named Charles Spurgeon actually calls this verse bloody words, and in the South, we call the verse that I'm about to read fighting words, y'all. I know I don't look like a guy from the South, but I'm originally from South Iran, so I've always been a bit of a redneck, all right? These words that we're going to read, y'all, are fighting words, y'all, all right? When Jesus said what he says, what we're about to read here in just a second, just know that they wanted to more than just fight him. They wanted to finalize him. They wanted to take his life. These are the words Charles Spurgeon says that Jesus said that literally cost his blood upon a cross. It's not that they were controversial 2,000 years ago. These words are controversial today. These words are fighting words today because there are so many people that are not like you. In a church like this, where Josh Howerton and Mike Brough are more than normal preachers on any given weekend, this is going to be in a compliment and not in contradiction when I read what I read. No one's going to get up and walk out of here just because I'm going to read what I'm about to read out of God's word. But there are places in the world that actually seem this verse as hostility and not something that they embrace. So I just want you to know that they're fighting words in the sense that there will be hundreds

of thousands of people today, today, currently, that will be at the end of a spear. They will be imprisoned like the Iranian underground church, imprisoned, for example, for simply believing what I'm about to read to you. So it's a gift that we get to read it and not be imprisoned for just reading it. And they are controversial. But they're not controversial just for the sake of being controversial. They're controversial because they're truth that we need to hear, even though sometimes people don't want to hear them. So now that I have your attention, let's see what verse this is, right? It's John 6, 35. And what we're going to do is we're going to tether it to Luke 9, 12 to 17. I know you've been in a series called Investigating Jesus, looking at Luke's letter to his, you know, one more, his Theopolis friend that he's been trying to reach, you know, the person that he knew that he was closest to that was furthest away from God. And certainly we'll see how this ties into the book of Luke in Luke 9 as well. But Jesus says in John 6, 35, these words. Jesus says, I am. I am. Now, stop right there. Before we go any further, before we inch past the first two words of it, just know that that in itself was enough to get the crowd looking up and going, now, who does this Jewish carpenter think he is? The audacity that he would have to usher the word. is that only God himself should usher. We know that this, what I'm about to read to you, is actually one of the seven great I am statements in scripture, where in the New Testament, Jesus makes these claims about himself. He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the good shepherd.

I am the open door. I am the light of the world. I am the true vine. And in this moment, he's about to give one more I am. But before we go any further, just know that people heard him say the words, I am, and they gasped. They went, does he know those are words reserved for God and God alone? And Jesus does know. And he's like, you're actually getting this right. And then he goes further. He says this, he says, I am the, I am the, T-H-E. This is a definitive article somebody taught me yesterday, all right? This is, it was an English teacher who came to me after the Saturday night service and said, hey, did you know that's a definitive article? I go, I do now, all right? And so this is a moment where Jesus gives, in an indefinite world, a definitive article. He says, I am the, and if you're taking notes, just know that it's the the that gets everybody's sweater snagged when it comes to the theology discussion of this moment. Nobody really cares if Jesus comes on the scene and says, I am a, I am a bread. Nobody sees that as controversial if Jesus says, hey, there's all kinds of stuff out there that can satisfy you.

There's all kinds of spiritual calories out there that you can make a fine little spiritual sandwich with. I mean, there's pumpernickel, and then there's rye, and then there's sourdough, and you know, for our Jewish friends, there's unleavened bread, and then over here, there's this, and no. Jesus comes on the scene and he says, I'm not a, I am the, I'm the only. I'm the only. I was in California, I was heading to California one time to do a festival, to preach at a festival, and they asked me about two weeks before the festival was about to come on the schedule if I would send ahead the Bible verse that I was gonna use so they could put them on the bottom third, you know, for the jumbotron, and I sent this passage. I sent John 6.35 to them, and I said, I think that's what I'm gonna preach, and the guy that was in charge of the entire festival gets a hold of me. We didn't know each other personally, and he said, hey, I'm so glad you're coming. I'm honored to have you as our guest. You're a first-time guest here, so maybe you're not super familiar with us. He goes, I saw the verse that you're gonna use, and I just have a concern, and he goes, I know we don't know each other. I don't wanna offend you, he said,

but I'm a little concerned about you using that verse. He goes, we're up here west of the Mississippi at a Christian festival, you know, in California. We worked really, really hard to be inclusive and to make everybody feel welcome, and we have Muslims coming and Buddhists coming and atheists coming, and then you're gonna come out and read Jesus, this statement, John 6.35, and it just feels incredibly, you know, exclusive and not inclusive, and I know that's not what you mean, but that's how it might come across, and I said, well, I know we don't know each other, so let me just clarify. That is exactly what I mean. And I'm not, hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm not trying to be rude and go, how you like them apples? I'm not, I just want you to know I'm so glad that someone tells me the truth that I need to hear even though it's not what I want to hear. Someone loves me too much, loves me too much to tell me that Jesus is the only way and there is no other way, that Jesus, when he said, I am the way, the truth, the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me, meant it. And so already, this makes people think that we're being exclusive, but I actually think, yeah, in one sense, it is exclusive because there's only one door,

but it's also inclusive because everyone's, everyone's getting the combination lock to the door. Everyone's getting the code. So it's not exclusive as in like you can't come in, it's exclusive as in there's only one way to come in, but it's inclusive because everyone can come in. And so this is why we call it the good news. And Jesus says, I am the, and then he keeps going. He says, I'm the bread of life. What he's saying is I'm the only substance that will satisfy the hunger of your soul. I'm the bread of life. And he says, whoever, whoever comes to me is never gonna be hungry and whoever believes in me is never going to be thirsty. Now, he's not talking about the fact that we won't ever have an appetite and a hunger. He's talking about the reality that we won't be defined by our hunger any longer. And what is ultimately Jesus saying in this? This is why Billy Graham calls this the Bible in a nutshell. He's ultimately saying, this is the message of the gospel, the whole Bible in one verse. Jesus is saying, I want you to know that I love you. I want to be your everything. I want to be your everything. I want you to know that I love you. And this is, by the way, where this doesn't just get like controversial, or this doesn't get bumping up against people and feel offensive

when it comes to other religions. Sure, he's talking about how Buddhism won't save you, and Mormonism won't save you, and Islam won't save you. Sure, he's talking about that, but he goes so much further. Can I just kind of talk to a good bunch of people from Texas for just a second and say, he's also talking about like good things that we have in our life. I've been married over 30 years to a sweet little white girl from Alabama. And she's so much more than a green card to me. I just want you to know that. I love her. I absolutely love and adore my wife. I, I can't, I'm less and less, I'm just, I am more convinced than ever that I do not deserve her. The other day, we were at Buckmason. It's this like store in Nashville. We were shopping, and she was trying out something, and she came out to show it to me. And I looked at the girl that was working at Buckmason, and I was like, isn't she just gorgeous? Isn't my wife just gorgeous? The girl working there, she looked at me, and she goes, there was just a guy here a minute ago, and he told me I look gorgeous in front of his wife, and it made her feel, I could tell, it made her feel weird. And then you just came in right after that, and you just go, isn't my wife gorgeous?

Thank you for that. And I go, I know. I go, but, I looked at her, I said, look at me. I showed her my arm. I'm like a walking chia pet. I was like, I don't deserve this woman. She's beautiful. She's godly. She's amazing. She's missional. And so can you tell I love my wife? I have an amazing wife. I have told her, if you leave me, I'm going with you. I mean, that's just how it works. And so can I just say, she's a wonderful wife, but she's a horrible god. She's actually not the bread of life. She does not complete me. She doesn't. At the end of the day, she's an amazing wife, but she's just a girl. As a matter of fact, it would be so unfair if I asked her to walk into a role that she simply can't satisfy and meet. She can't be the bread of my life. Does that make sense? So some of you are going, amen, David. You know, Islam and Hinduism, but then all of a sudden, you've made an idol. You've made the bread of your life your wife.

You've made the bread of your life the person that you're dating. That's become the greatest passion of your life, the person that's your ride or die. And Jesus is saying, I want them to place, to be in the proper place in your life. And that has to maybe begin with that wife of yours, that husband of yours as a distant second. Nothing compares to the greatness of knowing me. I love my kids. Can I just tell you, I love my kids. My daughter, Grace, intellectual, in law school right now, gonna rule the world. She's the one you send, she's like a walking AI. I send her content, she quickly turns it back around with like, you misspelled this, and you did this, and she's just that girl, academic. And then I've got my son, Rudy, cannot spell worth a rip. Spells Jesus with a G, he's dyslexic, but charming, amazing, warm. Everybody just wants to hang with him. Rudy was adopted from Guatemala when he was seven years old, and today he wakes up and he helps kids that need to be adopted find Christian families to belong to. Love this kid, all right? Love my son, so proud of him. We're at a stage in life where he's not just my son, he's like one of my best friends. And it's just so fun, he's giving me two grandkids

and one more on the way. And so can I just say, my kids make wonderful kids, they make horrible gods. Some of you have made your kids your God. And you know who your God is, right? Your God is who you worship the most. Your God is where your greatest passion lies. Your God is who you're obsessed with. Some of you have made your family an idol. And again, family is good, but Jesus is saying, I am the bread of life. And he's saying, when you make your, I don't wanna be on a top shelf with your family. Jesus doesn't, listen to this, Jesus has the audacity as God to actually want to be God. And God doesn't sit on a top shelf. It's not like Jesus is up here and my faith is, my family's up here, my kids are up here. Just a few things, Jesus, you're top, on a top shelf, there's room for a few, but Jesus actually wants to be on a throne, and then on a throne, there's room for what? And so what does Jesus say? Jesus says, when you make me your one and only, when you make me your right, when you make me the only one that matters, when I become your everything, then anything else and everything else finally finds its proper place in your life. Be obsessed.

with me, and if you're single for the rest of your life and always a bridesmaid and never a bride, your life doesn't fall apart, because you don't need a man to complete you. I've completed you. Does that make sense? And so Jesus says what he says. He makes this statement. But what's so interesting to me, and if you're taking notes, take John 6.35 and put it in your notes and then put right under it message. But Jesus said what he said, John 6.35. Interestingly enough, since you're studying the book of Luke, about 21 hours after Luke 9. If you wanna go to Luke 9, you'll see that in Luke 9, 12 to 17, you actually see the method. If John 6.35 is the message, what you're gonna see in Luke 9, 12 to 17 is the method. What you're gonna see in Luke 9, 12 to 17 is, and if you've already gotten there in your Bible, is what we call the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Begin to kind of glance at it, and you'll see that Jesus in that particular moment in his ministry is on what we call the Galilean tour. In this particular moment, about 2,000 years ago, Jesus is at the height of his popularity. At this moment, the crowds around him are getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Everywhere Jesus is going, he's making the blind see, he's making the dead rise. Jesus is doing these incredible things, and so people don't wanna miss it. The buzz is going around. There's a lot of FOMO, and so the crowds are going from 3,000 to 3,500 to 4,000, and all of a sudden, in this moment, we've got the gathering, like it says in the header in your Bible, of the 5,000, but keep reading a little bit in there, and you'll see that it clarifies in Luke that it's actually 5,000 men, and so it's not just 5,000, it's 5,000 men, and with those men came women, and with those men and women came children, and y'all, this is before birth control, so basically think Catholic numbers, all right, and so most theologians believe that there are about minimum 15,000 people that are on this mountainside, and as there are 15,000 people on this mountainside, most of them aren't there because they believe that Jesus is the bread of life. They believe he's the bread giver, not the bread himself. Most of them are there because they're just curious. Most of them are there because they want to see it for themselves. They went to work, and all of a sudden, like Larry, who had died, is alive and back at work,

and they're like, what happened? Oh, he met this guy named Jesus, so if you went to work after you went to Larry's memorial, if you went to work with Stacey, and Stacey was blind, and then on Tuesday, Stacey came back, and Stacey is no longer blind, you'd be like, what happened to Stacey? And Stacey said, well, I was at this place, and I met this man named Jesus. You'd be like, tell me more, and so that had drawn a crowd. Things were getting bigger and bigger, and in that moment, Jesus comes into a moment where there are 15,000 people, and don't miss this. With 15,000 people there, if you take the Bible in all of its different accounts of that story, if you take it at its word, and I do, you believe this, that there are 15,000 people there, and y'all, 14,999 of them have not brought anything to eat. There's literally one teenager who's packed the lunch, one. The disciples literally in the Luke account say, hey, Jesus, we gotta dismiss these people, let them go home and get something to eat, and Jesus says, hey, hey, hey, hang on a minute. We have actually an opportunity. This is not an obstacle, it's an opportunity. They're hungry, let's feed them, and they're like, we don't have enough to feed them. They go, we got a little bit of fish and a little bit of bread.

Read another account, and you realize that how they got the little bit of fish and a little bit of bread wasn't that the disciples brought it. There is one responsible teenager who's packed the lunch. Let's just call it probably a homeschooler, all right? But yeah, he packs the lunch, and he's got plenty for himself. I mean, a couple of fish, a couple of loaves of bread, a couple of, plenty for himself, nowhere near enough for everybody else, very sufficiently for himself, insufficient for the crowd, but instead of hoarding, he's hospitable, and he decides to bring it to Jesus and the disciples, and Jesus doesn't need it, but he takes it from him. He lets him be a part of the miracle, and Jesus takes a little bit of fish, takes a little bit of bread, and then he multiplies it, and they bring people in groups of 50, and it's an all-you-can-eat buffet. Everybody gets to eat. Everybody gets to eat. And so do you see the one-two punch here? Jesus feeds 15,000 people to the point where there's even leftovers. Jesus doesn't say. Inventory the people and find out who's drunk the Kool-Aid find out who believes I am the bread of life find out who's here for the handout and who's here for me find out Jesus doesn't go who is one of my own Jesus doesn't say the people that are one of mine they get to eat and the people that are not one of mine no

grace for them no that's Jesus finds 15,000 people and he doesn't survey and say who's earned the right to eat Jesus finds 15,000 people some of them there for the wrong reason and they all get to eat and he feeds them and then after he feeds them after he meets their momentary need after he literally finds a felt need and he meets it the next day that group wakes up and they're hungry again so they go looking for the one who fed him the day before and that is when we run into John 635 you see it that's why John 635 is the message which is the gospel and then Luke 9 is actually the method by which Jesus delivers the gospel Jesus meets an ordinary need to connect people to earn the right to bridge to be able to speak into what their internal need and when you look at this what you see is a strategy the way of Jesus so that we can have the words of Jesus well the truth of you that what we see is a strategy by which how Jesus says this is how I won my one all of you right now who are part of this church body you're being asked by the Holy Spirit right that who is my one who is the one person I know right now in life practically the one person that is closest to me but furthest from God and and Jesus says the way you win the one the way you how he how he won w-o-n the one the o-n-e is he came into the environment and he he actually didn't begin the conversation with theology I know you're you're hearing that and you're like oh no this guy doesn't like theology no I actually do I just want to tell you like Jesus typically did not begin his conversations with theology not because he didn't love theology because he loved it too much to serve it on a paper plate he loved it too much to serve it back he knew what I'm gonna say the truth I'm gonna say is too valuable to not earn the right and grab the attention undeniably to be able to say it and so Jesus finds the woman at the well and by the end of the conversation he's saying to her go and sin no more but what does he do in the beginning he meets a need nobody wants to be seen with her in broad daylight in a very busy intersection at a well he just is with her does that make sense Jesus meets a need so that he can help reveal to them their ultimate need the one-two punch every single time here's another way to say it Jesus mashes up the Great

Commission and the Great Commandment the Great Commission is go tell the Great Commandment is love well and Jesus says to us right now you love well so that you can go tell and it goes further so often we know this we know that when we're sharing the gospel we're hoping that someone is taking one step closer to God typically takes somebody seven times in the Western world anyway to hear the gospel before they'll come to Christ and so typically when you're you know I feel like I'm a bit of a closer by nature you know just by my my my personality being more of an extrovert the other day I was in the car with the uber driver and his name is flawed y'all be praying for flawed and when I got in the car I said it's gonna take 31 minutes from the airport to my house I was like cool I got 31 minutes but he was he was going faster and faster as I was trying to witness to him stronger and stronger we made it in 28 he stuck the landing in 28 but but there was a minute there about seven about seven minutes into it but before we got there I thought oh it's about to happen I mean he was asking the right questions I was like this is so awesome and then literally as we were pulling into my driveway he was like thank you and he basically said I do not agree and I got my luggage and I left and I thought it ain't over yet baby because I might be number three they'll be a number four don't be a number five they'll be I might be number six again and so typically you share the gospel you talk to someone about the Lord and God keeps inching people towards the process hopefully of Christ likeness you're discipling them a disciple means follower so they're following following following it all of a sudden boom God saves them but but if anybody wants a hack if anybody wants not tiny steps but you want a giant step or even what I would consider three steps at once instead of being worried about what do I say think about how do I serve I call this message actually worship service what if the question that's so often in our churches, how do I win people to the Lord? And the question is, well, how do I love people?

How do I love people well? I was at an event a couple years ago in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We get to this event. It's about 500 of us, 450 of us that have packed into this one day's inn. And everybody had kind of been there, taken over. We met in this little conference room that they had on the first floor, and we all stayed at the hotel. And being almost 500 people, we pretty much hijacked this entire hotel. And I was their speaker for this three-night event. And the last day of the event, my wife and I get in the elevator. We're leaving. The event's over. I got my roller cart. She's got her roller cart. We get in the elevator. We're the only two people in the elevator. We're on the top floor. And the elevator goes down one level. And as soon as it goes down, the door opened up and this cleaning lady comes on. I know she was a cleaning lady because she had the cart. She had the apron that said Days Inn. She was the cleaning lady. You know, it was obvious.

And she comes in. The door closes. And we're the only three in the elevator. The cart's between us and the cleaning lady. And we can't see her because she's facing the elevator door, but we can see her shoulders. And her shoulders are going like this. And she's making this noise. She's going. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. And you can tell she's crying. So my wife mouths to me, she's crying. I mouth back, I know. She mouths back to me, say something. So I mouth back to her, why? Because I'm thinking, why would I say something when you're here? She's better than me at those kind of moments. Like, I'm bad at that, you know? Like, if you come up to me in a little while, you know, in the lobby or whatever, and you're like, I'm going through a divorce. I'll be like, gum. I'm just bad, all right? She's good. And so I'm like, you go. And she's like, you go. And then I realized we're about to lose this moment. And so out of panic,

as the elevator's going further and further, we're almost at the first floor. We're like literally at the second floor. And I'm watching it go down. I didn't want to lose the moment. So I reach around the cart. And you know how all the buttons have push, but this one button is red and has pull? I pulled it. This is before September 11th, when Iranians could do stuff like that and not go to jail. All right, so I just pulled. And so she's startled. She turns around and looks at me, and I said, I'm so sorry to startle you. I said, I didn't mean it. I said, my name is David. This is my wife, Jennifer. I said, we just noticed you were crying, ma'am. And we just want to ask you before we get out of here, are you okay? Is there anything we can do? Are you okay, ma'am? And as soon as I go, are you okay? It didn't take much to like burst a dam wide open. She goes, are you with these people? And I go, what do you mean? She goes, the people that have taken over this hotel for the past three or four days. And I thought, wow, one more lady in the service industry

brought to tears by a youth group gone wild, you know? I look right at her and I said, no, ma'am, I'm not with them, because I was their guest speaker. And she goes, okay. She goes, I'm sorry to be emotional. And then she reaches in her apron. She pulls out a wad of cash. She goes, this is like $1,100 just from today. And yesterday they tipped me like $700. And that's not even why I'm emotional. She goes, today I came to work. I forgot my name tag and they all knew my name. No one ever takes the time to learn my name. And the last three or four days, all of us as the cleaning people, we haven't even been able to clean up one room. The beds are made. It's almost like we've had an easy week off. The towels are hanging. They're so kind. And I came to work today, so excited to see them. And I found out they're leaving and I don't want them to leave. And I interrupt her and I said, before we go any further, I actually want to clarify, I actually am with them. And then she goes, well, what is wrong with them? I loved her question. What is wrong with them? You know what she's saying? She's saying, I see Christians all the time up in here.

I just don't see them be Christ-like. I see believers that aren't believable. I see youth groups. I've never seen a youth ministry. Does that make sense? And she doesn't get it, but she literally is initiating the gospel conversation with us. And so my wife, my introverted wife finally speaks up. She goes, well, I can tell you exactly what's wrong with them. Jesus Christ is the matter with them. She goes, what do you mean? She goes, the reason they know your name is because God knows your name. The reason you matter to them is because you matter to God. And then she just starts sharing the gospel with her. And the next thing you know, she reaches over, with a cart between us, y'all, she reaches over, my wife leads this lady to the Lord. We go down, I finally released her, you know? Won the first time, an Iranian took somebody hostage. But anyway, so I finally, and we go down, the door opens up, she comes out in the lobby. I announce, I go, this is my brand new sister in Christ. Everybody in the lobby, they all start singing happy birthday. And what am I telling you? I'm telling you that to say, we didn't do anything heroic in the,

it was already teed up. Look, for four days, these Christians had shown the way of Jesus. So then when we talked about the words of Jesus, it didn't contradict, but complemented. Does that make sense? And the reason this is so personal for me is because. I'm a product of that. I grew up in Iran, and when I was nine years old, we escaped from Iran, like Pastor Josh was saying, and then we came to America as refugees, and when I was 18 years old, a friend invited me to church. And I knew when my friend invited me to church that there was no way my Muslim father and mother were gonna let me, I was Shiite Muslim, there was no way they were gonna let me go to church, but my friend was adamant. So on a Saturday night, at midnight, me and my friend walked into my house just so I could get my buddy off my back, and I walked down the hallway, and I knocked on my parents' bedroom door, and I asked my mom and dad if I could go to church. I thought my dad's gonna say the word no really loud, and my friend's gonna hear me and leave me alone, but instead of saying no, my dad goes, what is the name of it? He asked the name of the church. And I was just shocked that my father

would even acknowledge the idea, or even think about the idea that I would maybe get to go, but what I didn't know was that Saturday night, I was standing there just to try to get a quick note from my dad, but what God had been doing two weeks prior to that Saturday night was that there were these Christians from this church, Shades Mountain Baptist Church, that had come to my dad's restaurant. My dad had opened up a French restaurant. I know it's confusing, but stay with me, all right? So my dad had opened up this restaurant, and this guy named Aubrey Edwards, and a few other guys from this church staff called Shades Mountain Baptist were eating at my dad's restaurant, and while they were eating, they saw how my dad was shorthanded on the wait staff, and instead of complaining about the bad service, because they were getting bad service during lunch rush, these people got up, rolled up their sleeves, and waited on tables at my dad's restaurant. That's why I call it worship service. This worship leader led worship, but not with a guitar in his hand. He led worship with a mop in his hand, and then they went back the next day. They cleared their iCal, went back the next day, and served my dad for three hours, went back the next day and served him again,

and after three days of helping my dad out during lunch shifts, they invited my dad to choir practice, and because kindness is a superpower, my dad went to choir practice, and the end of choir practice happened, and they got out a piece of paper and said, this is our friend Mr. Nasser. He owns a restaurant. We told them we're gonna sign up for shifts to volunteer at his restaurant, and for two weeks, unbeknownst to me, because we were the kind of family who just didn't have any conversations, all right? What I didn't know was that for two weeks, unbeknownst to me, I'm standing there on a Saturday night asking if I can go to church, and what I didn't know was that for two weeks, these Christians had parachuted into Cafe de France and had been busboys and waiters for free. I was at a church in Orlando, and I was telling this story, and between the second and the third service, this lady walked up and she said, when I was a, she's a grandmother, but she said, when I was a college student on a random Tuesday night, I remember at choir practice one night, there was a man that looked like Saddam Hussein, and they asked us to sign up to serve him. She goes, I was a waitress at your daddy's restaurant for a couple of weeks, and we're standing there crying,

and I looked at her and I said, it's your fault I'm here. Why? Because my story's about not an Iranian kid that turned out okay. It's about a bunch of believers who decided, man, we don't need a passport to go love the 1040 window, and a guy who was a worship leader decided that the best way I can lead worship is I'm just gonna meet a need, and listen, but don't miss this. The reason I get to be here with you is because they showed up there for him, and so anybody here, you're listening to me today, and you're like, man, forget 2,000 years ago theology and historical narrative of what happened. I actually have a one. Anybody, I have a person. Maybe it's actually your physical sister who's not your spiritual sister. Maybe it's your coworker, the guy in the cubicle next to you. Anybody know somebody right now, you know somebody right now who you care about? You care about them, and because you care about them, you know heaven and hell is at stake in their life. You're close to them. They're far from God, and that means if tomorrow Jesus returned, that they are on the other side.

They're not on the kindness side, but the severity side of eternity. Anybody know somebody who's not a believer that you care about? If you know, and this is personal for you. This isn't numbers. This isn't 2.6 billion Christians in the world, eight billion people in the world. No, this is actual human being. I have a grandson. I have a best friend. I have a coworker. I have a relative. I know somebody right now who is not a Christian. If you know somebody right now who's not a Christian, and God has stirred your affection to want to see them come to Christ, will you just stand up right now? I represent an individual that I'm burdened for. Will you stand up? That's my one more, and if you're standing up right now, and you have, by the way, if you don't have a one more, you might be somebody else's one more. I just wanna tell you that. You might be on somebody else's list, but if you're standing up today, look at me, don't miss this. If you're standing up for Tiffany,

you're standing up for Robert, you're standing up for Brittany, you're standing up for, standing up for Josh, if you're standing up, like right now, think about, you're just thinking about an individual. She is in choir with me. He's on the football team with me. He always works out at the gym right beside me. Anybody, think about that person. Now, instead of thinking, what do I say to them, think, how do I serve them? And it doesn't stop there, because if we stop there, then we just become humanitarian services, and that's not the church. We have a bigger conversation to have, but how do I serve them so that when I say the gospel, it comes at a deeper level of undeniability in their life? And so, will you just bow your heads with me, just if you're standing up, but I just wanna pray a commissioning over you. First of all, just realize this at this very moment, that you're probably, like literally thousands of you in different campuses right now are standing, you're in a room standing for someone who is not in this room. I mean, don't miss the moment here. You're in a room standing for someone

who's not in this room, and they probably think nobody ever thinks about me. God doesn't care. They probably think God doesn't care about me. They're on a golf course, or they're getting over a night of just country line dancing and getting wasted, and waking up in bed and flipping channels this morning, and what they're thinking is, God is not thinking about me at all, and what they don't understand is God so loves them that he's actually put them in your heart to stand on their behalf as a voice of advocacy for them. And so, if God has put you and them in this moment together, then I believe that God believes in you so much that he's commissioning you. He's literally deputizing you to be the voice into their life, to be a witness into their life. And so, right now, just say, Holy Spirit, give me a way to serve. Maybe the way they get a clean heart is I begin to get a dirty fingernail. Do I need to go cut some grass? Do I need to go help them at work? Maybe carry some of their load. They're in a tough season, so I carry their load at work, and I don't want credit with the boss that I carried their workload. I want them to get credit with the boss. Do I invite them into the neighborhood

in the morning, ladies gathering? Do I find myself figuring out a way to show kindness and patience? I'm not telling you to celebrate their sin. I'm just telling you to be compassionate. So, in this very moment, again, the great commission and the great commandment, how do I love well so that I can go tell? Lord, I pray right now over this moment that those we're standing for who are not in these rooms will one day be in these rooms. That, God, you would call them, call them, God, to take the gospel more seriously and then step from darkness to light. Save people, Lord, through the kindness of your life. Thank you that, Lord, you tell us in Romans 2, kindness leads to repentance. And I pray that we would share the gospel, have the courage to share the gospel, that we would serve it on a tray of compassion. We love you, Lord. We need you, God. Amen. Hey, one last thing. If the Lord uses this moment as you're serving somebody, I'd love to hear about it so I can be praying for you. All right, so, at David Nasser, N-A-S-S-E-R. So, just tag me and let me know on something, all right? It's an honor to be with you. I love your church.

Thanks for letting me open God's word. God bless you.