Faith Sharing Is a Team Sport

Welcome back to Ignite. You know, I often call faith sharing a team sport, and it is exactly that. It's extremely rare when someone generally accepts Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior with one conversation. And even then, there had to be Christians before you, team members I call them, who prepared that person for you to take them across the fetish line. It's interesting, really interesting. But when the Holy Spirit has people prepared to accept the Lord before you meet them, you know, it almost doesn't matter what you say. They're going to accept the Lord no matter what at that point. So whenever, whenever you're that last person to speak to a person before they make their decision, know that you didn't do that alone, there may have been 20 other people before you sharing their faith with that person that prepared them for that moment. It's a team sport. In spite of whatever you've been taught about evangelism, there's not a single scripture that remotely suggests that you should always lead people to salvation in one conversation. And yet in the early days of my faith sharing experience, I felt a total failure when I didn't lead someone the Lord was setting. And probably some of you have had that same experience, but that's just not scriptural. Jesus actually talked about this in John 437 saying, I said to you, get this, this is so good. I said to you to harvest where you did that plant. Others had already done the work. And now you will get to gather the harvest. You will get together the harvest. What joy both a planner and the harvester alike enjoy. Wow. That destroys the thought of faith sharing as an individual sport. It's a team sport. There are sores. There's harvesters, there's planners, some was water, some was fertilized. There's a lot of steps along the way. It's estimated anywhere from 5, 10 to 20 experiences and intentional God-centered conversations with the typical unbeliever before they finally come to realization and know that they want God. And sometimes you get hardly having to do anything and they're ready to pray. They have been well prepared before they've gotten to us. But did you get this point? What joy, what joy, okay? Do you want joy? Get this. What joy awaits both the planner and the harvester alike. There's a message for another day, but God always fills your life with joy when you lead people to Jesus. If you want more joy in your life, this is how you do it. In John 15, 11, one of my favorite scriptures, Jesus actually says, actually says, I think he actually says, when you bear fruit, when you lead people to Jesus, my joy remain with you no matter what's happening around you or to you. My joy remain with you and get this. Your joy will be full. Wow. That's what are the great promises of the Bible from Jesus Himself. It's in John 15, 11, read it. When you bear fruit, when you're sharing your faith, when you're moving everybody, every day closer to Jesus, your joy will be full. Who doesn't want joy? We're happy. This happiness comes and goes. I mean, I can be happy this morning and I'm happy it's afternoon. It's so hinging on circumstances, but when you have joy, it doesn't matter how bad the news is today, you still got joy because we know we're going and we know what God's doing in our lives and through us to other lives. But okay, back to being a teen sport. That's my focus. In Matthew 15, and Mark four, by the way, the parable about the sewer, remember that? Sewing seeds on footpath, on rocky soil, amongst thorns, on hard ground, on fertile soil. It all shouts the message that we're sharing our favorite, all types of people who need all different types of approaches to connect with their specific needs. And every one of them, except for those described as fertile soil, who actually received the Lord with your one conversation, every one of the people you share your faith with, will require more Christians, more team members, if you will, moving them closer to Jesus for them to flourish in their faith. A friend of mine saw on Facebook that I was in Naples, Florida for a few days. I was at a conference and he called me and said, Hey, how long are you going to be in Naples? I needed me with a friend of mine who I just gave it a Bible to. And he's moved in Naples, kind of in search of what he wants to do with his life. And I need to get in somebody that can, to, to share with him and confirm his decision to serve the Lord and what it all means. And then I see you're in Naples. I had to call you. Can you be with us? I said, of course. So I call this guy. We had a two hour lunch, probably longer even. I mean, we just sat there and enjoyed each other's company. And, and I just talked to him about how, now that you're Christian, share your faith and how to get into the word and shared scriptures with him, we just had a wonderful time. And now I've entered, we seem to other Christians. And, and now he's growing like a weed. That's the way it works. And even for those described as being fertile soil, when you hit Peter, that you know it, they were fertile soil and you hit Peter and they, they get, you get them across the line into salvation. You know, it took a lot of Christians before you, I mean, team members, to make them fertile soil for your words. So in your celebration about ladies, them by the Lord, remember it wasn't just you, but you got to be the last person, the last member of the team to lead into Jesus, praise God. We had a lady's prayer retreat here at our house a few months ago. And it was amazing. The power fell. It was everybody's life for change. These were not just ladies coming to pray. They were praying. Ladies who came to pray together. And so many of them impacted my life. There was one, her name was Janet Pogue. She's from Dallas and she got spoke a little bit. And I like to gravitate. I try to get to know people that are full of the orgies. I want to get some of what they have. And so I talked to Janet a little bit and knew that she's the real deal. So about a month later, she called me and she said, Hey, Mary, where are you? And I told her I was in Scottsdale. And she said, Well, my son Brandon, you need to meet Brandon because he's a soul winner. And he just let a Jew to the Lord. And he met with him this morning. And and this this gentleman that he led to the Lord is flying to Scottsdale today. And so Brandon would call me and says, Mom, do you know anybody in Scottsdale that could get a hand him off to? Can he do that? I said, absolutely. Tell him to call me. So Brandon called me and we talked a little bit of the stories. Amazing about he was at a bent the night before and felt nudge the nudge to start sharing his faith in some ways. They're walking out first and behind them was this guy, this Jew. He said, What are you talking about up there? So intimately about. And the other guy said, We're talking about Jesus. He said, Well, I'm a Jew. And Brandon says, Jesus, and that started off with a conversation. They got together next morning and he led him to the Lord. Now, there's an example of somebody that to lead a Jew to the Lord is very difficult. Okay. To do it in one conversation is not going to happen. You know, again, the team sport a lot of people had to have been talking to him. Jordan before that. But here he was and he led the Lord. So he said, I need somebody to reinforce him. Could you be with him? I said, Absolutely. So it gave me his number. So I knew about when he was landing and I called him and I told who I was and I said, I'd been talking to Brandon which likes to get together. He said he could win. How fast? I mean, he was so energized. Since then when people are hungry for God, he is their highest priority. First love. And when he's your first love, you do the first work you tell people about him and that's where I will with him. I talked to him. I shared faith and he said, I have so many friends who are Christians that need to know Jesus. It was just automatic. And he's gone off now and he's been leading other people to the Lord. That's can you fall from from the mom to the son to me to the one that saved. It's a team sport, folks. This is exciting stuff. I mean, I think about all the friends I have who are wonderful people who believe in God but don't serve him because they think their fun life would be over if they became a Christian. What are they missing? I mean, it's tragic. They have no idea what they're missing as the things that bring them fulfillment are so trivial compared to things eternal. I mean, I'm like them in many ways. I like the things they like. I love every part of my life. I have many patients. I'm not just singular focused on one thing, but nothing. I mean, nothing I do in enjoying life compares to getting people across the line into heaven. I mean, I'll be celebrating Jordans being in heaven a thousand years from now. That beats the socks off of great experiences or great meals or great victories or great accomplishments that are short lived and soon forgotten. I know this is probably a different story, different message for you. You never associated face sharing with having fun before, but it is. It's deadly serious, but what could be more fun than being part of the team that led Jordan and Jude to Jesus and then watching him lead other people to Jesus? I mean, come on and God's having fun. God's having fun with us. You know, at Luke 1510, he tells us there's rejoicing in the presence of God over one sinner who repents. That's an entirely different level of fun above everything else I enjoy in life. Heaven is rejoicing with me as I've just lends the weight of the Lord. It's God brought them into it and allowed me to be a part of a small part of it. How cool is that? I mean, it's so wonderful to know that God's having fun with us, when we're giving him joy by leading people to him. You follow that? Can I go back and say that again? That God's having fun with us when we're leading people to him that's giving us joy. Where is it? It's in Nehemiah 8th chapter, I think. The Lord tells us the joy of the Lord is our strength. Do you want to have fun? Do you want to be happy? Would you like to know you just made God happy? Then follow God's lead. Join the team. Get on the bus and start leading people to Jesus. It changes everything. For those of us who are Christians, the only thing that will matter 100 years for now is how many people are in heaven because of our influence, because of your influence. Think about that. And then tell me what's your most important task for now until your last breath. God made sharing your faith, his first priority. He didn't say go into the world and read your Bible or prayer. Be a good person or even feed the poor. There's a ton of scripture to man that we do all those things. But at the top of the heath, the top of the list, God told us to go into the world and proclaim the gospel to move everyone every day closer to Jesus so much fun because when we do that, we'll be underneath and we'll be in the Word doing good things and feed the poor and doing everything else we should be doing as a Christian that God's call us to do. It starts sharing our faith. That's why it's the first work. I'm kind of weird. I tend to see things in pictures. Often weird pictures, okay. And I see face sharing like a pinball machine. You know, with the flippers on the side that propel the ball forward toward the goal or backward. If you play it wrong, depending on your level of focus, if you're focused and your skill level, it's a lot like face sharing. Forget me, but when you view unbelievers as that ball, your level of focus on the lost around you and your skill level and leading everyone every day closer to Jesus, we'll determine if you move closer or further away from God. Play it wrong, do something not honoring God with someone watching you and you move them further away from God. And that's so easy to do. Jesus describes you in Matthew 5.14 as a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. Let your light so shine before others that they will see your good works and give glory to God. And of course the opposite is also true. So if they will not see bad works and be driven away from God, it's a full-time job. Here's an example, a common example, back when we had open churches. Christians love to go out and eat together after church. So they take a large table, right? And they're talking about God among other things. They make too much noise. They demand too much service. They stay too long. The waitress probably had missed a whole turn over on that table. And then they stiff the waiter. Christians are notorious cheap tippers. Do you think they move that server closer to God or further away from God? Without even knowing it, that's the problem. There's a thousand ways for us to do that carelessly without even knowing it. That's why our focus, your focus, should be in moving everyone, including every server in every restaurant, moving every one every day closer to Jesus. You see, you're continually being watched by those around you. In fact, everything you do and say is moving everyone watching you closer or further away from God, whether you know it or not. I remember this event. I was in Monterey in Pebble Beach. We huge car show, thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. And in the crowd walking down the street in Carmel, I had a guy come out to me. It was several years ago. And he told me that I was partly responsible for his becoming a Christian. Now I never saw this guy before. But he explained that he heard I was a Christian. He knew who I was. He heard I was a Christian. And he started watching me from afar at Cargai events where we were both in attendance. He went to a lot, he goes a lot of things. Car shows I go to and he watched me over several years and he's told me the consistency of your walk and how you treat people play the key role in my salvation and my coming to the Lord. And that happened without my ever talking to him. And then he had a now I'm telling people about today. Now I'm telling people about Jesus. We got a new team member. Wow. You see, whether you like or not, you're in full-time ministry. God assigned you your position on the team. When you get saved, you join the team. But you're not just to sit on the bench. That's what most Christians are doing. No, no, he assigned you position and you need to play your position every moment like it's like it's the bottom of the ninth in the last game of the world series. Be on your toes as first Peter says, always be ready to give a clear presentation of the hope that's within you. Looking for that chance to to drive to the basket or shoot the shot that wins the game. But knowing people's attorneys hang in the balance. Think about it. This is serious. But it's fun. And it sets your relief to know that you're part of a team and you don't have to do it all by yourself. Most people like 80% of our population have a negative view of Christians. So it's interrupted to most people when they find some, find themselves being loved on by a Christian. But you're not just that much people closer to Jesus. Can you imagine what would happen if we all did that? I'm not talking about doing good things. You know, most Christians think they're sharing their faith by being a good person. It's serious. Does this excels out? Being good makes people like you and even even respect you. But being good doesn't get you or anyone else to heaven. It's not the cup of water that leads people to Jesus. It's the cup of water in Jesus name that brings glory to God. Everything you do needs to bring glory to him. That's when you're in sync with God. You know, when you love on people, you just need to make sure that they know your love is coming from God so that God gets the glory. If only by saying and looking to their eyes and meeting it when you say goodbye, have a good day and God bless you. Don't say, and God bless you. No. Just you do it, everybody. Oh, great to be with you. Say whatever you want to say and have a good day and you give that and and you look at them and they'll connect with you and you got their eyes and you say, and God bless you. There's a percentage of them that it brings water into their eyes, tears to their eyes. If nothing else, they walk away saying that was a good person. He's a Christian. Okay. Mission accomplished. And you move them closer to Jesus. This is where the team concept really pays off. You don't have to do it by yourself in one setting. It's God's timing. Night years. Take each opportunity to move everyone as far as you can go and then let them go. You can do that. Even with momentary encounters like a case year to store and operator in the phone, just be happy. Love on them. Confirmate them. Wish them a good day and then say, and God bless you. If we all just add the folks, if we all just did that folks, think about it. If we all just did that, it's so simple. Why do we not do it? If we all just did that with everyone we meet, we did night in America with revival in 30 days. Even the hardest of hearts will change if they're continually confronted with loving Christians. That's our biggest opportunity and you can do this. You we can all do this and we can't do it alone. It's a team sport. That's the message for this episode. See you next time.