The “First Work” of Every Christian

Welcome back to Ignite. You know, as Christians, we're almost never told we should share our faith and never. I mean, never told that it's not optional. I mean, when's the last time your pastor told you to go to the world and tell people about Jesus? It's only, of course, the great commission, right? Higher importance than everything else God calls you to do. Just think about it. God didn't say go to the world and pray or go to the world and read the Bible or even to do good works. He said go into the world and preach the gospel. Tell people about Jesus. I know most of you're ignoring it, but you can't ignore it. You've got said that this clearly. I mean, how can you ignore it? Share your faith that your primary God given task. Not only are you not doing the number one task of God's call us to do, we don't even think about it. That's not a small problem. It's the problem. And why America's become a post-Christian nation? Think about it. So why are we not making faith sharing our number one task? Well, it's Romans 10, 15 that spells it out pretty clear. Remember it says how anyone go and tell them without being sent. We're not being sent. Think of all the servants you heard on Bible study and prayer. And then try to remember the last time you heard a servant tell you to share your faith. Leave it on being told that it's the most important thing God's called you to do. I mean, most Christians have never heard that. You know, people rarely rise above their level of expectations, right? So if no one is expecting you to share your faith, chances are you're not sharing your faith. And that's why America's in this mess that we're in today. Over 80% of our population isn't going to church. So how are they going to know about God unless someone tells them unless we tell them and we're not telling them that's the point. I don't have to tell you we're living in a wicked and perverse generation over 80% of Americans are unbelievers blinded by Satan unable to see the light of the gospel lost in confusion. Seeing good as evil, right? And evil is good and literally gloring in their shame. Some of them are bad people, but most of them aren't. They're just lost. And the only reason they're lost because we've allowed them to be lost by our silence. And that's on us. Where they're only hope were America's only hope. Do you understand that? They're only hope is us. How can they know God loves them unless somebody tells them they're not going to church. If Christians like you and me don't start telling the lost that God loves them, there is no hope for America. It's over. This is where we're at today folks. At almost every church share your faith is at the bottom of the list of things of things your pastor tells you to do. If it's mentioned at all and it usually isn't. And again, that's why we're doing these podcasts. This is spiritual warfare. And we're losing the war because no amount of logic or reason or political speak and solve this problem. It's spiritual. It's spiritual blindness. You can't reason with people who are spiritually blinded. This is a battle. It can only be won by every Christian moving everyone every day closer to Jesus. And we better get busy. Again, over 80% of Americans have been blinded by Satan. There's a scripture about that. Remember it in 2 Corinthians 4, 4. It tells us the God of this age, the God of this age, that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that we see that displays the glory of Christ who is in the image of God. They can't see what we see. But it gets worse. Pew Research studied 50,000 sermons from over 6,000 churches and found that less than 10% of all of the sermons, of all the sermons even mentioned salvation. We, the church, are us Christians. We've allowed our pastor, we've allowed our churches to mesmerize us with three-point edifying sermons. Teach us how to be better people. Doing nothing to stop 80% of our population from falling into Satan's hands and they have what we've been doing nothing. We've been pointing fingers and bending anger and seeing ourselves better than them were not. But for the grace of God, all of us to be where they are, with the 80% of Americans who are lost in darkness and despair and seeking God. They're seeking God. Did you hear that? Over 80% of the unshirts know the world's out of control. Would like to believe, would like to believe there's a God who can make sense out of the chaos. Are looking for somebody to tell them and already have at least one Christian life that they trust. That's astounding. I mentioned this so much. It's even hard for me to understand the opportunity this brings to us. Even without church buildings, we could ignite American revival in 30 days just using the influence. God's already given us. That's why we're doing these podcasts to ignite solid Christians like you who have never shared your faith before to share your faith. It's only when God transforms the minds of the lost and takes the scales off their eyes that they can comprehend truth again. And when they repent and turn away from their godless ways, they will see evil as evil and good as good. And they will vote with intelligence and discernment and America will turn its heart back to God. That's real hope for America. We can do this and it happens best one person at a time. That's where you come in. You think it's impossible to ignite American revival one person at a time? Well, there's 30 million of those who know the Lord who have direct influence with over 80% of the unchurched. Just saying, this is not mission impossible unless Christians like you refuse to do it and we can teach you how to do it fast at igniteamerica.com. It's a great sight. You got to go there. God made the share your faith, your first work, the first thing every person does when they get saved. And that's what God called you to do every day for the rest of your life. God never intended that your first work confessing with your mouth that your saved would be a one time experience. In fact, in his letter to the church of Ephesus, you may recall, it's in Revelation chapter 2. God tells Christians who have stopped doing their first work, who have stopped sharing their faith to repent. He seemed that to Christians repent. He's saying, if you're now telling people about Jesus, you need to repent and start doing it like now. That's how serious this is. Now, I've been giving you the mandate and make no mistake. It is a mandate. God has mandated that you share your faith. There's no wiggle room on us. But God's mandate that you share your faith for your good. This is a great news. He's wired you and he knows what share your faith does for you. I suspect you've never heard this before, but it's biblical and I can prove it. God made faith sharing his top priority for you, because what it does for you and secondarily what it does for the lost. I knew you've never heard this before, but it's so true. It is so clear. Listen to his words in Isaiah 43-10. This is a scripture that I memorize, I share it so often. And it's from the Old Testament, okay? Isaiah 43-10. This is the Lord. I appoint you as my witness so that you will believe. If I was God, I would have said so that they will believe, but no. God said so that you will believe. Can you comprehend the power of that statement? If you will believe. If you have rocks on and faith, it's the end of worry, right? If you have rocks on and faith, you'll have joy all day, every day, regardless of your circumstances. If you have rocks on and faith, you'll have intimacy with God that you never knew was possible. It's so incredible when you know God's usually speaking through you. So how does God's witness, meaning sharing your faith, make your faith rock solid? That's easy. That happens automatically. The moment you start moving everyone, I mean everyone, every day, closer to Jesus. It's a nice phrase, has a nice ring to it, but the power of that statement realizes you're in full-time ministry. And everybody around you is your mission field. And you want to move everybody watching you, everybody you can influence. I mean, God, who do you want me to talk to? And when you think about that, and still a regular life, I don't mean lopsided, but just know it and all your conversations, all your fun and your meals and entertainment, you keep that as your number one priority. Remember on average, 80% of those around you, K-shears, people standing next to you and lying at Starbucks or the grocery store, servers and restaurants, people at waiting rooms, even operators in the phone are living in fear and are looking for someone to tell them, God, this is huge. I can tell you, after 40 years of sharing my faith on a daily basis, it's never been easier to talk to people about Jesus. But you don't start there, you start by loving them and love on people and let them know that you're Christian. If only by saying in parting and meaning it, well, have a good day and God bless you, you'd be amazed how just that affects people when you do it all the time. It's amazing. God says they will know you're a disciple by your love, right? You don't need training to love on people, ask them questions, show genuine interest, and you amaze how quickly people will reveal pain that they wouldn't even admit to their closest friend. And then a lot of the Holy Spirit just speaks through you with words, you know, didn't come for you and watch the impact of your words on that person. I got to tell you, there's nothing in the Bible that suggests that you will know, they will know you're a disciple by reading scripts or telling your life story or by finding one person a day or one person a week to share your story with you. You have hundreds of stories and how God has rescued you and densely things for you and 80% of you are under your loss. How are you going to pick one a week or one a day and what about all the others? None of that makes sense that you've been told. Jesus said they will know you're a disciple by your love. Let's get back to that. Not by yourselves kids. Just love on people. Show concern for people, ask them questions and watch them open up. It's amazing. And then I'll have a Holy Spirit to do the rest to speak through you. He knows exactly what that person's need is and what you know in your own brain and have experience that's a perfect match so that person's need. And yes, God, the Holy Spirit brings that to your mind and you find yourself sharing a story you haven't thought of a hundred years and you know at that very moment where that question, God just spoke through you. There's no other experience like that in the human experience. I got to tell you folks, no other way to have that kind of intimacy with God that allows God to speak through you. That's what it's all about. That's why he wants you to share your faith. Not so much for them. It is for them, but it's more for you. You'll light your life in what makes your life. This whole thing about the Holy Spirit speak it through you. We've had all these training things about evangelism, right? You got to do this and this. I've been so frustrated those back in the early years of my faith sharing experience. And then I found this person, Luke 12 and it says, for the Holy Spirit would teach you at that moment what needs to be said. Here we have this. This is intimacy with God that can only be experienced when you're sharing your faith and can never be experienced when you're reciting a script or telling the same story over and over again. The only preparation you need for spontaneous, unexpected encounters with complete strangers is to seek God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength, God, and yours. Because when you love God that much, you love people that much and nothing can stop you from leading them to Jesus. God wants to use you as a vessel to change people's hearts. That's what life's all about, life's about redemption. That's what faith sharing is all about. And the impact of those experiences on you is why God has commanded you in commission to share your faith. Not to recite a script again, pardon me for repeating that, but that's what we've been told over the years, right? It's not just recited a script or talked to one person a day or a week, but to move everyone every day closer to Jesus. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. There's no other human experience that matches this human experience. You understand that? I can't shout that enough, and it's so different from what we've thought about it sharing faith. Oh, I got to share my faith. I know I don't want to. You're hyperventilating, you're praying, God, I hope you're doing it. And then they don't get saved. And you think I failed. I mean, all of a sudden it goes on. We've made it hard. And it's so easy. And the way you do it is to fall in love with Jesus again. Go back to your first love. He's back at that letter of church emphasis. He said, you've left your first love. Every new Christian, their first love is God. They're so excited. And they automatically share their faith. The first thing they do is share their faith. You can always tell a new Christian because they're sharing their faith. You can usually tell a mature Christian because they're not sharing their faith. They've kind of gone through the motion. That's what God speaks to. He's saying, you've left your first love. You stopped doing the first work. You need to repent and come back to me and get ignited again. That's that's where we can say not just praising God on Sunday morning in the worship service, but haven't experienced all week long. This mountaintop valley thing that we've been told. This is how you level that out. This is how you have consistency in your life. Because when do you love God? You're sensitive to his timing. What's going on now? Right, Franklin? The bad news that comes every day. I just say we're getting closer to the rapture. We're getting closer. We're getting closer to heaven. And that means we got to pick up our speed. We got to work harder to get everybody we know into heaven until it's too late and they're left behind. When you know, God just orchestrated an unexpected conversation and the Holy Spirit reminded you of a story or a scripture or a life experience out of nowhere that speaks to the heart of that person's need. And you see that person changing before your very eyes. I mean, wow, that's intimacy with God that can only be experienced when you share your faith as God instructed you to share it, holy trusting on him and following his lead. First Peter 315 is a wonderful verse that you should read in multiple translations. The King James version I happen to like says, but sanctify the Lord God and your heart. This is the only preparation you need to seek God every day with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, allowing nothing to come between you and God. sanctify God and your heart. That's all the preparation you need to have divine encounters every day. It's not a once in a lifetime experience. It's a continuum. Expect it. And the more you expect it, the more happens. I even wonder how many times I miss it is as much of a focus I have on that. At the end of the day, I take an inventory. And I hate to tell you, but on a lot of days, as I take my inventory for that day of all of you, I talk to only then do I realize that was an opportunity. And I got so focused on what we were talking about. I miss the most important thing. God orchestrates. He directs our steps, but he also directs their steps. And those are divine encounters. And how often do we blow him off? I have to picture God and say, well, I did all that. I just walked right on by. I know that happens, happens to all of us. But if we take an inventory at the end of the day and think about that, pray at the beginning of the day and say, God, help me this day to have my antenna up and to move everybody every day closer to Jesus. And then at the end of the day when you're praying, go back and do an inventory of the day. And I got to tell you, that'll start moving you closer to Jesus. You get what I mean. I want to go back to the scripture, sanctify the Lord in your heart and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that's within you. With meekness and fear, did you get that with meekness and fear? It's not a sales pitch folks. It's a loving conversation with no time demands for getting someone say to one conversation. It's God's timing. And it's a team sport. You may be the first or the last person on the team to lead that person across the line into salvation. Only God knows where you are in that process. Your job is to simply move everyone every day closer to Jesus by simply loving on them and allowing the Holy Spirit to direct your conversation. It's that easy. Seriously, it's just, just do it. And the moment you start doing it, you will not want to keep doing it because it's so much fun. And it's so fulfilling. It puts a bounce in your staff. And this is what being a Christian is all about. And sadly, most Christians have never, never gotten there. They're 99% there. And Satan so wants to keep you from getting there because he knows if you get there, you're out of his reach. Here's the bottom line. When you're in sync with God, allowing nothing to come between you and him, no one can stop you from sharing your faith. You're going to share your faith, training and not you're going to share your faith. Everything you do and say, we'll share your faith. But if you're not in sync with God and you're trying to share faith in your own strength with your own words, at best you'll struggle and you'll soon find yourself not wanting to do it. If that's where you are right now, this is good news and top of good news. You can forget about memorizing scripts and trying to find the right person to tell your story to. Every day becomes an adventure when you allow God to direct your steps, creating divine appointments, remind you in real time what to say to change people's hearts and watch God transform their lives right in front of your eyes. People you don't even know. And then there's the transformation that takes place in your life when you share your faith. This is the real reason Satan wants to stop you from sharing your faith. I got to tell you if you're not seeking God with your whole heart and allowing him to speak through to the lost, you've never experienced the joy and the ecstasy and the intimacy with being with God and with being in sync with God. It's incredible. God, help me communicate this. This is God's word. This is a pedal car wax. I'm a layman. It just happens that I was taught this long ago and I have the obligation to share it. And I want you to have the fun that I'm having. I see so many Christians struggling today. We're worried about the bad news and what are we going to do? It's old for me and not saying that the bad news is good news because it's getting us closer to Jesus. We're running out of time and even the lost are understanding that. Even there getting the idea of something's dreadfully wrong and that's opening them up to the good news and we have the good news and we can't keep it under bush or basket. We're not talking about being a committed prayer warrior or Bible study or a do-gooder. We're talking about loving God with your whole heart and loving your neighbor. Everyone around you has yourself being as concerned for their salvation as you are your own. And when you do that, no one can stop you from praying without ceasing your being in the word every day at every opportunity with purpose. Seeking answers to questions you're being asked. You see, sharing your faith ignites everything we're called to do as a Christian. That's quite so important. If you want to know more, just go to igniteamerica.com. There's no signups or passwords. You're into a world of information. Make face sharing so easy for you with information and articles and statistics and videos. And people would just like you talking about how they're having the time of their life moving everyone every day closer to Jesus. We have put a ton of work into this without asking for anything return. It's our gift to the body of Christ. It's our gift to you. Please go there. Help us to ignite your life. See you next time.