You Don’t Need All the Answers to Talk About Jesus

Come on, let's pray together today. Jesus, we lift high the name that is above every name, the name that we find peace and comfort in, the name that heals every hurt, the name that saves, the name that delivers, that name of Jesus Christ. And we worship you today, Jesus, for who you are, for all you've done. And Jesus, we give you all the praise, all the glory, all the honor. It is due to you and you only. We love and worship you today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen, amen. Welcome to church today, everybody. Oh, we're so thrilled, thrilled that you're here in Yorktown and in Newport News, in Virginia Beach. Of course, those of you joining us online, all over the world, we welcome you to the men at Indian Creek. Welcome to you, and of course, we love, love the men and women in our church, many of whom are here and many deployed watching online today. The men and women of our military, can you show them some love, show them some support? We love you and we pray for you often. Well, you picked a good day, I believe a good day to be in church today.

God's already moving in our hearts and our lives, and today I've got a message I believe is gonna be transformational for your life, but not just for you, but I think it's gonna change our cities. I think it's gonna change the people in our lives. I believe God's gonna do something special today, in and through what he has for us. We're in the final week of our series, Testify. Testify, have you enjoyed the series, everybody? That's good. Well, we've enjoyed it too, and God's been working through it. Why don't you take a seat, and we got work to do to jump in. It's the final week of the series, but it's also the final week for you to tap to testify. We kicked this off a few weeks ago. You can use your phone and tap that seat back sticker in front of you, or you can follow the link online provided for you over in the chat. You can share a testimony with us of how God's working in your heart and in your life. We've heard some incredible, incredible stories of God at work and ways that he's moving in and through our lives. There's so many of us sharing testimonies, and I thought I would share a couple more with you today just to set up this series.

This first one is from Anna. She shared this a couple of Sundays ago, and she said, when I woke up, she said, I just wasn't feeling it. Anybody relate? I just wasn't feeling it. She said, I was going back and forth. I love this next part, though. She said, until my sweet three-year-old son walked up to me, tugged at my pants legs, and said, Mommy, can we please go to church today? Please, please. I love this kid. I love this kid. And of course, she says, how could I say no to that? So I attended church. I was surprised by the fact that it was spontaneous baptism Sunday a couple of weeks ago. She said, I hesitated on that too, though, thinking that I wasn't deserving of it. I've done so much wrong in my life, and lately, I haven't been in the best place mentally. But as things continued, by the end and all that was said in the service, God spoke to me and gave me the courage to go for it. She said, if I hadn't been there, and it hadn't been for my son's little pleas to go to church, and if I hadn't been there that day, and I wouldn't have been baptized, and I wouldn't have received the words

that I really needed to hear, it just goes to show how God really does work in mysterious ways. Come on, can you celebrate Anna's baptism story? So awesome. By the way, the next baptism, June 7th, if you haven't been baptized, you can register to be baptized. This next one is from Steven, who said, I lived most of my life suffering from depression and social anxiety. My way of dealing with these issues was to self-medicate. In doing so, I became addicted to alcohol for over 20 years and used drugs and became addicted to painkillers. Needless to say, it didn't work. It led to a couple of arrests, me being kicked out of the military, my family almost disowning me. Eventually, I'd had enough and decided to take my own life. As I was about to end it all, I had a moment of clarity and was finally desperate enough that I asked God for help. He saved me that day. I started coming to Water's Edge Church about nine years ago and found my home. I still suffered addiction for a few more years, but with the grace of God, I broke the chains of my addictions. I've been clean and sober for four and a half years. I'm loving my life to God. Be the glory. Come on. If he can do it for Steven, he can do it for you.

And I just want you to sense today, just since what happens in the atmosphere, when testimony is shared, when you start to testify, the Holy spirit starts to move. And I'm telling you, there's nothing more powerful than a person's story, than your testimony. And that's really what I want to teach you today. I promised you today, the most practical message about testifying you've ever heard. So I want to teach you today around this big idea. I want to teach you. This is my testimony. This is my testimony. If you know Jesus, if you have a relationship with him, then you have a testimony, a testimony to share a testimony. Somebody needs to hear maybe most importantly, a testimony that Jesus wants you to use to tell others about him. In fact, maybe you remember this verse from last week where Jesus said this, he said, you will be my witnesses. This is what Jesus said about us that you and I part of our purpose, part of what God calls us to part of what he desires for us to be about is witnessing, telling others, testifying. And one of the best ways, one of the best ways for you to testify is through your testimony. I heard about this, this godly elderly woman who every day, she loved to testify every day. And she had this routine. It was a, it was a habit of hers every morning, the same time, every day, rain or shine, she'd step out on the front porch of her house. She'd raise her hands and in a loud voice, she would testify. Thank you, God. Well, living next door to this godly elderly woman was her old atheist neighbor. And every time that she would step out and testify, thank you, God, it made him so mad that he would shout back and say, there is no God. And this continued day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, until finally, one day, this elderly godly woman ran across some hard times and she ran out of groceries in her house. And so that morning, when she stepped out on her front porch, instead of testifying, thank you, God, that morning, she prayed, God, please provide for me. Well, the, the, the atheist neighbor next door heard her and thought, well, I got her now. And so late that night, he went to the grocery store, bought a bunch of groceries. And the next morning, early, he got up, took those bags of groceries, sat them on the doorstep of her front porch. And then he hid the bushes to wait and see exactly what she might say when she came out on that morning. Sure enough, at the exact time, she always came out. She stepped out on the front porch. She looked down, saw those bags of groceries, raised her hands and said, thank you, God, you provided for me. Well, the atheist jumped out of the bushes and said, aha, I got you. There is no God. He didn't provide for you. I provided for you because

I bought you those groceries. Well, that lady didn't miss a beat. She threw her hands up a second time. She said, thank you, God, for providing for me. And thank you for making the devil pay for him. Come on, that's funny. I don't care who you are. That's so funny. She had a testimony. And I believe you do too. Every single one of us have something we can testify about. We've been learning that little word testimony in the Bible, that word testify. It means to just speak from firsthand knowledge. It means you don't have to know it all. You don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to quote all the scriptures. You don't have to explain all the theology. You just have to be able to open your mouth and tell others what God has done for you. And this is exactly what the blind man in the Bible who was healed by Jesus did. We built this whole series around his story, a man who was born blind, who encountered Jesus and Jesus met him. Jesus healed him, gave him his sight. And the moment he could see the religious leaders of that day started to ask him all kinds of questions. They interrogated him about his healing. And finally, the man just testified. And this is what he said about Jesus. He said, I don't know. I don't know whether he's a sinner. The man replied, but I know this, I was blind and now I can see. And that was his testimony. I don't know all the answers. I can't tell you I understand it all. I just know I was once this and now I'm not. I was once that way, but now I'm this way. And Jesus changed my life. He loved me. He saw me. He healed me. He saved me. I was. I was blind, and now I can see. That's a testimony. That's a test, and that's how you testify. And today, I wanna teach you that if you know Jesus, you can do this too. In fact, if you're taking notes today, write this down. My testimony is my number one tool to testify. It's my number one tool. And no, Pastor, I need to be able to defend my faith. I need to be able to explain the existence of God and the problem of evil in this world. I need to be able to quote the Bible.

I need to be able to debate the debaters. I need to be able to get more education. I need to be able to become an expert in theology. I need to read more, study more, know more, learn more. No, no, no, no, no, you don't need to do any of those things more. Now, are those things bad? Not at all, not at all. But the number one tool that God wants to use to reach your unbelieving family or friends is your testimony. It's the most convincing tool we have. And it's the easiest to share because it's just your story, that's it. It's just your story. I was once this, and now I'm not. You know, when Jesus met the woman at the well and changed her life, the Bible tells this about her. The Bible says that many of the Samaritans from that town, from her town, believed in Jesus. Why? Because of the woman's testimony, that's it. Didn't they need proof? Didn't they have questions that they needed answers? Didn't they need her to answer all of the debates that they had? Not at all. The Bible says that they believed simply because of her testimony. And I wonder today, how many people are in your life?

Hey, I wonder today, how many people are in our towns? And the one thing they need to believe is just your story. It's your testimony. Think about that. The Bible said many from her town, many from her town went from unbelieving to believing, went from lost to found, went from guilty to forgiven, went from having a destiny determined in hell to a destiny determined in heaven with Jesus forever and ever and ever. And it all happened simply because one woman was willing to tell her testimony. It's our number one tool. What if your silence is standing in someone's way to believing in Jesus? What if all they're waiting for to believe is your story? This is my testimony and Jesus wants you to share it. In fact, as Jesus was ramping up his earthly ministry, as he was beginning to teach the multitudes and heal the sick, as he was revealing that he was the Messiah, the Bible says he did something that's I think pretty interesting and it relates to us today. The Bible says after this, the Lord, that's Jesus, he appointed 72 others and he sent them out two by two ahead of him to every town and place, and don't miss this,

to every town and place where he was about to go. Now think about that. It's Jesus who saves. It's Jesus who heals. It's Jesus who performs miracles. But for some reason, before Jesus went to heal, before he went to save, before he went to perform miracles, he sent his followers two by two, 72 of them, out to the towns and places where he himself was actually going to go. Why? Why does Jesus send his disciples ahead of where he's going? Let me tell you. It's because Jesus works where he has first sent us. That's why. That's why. He sends them ahead of him to the places he's about to go himself and he sends them because he's coming along behind them to do his best work. I wanna tell you today that I believe he has sent you. He sent you to your family. He sent you to your workplace. He sent you to your high school. He sent you to your neighborhood that you live in. He sent you to be on that team. He sent you to this city because he's ready to do his best work there.

So he sends us out with our testimony first. And because they go, he comes. Listen, because they go with their testimony, he follows and works. And then he says this, look, he said to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are, what everybody say it with me, are few. So what Jesus is saying is that we don't have a harvest problem. We don't have a people believing problem. There is no lack of people to believe in Jesus. That's not the problem. Jesus says we have a worker problem. Jesus says we have a testimony telling problem, that there aren't enough workers going out into the field to tell people so that the harvest can happen. That's the problem according to Jesus. And so what do we do about it? He says, so we ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. And that's what we've been doing all series long. I've been praying that all series long. Lord, make us workers. Send us out into the harvest field. Send us with a testimony to tell. And then Jesus says perhaps the most profound two letter word in all the Bible. Jesus says to those, go. Go.

Go. I want you to get that word deep in your spirit today. Say it with me, everybody. Go. Elbow your neighbor real good. Tell them, go. Tell them, go. Go. G-O. Two simple letters. By the way, you ever notice this? Two thirds of God is go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. You know what I've been praying all series? That we would go. That we would go as workers. That we'd go to Grafton High School. That we'd go to the shipyard. That we'd go to Riverside Hospital. That we'd go to Town Center in Virginia Beach. That we'd go to the Wawa, where we pay way too much for gas right now.

That we'd go to Starbucks. That we'd go to the lobby of the DMV. Because how many of you know they need some Jesus in the lobby of the DMV? That we'd go with a story to tell. That we'd go with testimony on our lips. That we'd go to celebrate God's goodness and his grace and his faithfulness to our lives. Jesus said, there's not a believing problem. There's a telling problem. There's a testimony problem. We gotta learn to testify. And I wanna tell you today, listen to me. You actually can be the answer to the prayer of the saints through the ages. Men and women who have been praying to the Lord of the harvest. Somebody's grandma who's been praying for their grandson to come to Jesus. You might be the answer to that prayer. Just by testifying. Think about that. Jesus said to go because somebody needs to hear your testimony. And can I just tell you this? You are God's plan A. And he has no plan B. Woo, let that sink in. Some of you are like, oh, God's in trouble then. I know.

We're gonna change that though. You're God's plan A. I want you to imagine the scene. Now this is just, I'm just asking you for a moment to use your holy sanctified imagination. All right, will you? This is not Bible. This is not in the Bible, but I just want you to imagine it. Everybody got it? You're just gonna imagine this scene with me when Jesus ascends back into heaven. And let's just imagine that he's greeted at the pearly gates, entering into heaven by the head angel, Gabriel. And Gabriel says, welcome home, King Jesus. Welcome home, Messiah. You did it. You won. You conquered death, hell, and the grave. You defeated sin. You made a way for people to be saved and come to heaven and spend all eternity with us. Way to go, Jesus. What's next? Imagine the scene. And Jesus responds to angel Gabriel and says, well, what do you mean, Gabriel? And Gabriel says, well, what's next? You want me to do something?

You want me to tell the world? You want me to write it in the clouds? You want me to put it on a billboard? You want me to blow the trumpet and make an announcement? You want me to get the old Christmas band back together again, show up in the clouds, and make an angelic announcement that Jesus has won and people can be saved? Imagine the scene when Jesus says, no, no, no, no. Gabriel, I don't want you to do any of that. You've done enough. I don't want you to do any of that and Gabriel says but why not and Jesus says you don't have to you don't have to because the people I loved the people I've saved the people I've changed they're gonna tell the world they're gonna tell Peter and John are gonna tell the world don't worry don't worry about it Paul and Silas are gonna tell the world Stu and Tab are gonna tell the world don't worry don't worry about it Phil and Gene are gonna tell the world John and Jesse they're gonna go tell the world you ain't gotta worry about it the people I love the people I've saved the people I've changed they're gonna tell the world Gabriel don't worry about it and imagine the silence in heaven if Gabriel had asked but what if they don't what if we don't cool pastor you're trying to guilt us today whoo you pull out a guilt card no no no no I'm not trying to guilt you today I'm trying to shake you from your slumber to see people are lost and destined for eternity without God if you don't tell them who will who will who will by the way by the way I've been doing this long enough to know guilt it doesn't work anyways all right I know that I know that listen it doesn't work anyways it doesn't authentically move anybody to do anything not not guilt so I don't want to motivate you with guilt today I think I got something better that will motivate all of us to tell our

story and it's straight from the scriptures let me let me show you let me show you what I believe is the greatest motivator to testify the scripture says this it says for Christ's love compels us Christ's love motivates us you don't need guilt you don't need guilt not if you know the love of Christ not if you know Christ's love if you've experienced the love of Christ are you kidding me you want to tell somebody you want to share it with somebody you want everybody to know it you want everybody to experience I've experienced something the world needs to know it's called the love of Christ and it compels me did you watch did you watch the derby last night anybody watch the derby anybody oh don't act like y'all sat around polishing your halos last night coming to church y'all watch the derby and I saw something that I've never seen before at the derby I saw when they were loading the the horses into the things into the we call that in this what stalls no not shoots gates gates there it is there it is it was coming but it's taking a long time to get there gates I should have GPT'd this part of the message when they were loading the horses into the gates I noticed the the horses were a little hesitant to get in the gate you notice that anybody watch did y'all watch this okay I feel like I'm talking to myself right now when they were loading the horses into the gates if they were hesitant to get in they had they had this crew of guys who who would come along and push the horses from the back forcing them compelling them y'all that's that's the word compelling them into the gate like that there was they had no option these big mammoth horses had no option but to get in the gate cuz two little guys from the backside are pushing and I feel like the Holy Spirit and I today are pushing from the backside a little bit like hey it's the love of Christ y'all that compels us and if you've known his love you gotta tell somebody about it you gotta tell somebody now watch what happens when you know the love of Christ and today I plan to introduce you to that love if you've never experienced it before look at me look at me Christ loved you so much he died for you no but no nobody else would do that for you nobody else but Christ died for you he paid the penalty for your sin this is the love of Christ I'm

talking about look what happens when you know the love of Christ it says because the Christ love compels us so from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view when you know the love of Christ you can't look at people the same that's what it says we regard no one from a worldly point of view. What's a worldly point of view? It's seeing people in the here and now. That's all I see you for, in the here and now. That's a worldly point of view. I see you as you are in the here and now. That's a worldly point of view. But when you know the love of Christ, you can't see people like that anymore. Because here's what you know. You know God made people not for the here and now. You know God made people forever in eternity. So when I look at you, I don't just see you for the here and now. That's the problem with some of us look at our neighbor and we're like, oh my gosh, I got the nicest neighbor in the world. He's fine. He doesn't need to hear my testimony. Well, that's seeing him from a worldly point of view. Because all you're seeing him is in the here and now. I'm glad he's nice in the here and now. Thank God for nice neighbors in the here and now. But nice neighbors don't go to heaven because they're nice. The only way to get to heaven is to be saved and forgiven. Y'all get that?

So I'm glad he's nice in the here and now. I want him saved and forgiven in the hereafter where it really matters. I don't see people in a worldly way anymore. I see them in an eternal way. The way God wants it. The way God created it. And so look at what happens because we don't see them in the same way though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, this is a good part. This is a good part, everybody. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here. By the way, that's your testimony if you know Jesus. Yeah, that's what happened to you. You're like, well, I didn't know that. Yeah, that's what happened. The old you is gone. The old sinful you is gone. The new Stu is here. Hello. Y'all getting it? You're a new creation because Jesus changed you. And all this, all this is from God

who, and I want you to say this next word with me, everybody, who reconciled. Come on, say it with me. Who reconciled. That's an accounting term. And it just means to bring my balance to zero. Old school, you'd reconcile your bank statement. Old school. Now you just push the button and it does it. Or some of you just spend it, don't think anything about it. That's a different story though. But you'd reconcile your bank statement. You'd bring the balance to zero. You'd make sure that everything was accounted for. And that's what Jesus did for us. Who reconciled, brought our balance to zero. The sin balance to zero. Us to himself through Christ. Through Christ who gave now, he gave to us the ministry of reconciliation. So that means what Jesus did for us, we're to help others experience for themselves. What did Jesus do for you? He brought your sin balance to zero. He reconciled you. And so now you can have a ministry of reconciling others, helping them know their sin balance can be brought to zero. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. That's the love of Christ.

Your sin doesn't have to count against you. And he's committed to us the message of reconciliation. So we have a ministry and we have a message. And it says this, we are therefore Christ ambassadors. That's who we are. If you've experienced the love of Christ, my goodness, if you've experienced his love, it compels you to see the world differently. And now, now you are the ambassador of Jesus Christ. That means you represent him in all things. That's good news. That's good news. And he's given to us a message and a ministry that some of us, some of us aren't living out. Some of us aren't sharing. Some of us aren't telling. Some of us aren't testifying. We aren't representing him to the people in our lives. Now, I've yelled at you a whole lot, okay? I've yelled at you a whole lot. And you're like, oh my gosh, I thought this was supposed to be the most practical sermon ever. It's gonna be, I promise, it's coming, it's coming. I had to get that out of my system though. Here we go, you ready now? So here's what I need you to, you knew all that stuff I just said, you probably already knew.

That's why you're just staring at me like this right now. You probably already knew all that stuff. That's fine, that's fine. I wanna make it practical though. Because my guess is this, you knew it, but you don't know what to do with it. You knew it, you knew this, I'm supposed to tell people about Jesus. I know that, I know that. But you hadn't known what to do with it. Here's what I want to do. I want to help you know what to say and how to say it. Know what to say and how to say it. So that we can all lead from here. Every one of us today can lead from here. And we can share our testimony because it's your number one greatest tool. Okay, you look fired up. Class is in session. You ready? If you're not a note taker, it's time to become one, okay? It's time to become one if you're not a note taker. If you're like, my handwriting's atrocious, okay, get your phone out because I'm going to make it real simple and I'm going to let you take a picture of something in a minute and then you'll have it. All right, I just want everybody ready for that moment. Class is in session. Dr. Hodge is in the house, let's go.

You ready? Hey, are you ready? Okay, this is life-changing. I'm telling you, this is life-changing. It'll be life-changing for you when you lead somebody to Jesus. It'll be life-changing for them when they get led to Jesus. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be awesome. There are four parts to your testimony. And I want to tell you how you can share your testimony and all of us can do this. If you know Jesus, you have a testimony to share. Four parts, four parts. Here's the first part. The first part is this, my life before I met Jesus. What was my life like before I met Jesus? For some of you, this is going to be very dramatic. It's going to be like the story I read earlier about Stephen. You say, before I met Jesus, I had an addiction. For some of you, you're going to say, before I met Jesus, I was a very angry person. Before I met Jesus, I was holding on to unforgiveness. Before I met Jesus, my life was a mess. Before I met Jesus, you lacked purpose. I don't know your story, but you do. So think about it as you're jotting this down, just think, how would I describe my life before I met Jesus?

Well, let me tell you my testimony, okay? I'll demonstrate this. Before I met Jesus, I was a five-year-old kid. That's it, I was five. So my story is not very dramatic. Like what am I going to say? Before I met Jesus, I ate too much ice cream, stole my brother's matchbox cars. All right, I don't know. It's like, but here's my story. Before I met Jesus, even though I was a young kid, there's something in me that knew there was more. And when I would do something wrong, I always felt really bad about it, always, before I met Jesus. So I want you to think about your story, and I want you to consider what your life was like before you met Jesus. Now, here's the second part of your testimony. It goes like this. I realized I needed Jesus. I realized I needed him. And again, that's gonna look different for everybody. This is your story. My story is this. I was in children's church, because I grew up going to church, and I heard my teacher tell me that Jesus loved me so much that he wanted to pay the price for my sin. Now, I was five years old.

Of course, I couldn't understand all of that, but I understood this, oh, that feeling I've been feeling when I do something bad, that's sin. And Jesus wants to forgive me of that? Okay, I'll take that. And that's the day I realized I needed Jesus. What about you? What was it like when you realized you needed him? For some of you, it'll be like, hey, somebody invited me to Easter services. I heard a sermon about Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. I realized I needed a relationship with Jesus. For others of you, it'll be, hey, my life was so messed up, I hit rock bottom. And when I was at the bottom, I knew there was only one place to look, and that was up, and that's the day I realized I needed Jesus. You got a story to tell. So what is it? The day you realized you needed Jesus, what did it look like? Here's the third part of your testimony. My life before I met Jesus, I realized I needed him. Number three, I made Jesus my Lord and Savior. Well, this is the best part of the story. This is the day I decided Jesus be my Lord and Savior. This is the day I decided to follow him with my life. I made him my Lord and Savior. For some of you, for some of you,

it'll be praying with me at the end of a sermon. I gave my life to Jesus. For others of you, it'll be, hey, I was talking with a friend. I was reading my Bible. And I just realized I need to call out to the Lord. For me, it was at the end of that children's church service. And my teacher said, hey, if you want Jesus to forgive you, then you can pray this prayer with me. And I prayed a prayer and decided that day to make Jesus my Lord and my Savior. And if you know Jesus, you have a testimony. And this is the third part of it, by the way. Can I just say, we gotta get rid of this language of I've always believed, I've always been a Christian. No, you haven't. No, no, no, you haven't. There is a point in time for all of us where we decide. Do you understand? The Bible says this, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That means you must call on him to receive his forgiveness, to receive his gift of salvation. You just can't be mama's Christianity or daddy's church attendance that's gonna make you right with God. No, no, no. You gotta have a moment in time where you decide, Jesus, I'm not living for me anymore.

I'm not gonna pay the sin debt on my own. Jesus, be my Lord. I'm following you. Be my savior, pay for my sin. For some of you, that moment will be today. That moment will be today. It'll be the best moment of your life. Because the love of Christ compels us. And I just sense in my spirit that God's Holy Spirit is drawing some people right now. And you've been in church maybe your whole life. You've heard the sermons. You've sang the songs. You might know the verses, but you've never said, yes, Jesus, be my Lord and savior. Today's the day. It's the third part of your testimony. What was my life like before I met Jesus? What was the moment like when I realized I needed him? When did I make him my Lord? And my savior? And then the fourth part. Let's talk about how my life's changed since I met him. How my life has changed because of him. You heard it in the testimony earlier. Stephen's testimony. Hey, I'm free from addiction. My life has purpose. I actually love my life now.

That's how my life has changed. Again, I was five years old. It wasn't a huge dramatic change. I promise you. Not a lot really changed, but as I began to grow and understand and know Jesus more, he gave me purpose and meaning and satisfaction. He called me. He gave me his peace and his comfort. Jesus has been my friend when I didn't have any friends. Jesus has brought me comfort in my soul in some of the darkest days of my life. He's been with me through trials. He's guarded me from temptations. He's given me a joy unspeakable. This is my testimony. What's yours? What's yours? I'm gonna give you some homework, okay? Your homework is take these four parts and actually write out your testimony. Like, like, like, like, practice it. And it don't have to be long. Just, just a few sentences on each part. This is my testimony. In fact, let me, let me do this. And team, I don't know how hard this is, but if we can put those four back up again, just so everybody can see them. And if you hadn't taken notes yet, it's time.

Okay, it's time. Take, take, take a picture and, and ponder for a moment. Everybody should do this. Every one of us, honor the moment and ponder for a moment. Gosh, do you remember what your life was like before Jesus? Do you remember what it was like when you realized you needed him? Do you remember that moment where you said, Jesus, be my Lord and Savior? If not, you can have it today. And aren't you thankful your life has changed because of Jesus? Thank you, Jesus, for changing my life. The old is gone, the new has come. That's what you say. That is your testimony, everybody. So how do you say it? Well, let me end with three ways, three ways. And listen, you can choose one of these ways, you can do all three of them. And I'm gonna start with the easiest, most simple, and we'll just build it up, okay? Three ways that you can take your testimony this week and share it with somebody else. Here's the first one, and I think all of us, all of us can do this. Share it on social media. Why don't we use social media for something good? So share it on social media.

You'll be amazed. And if you can, take a little selfie of yourself and share it that way. If you need to type it out, write it out, post it, that's okay too, but share it on social media. You'll be amazed, amazed. Now, you'll have some haters, of course. Just ignore them. Haters, but you watch. You watch, somebody's story, somebody's story will go around the world on social media this week, if you'll share it. Somebody's story will lead somebody to Jesus this week on social media, if you share it. Everybody can do that, that's not hard. That's non-confrontational. You don't even have to get up any guts to do that. Just sit in your car and take a little selfie and post it. We watch. Remember how I told you the atmosphere shifts in testimony time? You tell a testimony like that on social media, atmosphere's gonna shift in somebody's life. Okay, here's the second way, second way. A little more confrontational now, we're getting a little more difficult, so if you're out, you're out, but come on, go with me here. Number two, how do I share this? Blame me.

I got big shoulders. The preacher gets blamed for all sorts of stuff, so blame me, I'll take this blame, okay? Blame me. Just find somebody in your life, find a friend, a neighbor, a coworker, family member, somebody that doesn't know Jesus. If you got one more, this is your moment now, this is your moment, and blame me. And you just say, hey, this might be weird. My preacher gave me some homework. That's what you say. And then if you haven't memorized it, you pull it out and you say, hey, can I just share with you these four things? It'll take you less than a minute. For most of us, it'll take about a minute. Can I share with you these four things? And you've shared your testimony. Watch and see the doors that open, the conversations that begin. Just blame me, it's easy, it's easy. You're not gonna believe what my preacher told me to do this week. And then do it. Okay, there's some green berets in here, there's some elite forces, and so I'm gonna give you the third way to share. And it really ain't that hard. Just blame yourself.

Just blame yourself. Blame me is easy, blame yourself. It's a little more hard, a little more difficult, but just say to a friend or family member, a coworker, a neighbor, say to your one more, say like, say this, you know what? It dawned on me this week that I've never shared with you the most important thing in my life. I'm sorry. I thought if I brought it up, it might get weird or awkward or whatever. I didn't know how you'd think about it, but can I share with you my testimony? What are they gonna say? No. You know what Jesus said? When they say no, shake the dust off your feet and move on. There's somebody else waiting to hear. They ain't gonna say no. They're not gonna say no. They're gonna say, okay. So you can post on social media, blame me, blame yourself. Hey, I'm sorry I haven't shared with you the most important thing in my life. Can I tell you what it is? And then this is my life before I met Jesus. And then I realized I needed Jesus. Tell a little bit about that. And then, oh my goodness. And then I gave my life to Jesus

and this is how he changed my life. Just like that. Just like that. You can do this. You can do this. Let's rewind back to the start of the message when Jesus sent out 72 two-by-two. 72 two-by-two and the world was changed. Think about that. 72 two-by-two, the world was changed. I hadn't looked at the numbers today, so I don't know. There's a couple thousand people, maybe more that'll hear this message today. Send us out as harvest, as into the harvest fields, as workers. You think the world could change? I do. If 72 went out and changed the world, what could a couple thousand of us do as we go out in the peninsula, wherever you live and share our story? It could change the world. It could change the world. This is Jesus' plan A. It's us. It's us. So let's do it. Let's do it. All right, I'm done. Why don't you bow your heads?

Close your eyes. Heavenly Father, I've done the best I can do. I've done the best I can do. So Holy Spirit, breathe on us. You've not given us a spirit of fear, but of sound mind. You've given us a courageous spirit. So we leave from here with a story on our lips, with a passion in our belly, with a skip in our step to tell somebody about what you've done in our lives. May we no longer view people from a worldly perspective, but God, may we see them as you see them. Break our hearts for what breaks yours. And may we be bold in telling how you've changed our lives. One more moment, heads bowed, eyes closed. If you've never had a moment where you said yes to Jesus and made him your Lord and Savior, this is your moment. You'll never forget it. I'm going to lead you in a simple prayer and I'm going to invite you to pray this prayer with me. And if you'd say, Pastor, include me in that prayer. This is my moment to give my life to Jesus. I want you right now to shoot your hand high in the air. I want to know this is my moment, giving my life to Jesus. Hands in the air. God bless you. God bless you. This is your moment. You can put your hands down now and pray this with me. Say, Jesus, I want to know you. I want my sin forgiven by you. And I want to live my life for you. So I make you my Lord and Savior. Come into my life and change me. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank God everybody for his word today.