Believe
Movement

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Good morning church and good morning to those that are watching online, which is probably most of our church today. Good morning to those that are next door in our gathering place, where we’re offering a more intimate experience with music and with one another. We welcome all of you from wherever you’re present with us right now.

We’re in part three of our series entitled, “Movement.” The reason we call it “movement” is because we’re making disciples that make disciples. Jesus is the one who gave us this command. He says, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” Ever since then, that’s what the church really has been. You see, the church is not a place, the church is a people. The church is not a monument, its a movement. It’s the people of God on the move with the gospel. That’s the way the gospel moves; from generation to generation. I want you to think about that for a second.

We recognized some people earlier that are involved in our “Life on Life Discipleship” process, but this has been going on for 2000 years. If it were possible to bring people back across the 2000 years and have them circle up and down the aisle, it wouldn’t be that many people. You would be surprised if you could go back and find out who led them to Christ and then that person and who led them to Christ. It won’t be that many people because it’s about one person every 40 years that hands the gospel to the next person. Just think about that: 40 into 2000. It’s not that many people. But, if one single person fails to pass the baton of the gospel on to the next generation, what about that? Every one of us has been called to this, as believers, to carry the gospel forward.

Two weeks ago, we took a survey as a church.Last week, I started reporting some of the results, so I thought I would report a few more results that have something to do with what we’re talking about today. Here’s the first result that I’d like to share with you; it’s from question number eight. If you look at question number eight, you can see the question is: “If you have professed faith in Jesus Christ, approximately how old were you when that happened? So are you curious about that? I remember confessing Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was eight years old. Apparently, 27% of you said the same thing before you turned ten years old; you’d already made a decision to follow Jesus. That’s 27% of the 252 people that responded across both of our campuses two weeks 46% said it happened when they were teenagers, between 11 and 20 years old. If you add those two numbers together, 73% of our respondents became a Christian before 20 years of age.

Let me pause there, just for a second, and tell you how critical to the mission is our children’s ministry and our youth ministry. Parents, I’m just going to go ahead and get on a “soapbox” just for a minute and then I’ll move on. I hear parents, occasionally, say something like this, “You know, I don’t want to force my child to go to church.” Now, they’ll force them to go to school, they’ll force them to go to sports practice, they’ll force them to go to music lessons, but, somehow, church is optional. Children aren’t old enough to make that decision for themselves. Here’s the thing, they’re the most receptive to the Gospel under the age of 20. Parents usually do a really good job taking their children to church until they go into about fifth or sixth grade. Then, they start getting a little “spicy;” they start to turn into teenagers. Parents begin to wear down. That’s the season where you don’t wear down because you’re in the “last lap.” Because 46% of our young people come to Christ before age 20, this is significant. I’ll get off the “soapbox” now.

Question # 9 said this, “When you professed faith in Jesus Christ, was this something that happened to you at this church or somewhere else?” 21% that it happened in relation to this church. I’m excited about that, aren’t you? It means that you are telling people about Jesus. 21% of the people who attend here came to faith as a result of their involvement with our community groups, our children’s ministry, our youth ministry, etc. I would like to see that percentage go even higher, wouldn’t you?

We asked the question, “Do you know what the Great Commission is?” A high percentage of you said, “We know what it is.” 80-90% said, “I know what it is and I know it applies to me.” Good for you. You do know what the Great Commission is; Matthew 28: 19- 20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” You said you knew it. You said you knew it applied to you.

As we close this survey, there is one last question for you: “When you think about the opportunities that God has given you with those who are unconvinced of the Gospel, how happy are you with your handling of those opportunities?” We gave ourselves a 5. We know what the Great Commission is. We know what the Gospel is. A high percentage of our congregation knows that Jesus is the only way.

This survey was a spiritual checkup. Here’s what we told ourselves: We’re not doing a great job of sharing the Gospel with other people. I want you to think about that as we go into this message today. When it comes to witnessing, we know more than we do. We think we need more training. We think we need to learn more about the Gospel. For some of us, that might be true. But for most of us we know more than we do. Why is that? Why is it that we know more than we do when it comes to sharing the Gospel and telling other people the Good News that Jesus saves? Why is that?

One reason, possibly, is fear of rejection. We’re afraid they will reject us or they will reject the Gospel. We’re afraid they won’t like us. They’ll think we’re weirdos. They’ll think we’re fanatics. Especially, if you’ve been friends with someone for a long time and you’ve been a Christian for the whole time and you’ve never told them. The longer you wait, the harder it gets to tell them.

Another reason might be fear of failure. Fear that they won’t accept Jesus. Fear that I won’t be good at it. Fear due to lack of training. For some of us, that’s it; we don’t know how to share the Gospel. Fear of not being able to answer all of their questions. What if they ask a question that I don’t know how to answer? That’s a real fear, right? What if they ask one of those questions like, “What about the natives who never heard” or “If God is so good, why is there suffering in the world?” These are hard questions that people ask. In my experience there’s really only about ten hard questions. They ask the same ten most of the time. 99.9% of the time, those questions are “smoke screens” to get you to stop telling them the Gospel, but the Gospel is what we’re called to share.

Based on our survey, I’m not sure that it’s fear. I wonder if it’s a lack of zeal or a lack of passion. Here’s what I know about us; if we’re excited about something, we talk about it. I know that about us. I’m on social media with the rest of you and I know that whatever you’re excited about, you’re talking about it. I know that about us. Is it that we’re not that excited about Jesus? Heaven help us! What can we do about this? How can we get a zeal, a burn for this? How do we take responsibility for our passion for witnessing?

In the apostle Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he encouraged Timothy to have a fervent, burning passion for talking to others about Jesus. I believe that we, too, can have this fervent burning passion for talking about Jesus. How is this possible?

As we look at the text, I think we’ll see three ways we can have a fervent passion for sharing the Gospel of Jesus. 2 Timothy 1:5-12 (ESV) 5 “I am reminded ofyour sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.” This is God’s word. Amen.

How to have a fervent passion for sharing the gospel: 1. Recognize your need for spiritual zeal and power.

Take a moment and look inward. Am I passionate? We didn’t ask this question on the survey. On a scale of 1 to 10, what’s your spiritual zeal right now? Recognize that when it wanes, when it goes down in you, it’s a critical part of your calling. Notice what Paul says in verses five through seven; he uses the words, “remind” and “reminded” a couple of times. He’s telling Timothy something he already knows.

I think that’s what I’m doing right now, too. I want you to think about something for a second. This is a letter from Paul to me. This is me, preaching it to you, and you are Timothy. You’re listening now as if this letter was written to you. When I was a young pastor, just starting out, I used to read 1st and 2nd Timothy and put my name in Timothy’s place because of what Paul had done with Timothy. Paul had planted the church at Ephesus; because Paul was this planter, this Apostle, he would move on to the next city. After spending three years in Ephesus getting the church founded, he assigned the church to Timothy and told him to pastor that church. Paul was going somewhere else. Timothy was Paul’s spiritual son in the Lord. He had been assigned to the largest church in Christendom during the first century. That was the church at Ephesus. In a city of 250,000 people, it was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. It was one of the most influential churches. Paul gave it to Timothy to pastor.

Timothy is apparently a young man now; I related to that. I used to read this passage and God would speak to me. He would say to me, “ I want to remind you of something. The first thing I want to remind you of is that you have real faith. You really are a believer. You have a sincere, genuine, critical faith. It was given to you by your mother and your grandmother. They passed it on to you.” I really like that part because it’s part of my testimony. My father died when I was eight years old. He was a believer but he was quiet about his faith, he used to ask my mother to say the blessing over the food. He was an “old school” man who fought in the Korean war. He was a good man. He worked hard, took us to church, believed in Jesus, but was quiet about it. Do you recognize that generation? My mom, though, was a “blazing fire.” That’s all she talked about was Jesus and so did my grandmother. It wasn’t Eunice and Lois for me; it was Ettie and Wilda. Those two women told me about Jesus 24/7. If I was awake, they were telling me about Jesus. They passed it on to me; now, it wasn’t mine until I received it.

You don’t inherit the faith. Paul is not saying that; he’s saying that the sincere faith that was in them has now been passed on to you and I’m reminding you of that. It dwelt first in them and now it dwells in you; “now I am sure it dwells in you as well.” I know you, Timothy. I know you haven’t lost the faith.

I don’t know the backstory here, but Timothy must be discouraged. He’s young. He’s probably getting picked on by some of the older members. They’re probably saying stuff like, “You’re too young. You’re not wise enough. You don’t understand this.” It’s hard being a pastor; especially, a young pastor. He’s a little discouraged. He’s not the apostle Paul; Paul came back stronger when faced with struggles. Timothy seems like the opposite of Paul. Timothy is more of an introverted kind of guy; a quiet young man, who’s not as confident. Paul is building him up here.

Paul says, 6 “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” Literally here, there’s this idea of adding oxygen to the spark. Some of the older people might remember when a fireplace or when an old wood wood stove would have a bellows to use and get the air to fan the flame. A fire needs oxygen.

Here’s the picture. Paul is saying that your faith is in you, but you’ve allowed the fire to almost go out. You need to fan that into flames. The faith is already in you; the Holy Spirit and the gift of God is already in you. The Holy Spirit is a fire, an unquenchable fire. Paul says to lean into that; fan it into flame.

Friends, listen to me. If you’re discouraged in your faith right now, you don’t have to be. Fan it into flame. Check and see if the fire is going down. What do you need to do? Paul says to fan it into flame.

Then, he puts together this next verse with it, which, at first, might come as a surprise. Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands, which speaks of ordination. Paul had laid hands on Timothy and told him that he was the pastor of the church at Ephesus. All of us are called to be witnesses. Paul is reminding Timothy of that calling.

Then, out of the blue, Paul says, 7 “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” That’s the Spirit within you that you need to fan into flame and lean into the Holy Spirit. Apparently, when the flame goes down, the fear goes up.

What does that fear look like? It’s not the normal word for fear that you find in the Greek New Testament. Usually, when you encounter the word, “fear,” you encounter the Greek word, “phobias.” It’s where we get the word, “phobia.” But, that’s not the word here. It’s a different word, “For God has given us not a spirit of fear.” It’s a different Greek word, which could be translated, “timidity” or “cowardice.” It’s not like trembling fear, but more like shrinking fear, like you’re shrinking from your calling. This is the fear that causes us to shrink.

It reminds me of what Jesus says in another place. He says, “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?” It’s that word; why are you shrinking? He says that it’s not from God. That shrinking is not from God. Fan your faith into flame.

God gives three character traits here. Here’s what the spirit of God is like: It’s spiritual power. It’s fire. It’s passion. It’s not trembling, shrinking , cowardice or timidity. The Greek word here is “dunamis,” where we get the word “dynamite,” “dynamic,” explosive, spiritual power.

Then, he says that its power and its love, agape love, unconditional love that never quits. That kind of love. Then, he says it’s self control; it comes from the word, which we get the word wisdom, the idea of a sound mind because you know what fear will do. It causes you not to think clearly and it causes you not to be under the control of the spirit. He says, if you’re trembling with fear, it’s because you need zeal, you need power, you need love, you need self control. In the book of Romans, Paul says, Romans 12:11 (ESV) “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” Have you ever seen a National Geographic program about a sloth? He’s up on a limb; he’s getting ready to go to another limb. They have to speed it up because this is a sloth moving. Sloths are really slow moving creatures. When you see the word, “slothful,” it means slow or lazy. Do not be lazy in zeal, be fervent in spirit. Be on fire. Serve the Lord out of your fire. What fire? The fire that the Spirit puts in you.

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul says, “Do not quench the Holy Spirit.” In other words, don’t throw water on the fire.

How do you get this? We must recognize our mutual dependence on the Spirit and one another for our zeal and power. Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV) 24 “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” If you have a fire that starts banking back on you, you stir it up and you put some more wood on it. Just think of each piece of wood, each piece of coal, as another member of the fellowship. If you only have one piece of wood, the fire goes out. You need to stack it and stack it so there’s oxygen, which is representative of the Holy Spirit. Then, you need to stir it up sometimes when it dies down. Paul keeps using this imagery of fire. When we gather together, we stir one another up. We cause the fire to go up.

Do you feel it right now, just in the hearing of God’s word being preached? The spirit is being stirred. “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Day is capitalized, which is the day of Christ’s return.

If we neglect the fellowship and the gathering together, don’t be surprised if your zeal diminishes. It’s one of the ways that zeal is stirred up. Our power for witnessing is from the Holy Spirit, we need one another and we definitely need the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says in Acts 1:8 (ESV) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” It begins with spiritual power. We need power.

Here’s how to lose your zeal. I’m going to tell you how you lose your zeal; that might help you know how to get it back:

(1) Knowledge without experience; head without heart. But, I needed to learn more. That’s okay, but be warned that 1 Corinthians 13 says that knowledge puffs up but love is the key. We want to learn more, but if you don’t do what you know, your zeal ebbs. When you know more than you do, your passion goes down. Knowledge without experience.

(2) Love of the world will cause your zeal to go down. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13? He talked about the four soils and the seed which is the word of God. It went on this kind of soil; there was one kind of soil that was thorny and the seed fell among thorns and it started to grow but it was choked out by the thorns. Jesus told the disciples that this was the love of the world. The love of the world will choke the word in us.

(3) The neglect of the means of grace will cause our zeal to ebb. What are the means of Grace? It is prayer. If you’re not talking to the Lord, your zeal will ebb and diminish. How’s your prayer life? How’s your corporate prayer life? We pray together in our community groups weekly. One of the things I feel called to do in 2022 is to have more corporate prayer gatherings for the whole church. Watch for those on the upcoming event calendar. I’m convinced that praying by yourself is so important, but so is praying together because it does something for your passion. You are losing capacity for zeal by neglecting corporate prayer. Study of the word and fellowship; these are other means of grace that the Holy Spirit ministers to us.

(4) Continuing in sin without repentance is another way you can lose your zeal. You just keep sinning.

(5) Allowing fear, timidity and self doubt to overwhelm you.

(6) Discouragement from lack of results in ministry.

(7) Lack of obedience to a calling. You’re called to tell others about Jesus, but the longer you don’t do it, the more your passion wanes.

(8) Lack of gratitude, grumbling will steal your zeal.

Well , that’s a short list, I could think of more.

How are you doing? Are you on fire? If not, fan it into flame. Our zeal and power comes from the Holy Spirit. Don’t be lazy about pursuing spiritual power for your life.

2. Boldly tell others the good news of Christ’s love.

Verse eight and following, Paul told Timothy not to be “ashamed,” but instead to “share in suffering for the gospel.” Do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord. Don’t be ashamed. How do I say that in the positive? Boldly tell others the good news of Christ’s love. Boldly tell others the good news of Christ’s love.

What’s the opposite of being ashamed? I would say, being proud of it or being bold about it. If you’re ashamed, you hide, you shrink and you avoid. Being unashamed means you’re bold, you stand up, you talk about it and you’re proud of it.

What’s the opposite of being ashamed? If you look it up in Webster’s, the definition is “proud, joyful, happy, bold.” As Pastor J.D. Greear has said, “The opposite of “ashamed of the gospel,” you see, is not “proud to be a Christian.” The opposite of “ashamed of the gospel” is “passionate to spread the gospel.” It’s not like you’re going around saying, “I’m proud to be a member of Wilson Community Church.” Well, you might be, but that’s not going to win anybody to Jesus. Well, I’m proud of the 49ers. No, I’m ashamed of the Packers. We’re proud of whoever wins and we’re ashamed of whoever loses; that’s just being an American, I guess. But, are you bold or are you ashamed of the testimony of Jesus, who came from heaven to earth, took on human form and died in our place on a cruel cross? Are you ashamed of that?

Paul says to Timothy,“Don’t be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus.” Be positive; be bold. Talk about Him It’s not about being proud of yourself or proud of your church. In fact, I would say this to you and this is going to freak you out a little bit, but just hear this, “Stop inviting people to church and start inviting people to Jesus.” If you’ll invite them to Jesus, they’ll go to church because that’s where you gather for power, that’s where you come together for fellowship. Invite them to Jesus and then watch your zeal go through the roof when they say “Yes” to Jesus. It’s amazing.

Are you ashamed of the testimony of Jesus? Paul says, 8 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.” Instead of being ashamed, share in the suffering. Maybe that’s why we tend to be ashamed because we don’t want to suffer. We don’t want to be rejected.

What does suffering look like in America? This is not China. This is not North Korea. This is not Afghanistan, where saying that you are a Christian gets you killed or gets you imprisoned. It might get you kicked off of twitter here. Oh no, I got persecuted. Come on. There is a little suffering. I don’t want to belittle it too much. It means you probably won’t be the most famous young person in your high school. It means you might get overlooked for a promotion at work because you’re a believer. It might impact you in some way but it won’t be under blood. I think there’s something about living in a country where it could cost your life that causes people to be more bold . It’s kind of backwards; when you live in a country where it’s so comfortable and easy, you lose your zeal. It seems backwards.

Paul goes on and says to share in the suffering for the Gospel, but don’t do it on your own power. Do it by the power of God, Who saved us and called us to a holy call. He called us to be witnesses. He saved us, but not just for ourselves.

In Philippians, Paul says, “I want to take hold of that for which you took hold of me.” He took hold of Paul and Paul said, I’m gonna take hold of somebody else. You’ve been called with a holy calling. You’ve been set apart, not because of our works, but because of His purpose and grace. It’s His plan. He doesn’t have a plan B. It’s the church. It’s us, because we’re the church. The church is not the steeple; the church is the people. It’s us. That’s His plan for reaching this generation.

Paul says, 9 “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” This is hard to fathom, but it is the timelessness of His determined purpose. Verse 10 “and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” Jesus killed death. He gave death its death notice. He took it on and killed it. He abolished death and he brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, which is the good news.

Then, Paul says, 11 “for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do,” In other words, Paul says my suffering is not self-inflicted. It’s not meaningless. My suffering matters because it’s about telling others about Jesus. He knows why he suffers. He’s in chains right now, writing this, his last letter.

Paul says that he has fought the good fight, he has run the race. He is being poured out like a drink offering. He knows he’s at the end. He says to Timothy, I know why I’ve suffered. Don’t be ashamed to suffer with me. Come on, Timothy, I’m not ashamed. Be bold.

Paul writes this in Romans 1:16 (ESV) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” It’s a strange sentence. Listen to it; “I am not ashamed of the Gospel for its the power of God unto salvation.” In other words, inherent in the words of the Gospel is the power to save someone. So, if you don’t say the words and they don’t hear the words, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, they can’t be saved. They must hear the Gospel and we are those called to declare it.

What’s the gospel? Man is sinful and separated from God. However, Jesus came and died for our sins and died in our place. He took our sins upon Himself so that all who believe in Him might receive His eternal life, His Sonship and His righteousness so that you can live eternally as a child of God. I could just say this, “Jesus saves.” That’s the gospel. Or, I could just say this; “Jesus” because the gospel is in Him. But we share Jesus and we share the testimony of Jesus and what He did. This is the power of salvation in the Gospel. That’s why I’m not ashamed of it.

I wonder why we’re tempted to be ashamed of the Gospel? I mentioned some fears before. Tim Keller gives four possible reasons that we might be ashamed of the Gospel. He says it’s because:

(1) The Gospel is offensive. First of all, because it says every one of us, we’re all spiritual failures. The gospel comes to you and says that you’re a sinner, you’re a spiritual failure and the only way to gain salvation is to receive it as a gift. That’s offensive to those who are moral, religious and think their decency gives them an advantage over less moral people. I’m better than him.

(2) The Gospel tells us that we were so wicked that the Son of God had to die for us. It’s offensive and it goes against the modern cult of self expression and the popular belief in the innate human goodness.

(3) No matter how hard you try, you’re not good enough ; you’re not spiritual enough. The only way to come to God is through Jesus. That offends our tolerance and our lack of truth that everything’s based on opinion. It offends the modern notion that any nice person couldn’t find their own way.

(4) The Gospel tells us that our salvation was accomplished by Jesus’ suffering and serving and following Him means that you might suffer and need to serve. We would rather have an easier salvation, one that just leaves us safe and comfortable, where we don’t have to do anything but just sign up. Tim Keller gives four reasons why people might be ashamed of the gospel because it offends people.

Remember when Jesus set free the demoniac that was living in the graveyard, in the tombs on the other side of the Sea of Galilee? You can find this story in several of the gospels. In the book of Mark, here’s what Jesus says to him after He sets him free, after He releases him. The man was cutting himself and every time they would chain him up, he would break the chains. The whole village was terrified of him. He lived among the tombs. Jesus set him free. Jesus asked the name of the demon within him and he said, “We are legion, for we are many.” Jesus set him free and, all of a sudden, there he sits clothed and in his right mind, listening to Jesus teach. He says to Jesus, when Jesus starts to pull out, “Can I get in the boat with You? I just want to be with You. I just want to follow You.” Jesus says something to him, because I think this man is a Gentile and I believe he may be the first Gentile evangelist in the bible, in Mark 5, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” He went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis, , which in Greek means the ten cities, how much Jesus had done for him and everyone marveled. He didn’t go to an evangelism class to learn how to teach. He only spent that day with Jesus and it was enough because his commission was to do this, “Go and tell the people, your friends and your family, what God has done for you.”

By the way, friends, you’re the worldwide expert on what God has done for you. Who’s going to argue with what God has done for you? You’re the expert on that. That’s what it means to “bear witness.” It means to go and tell others what Jesus has done for you. This man went off and he preached all over the ten Greek cities. We know they were Greek because they ate pork. That’s part of the story, if you go back and read Mark 5.

Are you ashamed of the testimony of Jesus? Have you learned to tell the story? Some call it your testimony or your grace story. Have you learned to tell the story about what Jesus has done for you?

3. Entrust the results of your witness to God.

Circle “entrusted” there in verse 12. Paul says in verse 12, “which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

What has been entrusted to Paul? It’s the Gospel. Here’s what Paul knows: Whether people believe or not is not up to me. I can’t control that. Here’s the part I can control, I can tell them about what Jesus has done for me. That’s the only part I have anything to do with. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can save. He takes the words of the Gospel and he never allows his word to return void. The scripture says he takes those words which have the power of salvation in the Holy Spirit, is the one who convicts them of sin and saves them. My part is just to tell them. I don’t have to fear failure because successful witnessing is always just this: going out in the power of the Holy Spirit and telling others what Jesus has done for you and leaving the results up to God. Whether they believe or not is not based on whether you did a great job. It’s based on whether or not they believe what you told them. The only part that is up to you is to go out in power, which means to fan into flame, what’s within you, so you have passion for what Jesus had done for you. Then, you tell others and leave the results up to God.

Paul says in verse 12, “I know whom I have believed.” He doesn’t say, I know what I believed. He’s not coming to people saying that he knows more theology than them. Paul says, “I know whom I know and that’s Jesus. I come to people telling them that I know Jesus and I’m convinced, I’m fully persuaded that He’s able to deal with this. He’s the One who has the power. He’s able to guard it until that day. It’s the Day when Jesus returns.

Listen to what Paul says in first Corinthians about the way he came to to the city of Corinth, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NLT) 1 “When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. . 5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.”

Do you see what Paul is saying? It was the Gospel that brought you to faith. It wasn’t that I was a great speaker. It wasn’t that I used persuasive or fancy words. I told you the simple Gospel and the Holy Spirit saved you. Remember, it’s the Gospel itself that does the work.

Romans 1:16 (ESV) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Acts 1:8 (ESV) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

As we think about how we’re going to reach Wilson, North Carolina, Rocky Mount and eastern North Carolina, the only way we’re going to be able to do this is to collaborate. Each of us has a circle of influence, a circle of accountability if you will, because we are each accountable for our circle of influence. The place where you work, the neighborhood you live in, the school you attend, those friends and teachers at your school, the neighbors in your neighborhood, those people who work together with you, you are God’s apostle, one sent as an ambassador, to that place. I’m sent to where my neighborhood is, I’m sent to where my friends and family are. That’s my circle of influence and I’m accountable for them.

Are you accountable? Will you take ownership of the lostness around you? Will you take responsibility for their lives and say, ‘It’s on me to tell them about Jesus.” Oh, your zeal will go up if you recognize and you really believe that people are lost and dying and facing an eternity without God unless they believe in Jesus. If you believe that, then you’re accountable for those people around you.

How will we reach this city, in this eastern North Carolina region, our Jerusalem and our Judea? We will collaborate with each other. We’ll stir one another up. We’ll find out if there are two or three other families living in our neighborhood that are believers and we’ll work together to try to win our neighborhood. We’ll find out that there’s another believer at our workplace. Maybe we’ll start a bible study if we can work it out in the break room. We start thinking “outside of the box.” We start collaborating and not just with members of this church. We join with other believers; we have to collaborate with other churches, every bible believing, gospel preaching church. We need to collaborate together and saturate our city, our county, our eastern North Carolina with the good news of Jesus. That’s why I’m meeting this coming Thursday morning with pastors in Wilson County. We’re starting our third year of prayer meetings. We’re meeting at Peace Church this week. Brother Rusty, my good friend, is leading this one. God has entrusted this to us. I could name the pastors that I meet with and pray with monthly and the ones that we are strategizing right now and how we can work together as churches that believe in the gospel to reach our community. We are asking, before Jesus comes and before He calls us all home that we would see a Gospel revival, a saturation of the Gospel so that the hand of God moves on our land and upon our country. It will start with zeal and fire.

How can the fire spread if it hasn’t started with God’s church? We can’t save anyone. Only God saves. Jesus saves. We can tell them about Jesus. How will you respond to being reminded about your calling today? Timothy, we know, fanned it into flame and was faithful. How about you? When you recognize your need for spiritual zeal, will you boldly tell others about Jesus? Will you entrust the results up to God?

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word. Thank You Lord that I’m stirred up. Holy Spirit, thank you. Lord, I pray that others will be stirred up; those that are listening right now, whether it’s at home, in the next room or in this room. I know there are other pastors right now that I love that I’m working with in our city and they are preaching a message like this. We all took the same survey and we’re all preaching through this together. Lord, I pray a fire would break out in our city. A rising tide lifts all ships. I pray for all the gospel preaching churches to start seeing growth. Lord, I pray, first of all, for that person that’s never received Jesus. We’ve been talking about what it means to be a believer. We’ve been talking about Jesus. Have you received Jesus? You can do it right now, by saying this, “I’m a sinner. I know I’ve fallen short. Lord, I know, but I repent. I turn away from my sin and I turn to You. I believe You died on the cross, Lord Jesus, for my sins and that You were raised from the grave and live today. Come and live in me. I invite You to be my Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins and make me a child of God.” If you prayed that prayer, believing, He will save you. That’s what the good news does. That’s what the gospel does. That’s what the Holy Spirit does, Others are here and you would admit that you need to fan into flame your passion. You’ve let it go way down. Pray this, “Lord forgive me, because I know You live inside of me. Lord, encourage my soul, feel me afresh with Your Holy Spirit. Set my soul on fire for You. I don’t want to be like this. I want to be on fire for You, Jesus.” Pray it, believer, He will do it; don’t quench the Spirit. Lord, we pray all of this now in Jesus’ name. Amen.