Chris Hodges - Sharing Our Faith
All right, what's going on, church? How's everybody? You guys doing good? Really good to see you guys. You guys should be the best crowd all day. Come on, you got the most sleep. Are you ready to go, everybody? Yeah? Okay, well it's good to see you guys today. Big hello. I'm so glad to be back home. I was out for a couple of weeks. I actually got a chance to travel and speak to a group of people who were retracing the footsteps of Paul.
We went to Corinth, and Athens, and Philippi, and Thessalonica, and into Turkey to go see the city of Ephesus, and it was just an amazing trip. Got to speak in Philippi. Cece Winans was there with us and Chris Tomlin. Had just an amazing time. Got to share the vision of Highlands College with a lot of guys there who were asking about it. It was just an amazing trip. But can I tell you something? There's no place like home. It's so good to be back at Church of the Highlands, and I love you guys, thought about you every day, watched every single service online, and just glad to be back.
And we've got a huge week coming up. I think you already know that. I'm asking for your prayers. I'll be speaking a whole lot this week, three times today and then just pretty much every day the rest of the week at what we call the "Grow Conference". We have about 3,000 or 4,000 pastors coming to Grants Mill and Grandview for us to train them and resource them, and we're just gonna bless the fire out of 'em. We give all these resources away to help these churches reach their full potential, and it's a real passion of my life to do that. And then on Thursday, we have that "Motion Conference," over 15,000 students that are gonna be joining in the arena.
Can we all believe God that God moves in a powerful way, everybody? Would you do that? All right. So maybe at meal times whenever you just pray, would you just mention both those events this week? And it's gonna be spectacular. Let me say a big hello to all of our campuses and to those that are watching online or on demand. Wanna say a big hello to the men and women in the Alabama Department of Corrections. We love you. We pray for you every day. You're not a project. You are our church family. We're so glad that you're along for the ride.
We are in week number three of a four-part series called "World Outside Our Window". And the reason why we have this, we kind of focus on this usually in the summer months with Serve Day and all the things that we're doing outside the walls, but I also like to bring you messages, look at my face, everybody, to remind us that we're not just here for us. We don't build church just for us. We don't check our little spiritual box or create something just for us. We believe that we're to be a church on mission.
Now, we do want it to care for you. A lot of what we do is for you, to pasture you well, and to love you, and to serve you and your families, and most of the messages are for us, to help our lives get better, to work on the things that we need to work on. But can we all agree that we also have a responsibility, and I like to think of it as a privilege, to touch the world outside of us? There's a world outside our window. Can I hear a good "amen," everybody?
Right, you know that. And that's why we give so much to missions and why we plant churches and do everything we can to serve the people outside of our walls. And the reason why we bring these messages, you know this, but there's a gravitational pull to selfishness, meaning, if you leave us alone, if we're not reminded, what we end up doing is, it's just natural, I do it too, by the way, it's not you, it's me too, we start thinking about ourselves. And we are what the Bible calls "spiritually nearsighted". You'll notice I'm wearing some different glasses if you come to church here. In fact, a lady said, "Oh, you got new glasses"? I said, "No, these are old glasses".
I lost my glasses somewhere in Greece, everybody, and I needed my glasses to find them. Come on, everybody, right? So, these are actually old glasses, and the prescription's not even perfect, so it's not totally clear, but it's better than nothing. But anyway, but I got glasses. I'm 61, and I just started wearing glasses around my mid-40s. I had perfect eyesight until then. I could see a freckle on a gnat. I mean, it was perfect eyesight. But I was at a football game here in Birmingham.
My sons were playing football, Tammy on one side and my sister on the other side, and I'm squinting trying to read the names on the back of the jerseys. And my sister starts laughing at me. She goes, "You can't see anything, can you"? I said, "I can't". And she says, "Try this". And she took her glasses off, and I put her glasses on, and it's like the whole world came in high definition again. It was like, oh my goodness. So, I made my first ever appointment to an eye doctor, which I have to tell you was very strange if you've never been to an eye doctor for the first time, and then if you end up with one of those doctors who just, they just do stuff without telling ya.
You know where they just, they're not explaining what they do before they do it, they just start doing it? Well, he starts puttin' stuff in my eyes, and I can't see anything now. And I told him, "Brother, we goin' in the wrong direction, man. This is not helping a bit". I can't, and he's dilating my eyes. It's just, and you know, then he tells me. And he's just kind of one of those quiet doctors. And all of a sudden, like, this puff of air in my eyeball. Like, "What was that"? He goes, "That was a glaucoma check". I'm like, "Let me know before you blow". I gotta know stuff like that, right? And it was terrible. I didn't like any part of it.
Anyway, he leaves the room, comes back, and he goes, "We got you figured out". Like, "That's why I came. I'm glad you do". He goes, "You're nearsighted". And I sewed, I said, "No, sir, not at all. Like, near is just fine. I got far issues. All my issues are far. I'm a far problem person, you know"? And he goes, "No, that's what we call it". And it's the only medical profession that names your condition for what you're good at. It's like going to the doctor with a broken arm and he goes, "Okay, your legs work". You don't do it that way.
But anyway, so he has to explain to me. Genuinely, I'm not making any of this up. He genuinely had to explain to me what nearsightedness meant. He said, "That's what you're good at". Like, "Yeah". He goes, "So you're nearsighted". And I remember having a revelation, spiritual revelation, the same day, because that's what happens to us spiritually too. Nearsightedness means everything close to me is clear, and that is true right now. I can see, like the fuzz hair on my hand right now. I got perfect eyes like this close. I see a blur of color and no faces out there. And whenever you can't see something, you don't feel responsible for that which you cannot see.
So I'm not responsible for you. I don't see you. I don't have to care about you 'cause I can't see you. And that's why Jesus said, "Open your eyes". Like, put on the glasses. Look at the fields. Don't just look at yourself. In fact, you can tell if you're nearsighted by your prayer life. If God answered all your prayers, would it change the world or just change you? And I don't want it to just change me. I do pray for myself. God doesn't mind that. But we also need to have eyes that see. Can I hear a good "amen," everybody?
Well, that's why, once in awhile, not very many Sundays, we take a few of them and we talk about the world outside our window, the world around us. And today, I have the incredible honor of bringing to you a message that I'm very passionate about, and this is who I am as a person. I love sharing my faith. I love it. And I know for a lot of Christians, it's awkward. I actually enjoy the process, even for those who become hostile. I think it's so much fun. I just enjoy, and honestly, there's a lot of people that I share my faith with that end up, because of my approach to it and my attitude toward it, they actually come to faith.
I enjoy the moment in the service where I say, "Every head bowed, every eye closed". And I basically invite people to surrender their life to the lordship of Jesus Christ. And we have seen hundreds of thousands make the decision. I cannot wait for Motion where we see thousands of students. Come on, everybody, gonna give their lives to Jesus in that arena downtown. Are you listening to me? Okay, my goal today is for you to have that same attitude. My job today is to warm you up to the idea and show you how simple it is, how effective it can be, and I'm gonna do it two ways. I wanna first tell you why we should do this, and then I'm gonna show you how we can do this, okay, four of each, right? You ready to go?
We share our faith, number one, reason why we share our faith, 'cause you need to know this, that you're called to be what the Bible calls an "ambassador for Christ". Now, you know an ambassador, like, to a nation. We would send people from America to other nations to represent America in those nations. The Bible uses the same word and says, now listen to me, you're supposed to represent Jesus on planet Earth. And as Pastor Mark said in week number one, he doesn't have a plan B. This is the only plan he has. And guess what, it's me and you, okay? So, it's very important. And our theme verse for this series, I'll show it to you, and I wanna read it through slowly 'cause I like teaching the Bible.
So let's just go slowly through it. It's in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, and it begins in the most heartfelt way. It says, "For Christ's love compels us," in other words, I'm not doing this because PC told me I had to. I'm doing this because Jesus has changed my life, and I can't hardly, I got a case of the "can't help its". I got to tell some, it's like going to eat at a great restaurant or going on a great trip. Like, you come back, "Oh, I want you to go. You need to go too".
When Jesus changed our life, the Bible says, it's the love of God that compel, I have to tell somebody. When I first got saved, I led so many people to Christ immediately, probably more per capita, like per day in the first year, 'cause I was so grateful Jesus has changed my life. Is anybody in this room grateful Jesus has changed your life, anybody? Yeah. So we gotta tell somebody. He so, "Christ's love compels us 'cause I'm convinced that," he didn't just die for me, "he died for all," this is something everybody can get in on, "and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves," which by the way, if you've ever wondered what it takes, what it means to be a Christian, there it is right there.
Okay, it's not when you come to Highlands or join Highlands, it's when you no longer live for yourself. I'm gonna live for Jesus. I'm gonna surrender my life to the life of Jesus. "But for him who died for them and was raised again". He says, "So from now on," because he changed my life, and because Jesus has given me this mission, right, "I no longer regard people from a worldly point of view," which that means is I'll never see somebody as just a natural person who lives 60 or 70, 80 years and dies. No, no, no, we see them as eternal beings who live forever. They're not worldly, they're spiritual. And it's very important because if you're not careful, you only size people up for earthly ways.
So like, when we hear even of earthquakes, "Oh and 2,000 people got killed," we just like, "Oh bad, change the channel". And the Bible said, "No, no, no, don't think of things just from a worldly standpoint". Like, this like, this is serious. These are, like, real people who are spiritual, actually, let me say it this way. People don't die. They live forever. And so, we don't view them from this worldly standpoint, "Though once we regarded Christ that way," so we even saw Jesus that way until we realized he's the Son of God. All right, you get it.
"So therefore, if anyone is in Christ," or chooses Christ, they're a new creation, "a new creation has come". So now, he transforms you, changes you. All the hate goes out. Love comes in. You know the process. "And the old is gone, and the new is here"! Watch this, "And all this is from God," this is God's plan all along, "who reconciled us". The word "reconciled" means "bring the balance to zero". If you ever reconcile your bank statement with your personal statement, it, like, brings it to zero. It means a zero balance. He brought your sin balance to zero, praise God for that, "through Jesus Christ and then he gave us the ministry of helping other people get their balance to zero too".
Are you seein' that? "That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them," bringing in that balance to zero, your sin balance, "And he committed to us that message," and again, he doesn't have a plan B, "the message of reconciliation. So, we are therefore," and there it is, "Christ's ambassadors, as though God is making his appeal through us," and he is. God is making his appeal through all of us, and this is our opportunity to do that, and we want to encourage you to do the same. All right, is everybody with me, yes?
Okay, here's the second reason that we share our faith, and that is because people really need the Lord. And what I mean by that is if they don't have the Lord, they really do go to a real place called hell, and sometimes we're, like, afraid to say that, but these are real places. These aren't fictitious metaphors. No, heaven and hell are real places, and people actually go there, so people need the Lord. So you know the most famous verse in the Bible probably is John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whosoever would believe on him shall not perish but have everlasting life". Next verse says this: "For God did not send his Son to condemn it".
So let me say it this way: God's plan wasn't to send people to hell. In fact, you ready for this? God sends no one to hell. Hell's the place where people who wanna pay their own sins can go and pay for them, but you don't have to. Hell's just a place for people to pay your own sins. But he was willing and he did pay your sin bill if you'll receive him. "So the Lord did not come to condemn the world, but to save it". I had somebody ask me, I was sharing my faith with them, and he said this. He says, "I could never serve a God who sends people to hell". And I said, "Neither could I. Because he doesn't. He came on a rescue mission".
Come on, say "amen" right there, everybody, yes. So, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe," look at this. He doesn't condemn them, they were already were. And that's important theology for us to understand because people can't figure out God otherwise. No, no, they were already in trouble before God. Like, they had already created this bill that they had to pay, and that's when Jesus stepped in and said, "Hey, I'll pay it for you". Are you following me, everybody? "Because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son". And there are people who say, "Oh, we don't share our faith because you know, God's already picked people to go to heaven or hell".
That is error. That is not, in my opinion, that is... in fact, I'll show you. It's not even my opinion. It's an error. God didn't predestine people to go to hell and predestine people to go to heaven. And we've had, so many people have, I'll never forget, in the first year of this church, I didn't even tell this story in the first few services, and I just feel led to do that right now.
There's a lady who came, I'll never forget it, and she had a little 15-year-old son with her. She said, "What do you believe about my son"? I said, "What do you mean"? She said, "We were told by someone else at another church that he was predestined to be a drug addict, and there was no way he could be saved". And I said, "No, ma'am. He may be addicted to drugs now, but we believe you can find freedom in Jesus's name, and he can totally be set free".
And not only, this is 20 years ago, not only is he free, he never went back to drugs, and he's in our church to this day. Can you give God praise today? That's right, yeah, and I was so sad, and I'd like to think in a holy way, I was kinda a little bit angry at the same time. Like, that's not true. The Bible is very clear. God is not impatient, "He's patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance," everyone. This is an invitation for all. Can I hear a better "amen" out there, everybody? It's an invitation, in fact, I looked up the word in the Greek, everyone, and I do the hard work for you. The word means everyone.
All right, here's the third reason why we share our faith, and that is people not only need the Lord, they want the Lord. So don't become convinced that people actually are anti-God or anti, they actually are not as much as they put on. In fact, I love when I'm talking to people who don't even believe in God. My classic, and you need to use this line. If you ever meet an atheist and you start talking about God or church and they go, "Well, I don't believe in God," and you need to say, "Yeah, I know, but don't ya miss him"? And they'll say most of the times, "You know I kind of do," because God has put a part of himself in all humans.
So you're a body, soul, but you're also made, every one of us, lost people and saved, are made in the image of God. You have a part of God on the inside, and that spirit, man, listen to me, is constantly looking for God. I'll show it to you in Ecclesiastes. It says, "God has made everything beautiful in its own time. And he planted eternity into the human heart". But you cannot remove it. I don't care if you believe in God or not, you cannot take out of the fact, "But I wonder where he is". And that's why no matter where you go around the world, you find people lookin' for God. I mean, they may have a stick and a pile of mud and bowing down. They don't know, they're looking for God. They just looking for God.
And if we'll change our attitudes and realize, you know, they really do want the Lord. Some of you have heard this story. Tammy and I were on a plane, a Southwest flight, and I had the middle seat, Tammy's on the window, and this girl came in very, very happy. We were flying back from New Orleans. I was preaching at a conference. I believe she was on a streak in New Orleans 'cause she came out real happy. She was, "Woo hoo hoo hoo"! So anyway, she came on, sat down, and she says, "What do you do for a living"? And I said, "Well, I'm a pastor". And she goes, "Well, I don't like Christians".
Well, I knew the kind she was probably talkin' about, so I decided to play along, and I said, "Me too, girl. That's why I had to start my own church". She goes, "What do you mean"? And I said, Because Christianity has kind of two brands out there. There's this whole mean group, hate you group, make you live up to things you can't even live up to. She goes, "Yes". I said, "That's not in the Bible". And she had what I call "another drink". And she put it in my face, and she said, "What does your God think about this"? I said, "He's not thinkin' about that. He's thinking about you, and if he ever got to you, he might talk to you about that later". And she'd never been treated that way.
So I'm explaining the gospel to her all the way to Birmingham from New Orleans. She's goin' on to Nashville. So when I got off the plane, she says, "Chris, I have to have more". Because people, they want the Lord. So I told her, her name was Tanya. I said, "Tanya, if you'll watch, we broadcast our services to campuses all across Alabama and Georgia, and if you'll watch, when I greet those campuses, I'll greet you. I'll give you a shout out". She goes, "You will"? I said, "Yeah".
So, I came here. If you were here, you remember: "Hello campuses, correctional facilities. Hey, I wanna give a good shout out to my friend, Tanya. Girl, I told ya I'd do it". I did that to her. I didn't know if she was watching or not, but I got an email. My assistant gave me on Monday. She goes, "I let Christians keep me from God. I want God," she said. And she said this, her salutation was, "I'm ready to surrender," and she left her cell phone number, and I called it, and Tanya gave her life to Jesus Christ. Come on, somebody, all right. Are y'all following me?
In fact, people want the Lord so much, I'm getting ready to tell you how many people have made decisions to follow Jesus just this year, and this is documented. This is in hands. They filled out their information this year. And when I tell you the number, we give Jesus all the glory. Heaven rejoices. We rejoice with heaven. This wasn't us. This was how God works in people's life 'cause we believe people want the Lord. But when I tell you what it is, don't golf tournament clap. We gotta give God all the praise. You ready for it, yes or no? You wanna hear? Just this year, so far in July, so halfway through, just a little over halfway through the year, 17,847. Woo! Come on, give God all the praise, everybody! Thank you, Lord. That's what I'm talkin' about.
Now obviously, that means people want the Lord. We had hundreds of people get saved on Serve Day alone. Yeah, people want the Lord. So we have to, if we believe that, we're gonna be better at sharing our faith. And the last thing that is the "why" behind us sharing our faith is because we were lost once. I once was lost, but now I'm found. And some grandma, your mama, somebody prayed for you. Somebody invited you. I think about the person most responsible for me, this guy named Bo Mays. I was 15, went to church every Sunday, didn't know God, and Bo Mays invited me to his youth group.
And I said, "Bo, I don't want what you have. Dude, you messed up our friendship 'cause you're all in your Bible all the time and you, dude, I don't like all that. I don't want any of that". He says, "Well, come to my youth group". I said, "Bo, I don't want your youth group. I don't want this right now". He said, "They have cute girls there". I said, "What time"? I was 15, come on. And I went, and I heard the gospel, and I went home and gave my life to Jesus, woke up the most on-fire Christian, and it was a guy named Bo Mays who wouldn't let go. Your pastor was led to the Lord by a guy named Bo Mays. How about a little shout out to Bo Mays, everybody? I mean, come on.
And The Bible says that once you find Jesus, "You become a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's very own possession, so you can show others the goodness of God, to proclaim the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous, wonderful life". On the flight back from Athens to Atlanta, it's ten hours. And if you know anything about traveling West overseas, you try to stay up. You don't sleep on the plane because if you do, you'll sleep and then it's not, it messes up the whole jet lag thing.
So I'm trying so hard to stay up, and I'm not a movie person at all. I don't even, I never go to the movie theater. I'm just not into it, but I'll watch 'em on a plane like that. All the movies I have ever seen, I watch on planes trying to stay up. And so, I watch this movie that just came out this year that all of you need to go see. It's very, very clean, and it's a true story. I love true stories. And it's about this British guy who, at the beginning of World War II, was trying to get Jewish children out of Prague, Czechoslovakia. And he had to raise the money for them 'cause the British government wouldn't allow them in without money and a foster home.
So he had to raise up all these homes and all this money. He lost his job over it. But he was burning with, he knew what was coming their way with the Nazi occupation of that portion of Europe. And so, one trainload at a time, I think the first one was six kids, got 'em out of there. And it got harder and harder. In fact, the last train, it was just getting ready to leave the station, and the Nazis came on, and those kids were never seen again, more than likely, gassed to death like millions of others. But I'm sitting there sobbing, watching this man work tirelessly to get these kids, against his family, against his government, against everybody.
His boss wanted him to stop, and he couldn't stop thinking about where they were headed, and he kept trying to get 'em out. Well, he's an old man now. The movie is him reflecting back, and he's in his old man state. The movie's called "One Life". And so he's reflecting back. Well, he shares it with somebody, and somebody shares it with somebody else, and he ends up being invited to this TV show, kind of a "This Was Your Life" TV show. And he thinks he's there just to be in the studio audience, and he's on the front row, and the lady who's doing the hosting says, "Hey, today we're gonna talk about," and she names his name. And she starts telling his story, how he got these kids out of Czechoslovakia.
And she said, "And sir, one of those girls that you rescued is sitting right next to you," and it's a grown woman. And the woman turns to him, she's sobbing, and, "You saved my life. I never saw my parents again, but you saved my life". Well, that particular episode of the show was so well-watched that they invited him back, and again, he doesn't know any of this is happening. Now he's in the studio audience again, front row, but the entire studio audience are kids that he rescued that are now older people, and they all stood.
And I'm just sobbing, like, I got him in my chair just losing it, thinking about how this man gave his life and how he got 669 children he got out of that area. He saved them from the gas chambers and from certain death, and they honored him. And I just, all I can tell you is I left with more of a resolve. I already have it pretty high, but I'm just gonna let y'all know that we're gonna do everything we can short of sin to reach as many people, because they're on that train headed to hell. But we're gonna, come on, everybody, we're gonna rescue them in Jesus's name. Y'all believe that? Go watch the movie, "One Life". "One Life" is spectacular.
So that's "why". Let's talk about "how" for a few minutes, 'cause this is really, I mean, we're all inspired to hope. But now we need to know what can we do? And the Bible is very clear, but it goes against some of the witnessing norms that we're gonna confront here today. And the first is the Bible is very clear about us just living an attractive life. Meaning, the reason why people get saved is they want what you have. They want the hope you have, the peace you have, the joy you have, the marriage you have.
And so, that's why Jesus said, and Pastor Dino beautifully taught this last week, we're supposed to be like salt, "You are the salt of the earth," but watch this, "If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again"? And I hate this phrase right here. It's true, but I just don't like it. "You're no longer good for any use". Like, if we're not making things taste better in society, Jesus gives this horrible commentary on it that, well then, what good are you if you're not out there making things better, 'cause that's our job? "You're also to be the light," make things brighter, "of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl, no. Instead you put it on a stand".
My faith is private. That's not what the Bible says. It says, no, show it to the world. "Give light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine in front of humanity," so that they see that you're not perfect, but you have more joy, more peace. In September, I told you I was gonna do this, we're gonna do nine weeks on the fruit of the Spirit, because what if we become more loving, more patient, more kind, more gentle, more faithful, more self-con...what if we actually start taking on the fruit of the Spirit? I'm gonna tell you what, the world's gonna say, "How can I know about this? How can I have that change inside of me"?
We gonna study the fruit of the Spirit. Are y'all ready, everybody? It's gonna be fun, why? "'Cause we want 'em to see our good deeds and therefore glorify our God in heaven". So if you're taking notes, jot this down. When we share our faith, we need to let our life be so attractive that people who know us but don't know God will want to know God because they know us. This is how we share our faith.
Here's the second one, and that is we share our faith by valuing people, and notice that I put on there "all people," which means, like, if you're a Republican, you need to love Democrats. Y'all like, "I'm goin' to another church". No, no. And if you're a Democrat, you need to love Republicans. And if you believe this, we don't have the luxury of hating the people who believe that. And we live in this toxic world. They're almost making us choose a side.
Listen to me, have strong convictions. I'm not sayin' have no convictions, and I'm not saying don't participate in the political process. I'm just sayin' you don't have to be ugly in the process. No, even if we completely disagree with them, God calls us to value them, love them. You don't have to accept them, but you gotta, he calls us to love them.
So there's this story in Luke. This is the preamble to one of the greatest stories in the Bible, the story of the Good Samaritan. But look at the preamble to it. It says, "On one occasion an expert in the law," and that's a religious law, by the way, so this is like a bishop of a denomination or I don't know, somethin' like that, "he stood up to test Jesus. And he said, 'Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' 'What is written in the law?' Jesus said".
So he answered the question with a question. "You wanna inherit eternal life? What does the Bible say"? "'How do you read it?' And he said, Well, Jesus, it says love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.' And Jesus said, 'That's exactly it.'" In fact, I think it's in Matthew, it says all the Bible hangs on these two things: Love God. Love people. Love God. Love people. Jesus said, "Do this and you'll live". But watch what happens next. But the guy said, "He wanted to justify himself, and he said, Okay, fine, but when I love people, who you talkin' about"?
Like, you talkin' about my neighbor too? Like, he's basically asking, "You mean"? And this is where Jesus says, "No, no, no, when I say people, It's all people". And this is where, in my opinion, the church needs to get a lot better. I'm not sayin' you have to agree with them, and I certainly am not asking you to participate in them, but we do not have the luxury to hate people, and that toxic junk has to stop. It cannot come out of the house of God. In fact, when you think about the robber who robbed this guy, you know, the story goes on.
Jesus talks about this man that this Samaritan saw bleeding and dying on this road to Jericho. He was there because people tried to exploit him, tried to destroy him. They were thieves and robbers. There's a part of society, that's what they wanna do to people. What's yours is mine, and I'm gonna take it. And then some religious, you thought, well good news, religious people came by, and the Bible says they went to the other side of the road and just turned their head. But then this Samaritan, the good Samaritan, came by, and you know the story. He bandaged his wounds, loved him, took him to an inn, said, "Any extra expense you incur, I'll pay for it". And it made me think that every person we encounter's the same way. They're either a victim to exploit, a problem to avoid, or a person that should be loved.
This is what God's called us to do. So when we share our faith, if you're taking notes, write this down, you don't have to be like them, but you have to like 'em. You don't have to be like 'em. In fact, don't be like them. But you'll never win your enemies to Christ. People, from time to time, ask me, "Be stronger. Like, yell more". You know, you probably looking at a person who has some of the strongest convictions of anybody you'll ever meet. I am not unsure of what I believe, but I've never won an enemy to Christ, not one time. And so, I don't make 'em. I wanna lead them out of that, come on, everybody, to this person called Jesus, amen, are you following me? Think about half of you follow me, all right.
Here's the third one, and that is you enter their world. Jesus was an expert at this and so was the apostle Paul. Paul said this, I actually got to go to Corinth. It was an amazing place. In fact, I stood right where Paul was, you know, stood and preached in Corinth. He says, "And when I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew," didn't mean he actually believed it. In fact, he goes on to say, "When I was with those who followed the Jewish law, I too lived under that law," in other words, I didn't do anything to offend their convictions, "Even though I'm not subject to that law," I don't live like Jew, I don't have to do that anymore.
I'm a believer in Jesus, "I did this so I could bring him to Christ. And when I was with the Gentiles, those who do not follow Jewish law, I had to live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God," in other words, I didn't lose my convictions over it. To live like I never compromised. I mean, I'm not, please don't compromise. "But when I'm with those who are weak, I didn't judge 'em". Seriously, you're doing drugs again? My God, son. You know it's not good for ya! No, no, no, "When I was with the weak, I shared".
That must be hard, isn't it? He shared in their weakness, "Because I wanted to bring the weak to Christ. Yeah, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save them. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in his blessings". Jesus and the apostle Paul were so good at leading people that way. In fact, Jesus, I don't know if you know this. Jesus, in the Gospels, asked 307 questions. He was asked 183 questions of which he only answered 8 of those, which means he was 40 more times likely to listen than he was to speak.
And I got to stand in the very, I stood right at Mars Hill in Athens, right where Paul shared his faith with the Stoics and the Epicureans and all these people who were just so far from God. Look what he says. This is so good. "Paul was standing before the council, addressed them," says, "Hey, men of Athens, you're a bunch of heathen dogs, sinners, worshiping idols". That's not what he says. He says, "I noticed that you're very religious".
He almost found a way to enter that world by sayin', "Oh, I see you're trying to find God," kinda like Tanya, right? "For I was walking along and I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had 'To an Unknown God.'" He said, "Oh, you're lookin' for him? I know him, and I can help you find him". See, this is how we share the gospel. So what's the essence of this third one? When we share our faith, we don't have to agree with them, just try to understand them. "Hey, tell me more about that. Tell me why you believe that".
And here's the last one, we're gonna close, and that is you gotta choose the right approach. So there's a lot of approaches, and you've probably seen some. Have you ever been to a football game and somebody's out there with a megaphone tellin' you "turn or burn" or something like that? And you know there's always a long line of people, "Just let me in". There's never, well, the Bible actually says, you know, that there's an approach that God sanctions, or approves, and I want to read it to you: "In your hearts Revere christ," in other words, just be in love with Jesus. It's probably one of the best things you can do to be an effective witness, by the way.
"And always be prepared," and I'm helping you do that, "to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with," and you read it. So in other words, we're gonna be positive. It's not like, "turn or burn". No, no, no. "You're going to hell". No, you're not. No, we're goin' to give 'em the good news. I mean, they are, but I mean, tellin' them's not gonna make 'em go. No, they're probably gonna, you know, show you only one of these fingers, you know, they're gonna, like, right? We're gonna be patient not pressing.
Just, I have someone I've been workin' on for like five years right now. It's just, he's so far from God, and I keep telling him, I said, "It's okay. When you're ready, please let me be the first phone call". And I got a text from him not too long ago, and all said was, "Thinking about you". So I said, "Thinkin' about you too. You wanna talk"? He said, "Yes". Now, we haven't talked yet, but I thought, you know, just unconditional love, like Jesus treated the woman caught in adultery and Zacchaeus. Here's the essence of this last one. When we share our faith, let's just connect before we correct. I'm not saying correction's not needed. I'm just saying connection is what leads you to that place.
So I'm gonna close today by something John Maxwell taught me. I watched actually on my tour bus. I was about four rows back, and John's on the front row with the tour guide. Next thing I know, they're leaning across the middle. I should have brought the picture. I'll bring it. I'll let you see it. He leans across the tour bus, and he and the tour guide are talking across the little aisle of the bus. The next thing I know, he has his arm around her, and her head's bowed, and he led her to Jesus on the bus. And I took pictures. And then, of course, I talked to John about it afterwards.
And John taught me something, I've known this. He said, "Chris, people want God. They just have a wrong picture of God". And years ago, he said, "I lead people to Christ by just sharing with them the wrong pictures of God". And I'm gonna give you this, and then we're gonna go, okay? It's called the four pictures of God. In the first one, he said some people see God like a locked gate, and what their belief is is that God is just far away. You can't reach him. When Paul was reaching the people in Athens, he said this: "God is close, closer than you think". You've heard me say sometimes, "If God feels a million miles away and you wanna be close, Jesus can bring you close".
Some think of themselves as a garbage can, and God treats you like garbage, and this is the belief that you never can be good enough to be liked by God. But God's not turned off by your sin. He saves you from your sin. He died while you were still sinning. The third picture is this endless ladder, and it believes that I'm not only not good enough, I can't get good enough. There's not enough things I can do to make it right. In other words, they think they have to change first to get to God. But how many of y'all know we get to God so we can change? But the real picture of God is a door, and Christ is on the side of it knocking.
I'll show it to you: "Behold," some of you, it's happening to you right now, "I stand at the door of your heart and I knock". And if anyone is hearing God right now and gets their life perfectly right, nope. Goes to church without missing, nope. Gives a lot of money, nope. Just open your life to the life of Jesus, "Open the door, I'll come in and dine," in other words, have a relationship, "and them with Me". The true picture is Christ is knocking, and all you have to do is open the door. Heads bowed, eyes closed.
Father, for those that already know you in this room, I'm asking, God, you commission us, prepare us to be salt and light and ambassadors. God, I just pray that every one of us who call this place home put the glasses on, see the world outside our window.
If you're here today and you don't know God, you're far from God, you feel him knocking on the door of your heart, I'm gonna pray for you right there where you are. Not gonna have you stand up. Not gonna call you to the front. I'm gonna lead you in a prayer where you can surrender your life to Jesus. But if you wanna do that, I want you to let him know.
And so, right there, with no one looking around, you're sayin', "I need to come to God or I need to come back to God," put your hand up as high as you can. Say, "Count me in on that prayer". Lift it high. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, anybody else? Yep, way at the top, God bless you. Yeah, this is awesome. It's awesome. Slip your hands down. Pray this prayer. Say:
Jesus, I need you, and today, I open my heart to you. Save me. I surrender my life completely to you. Be the Lord of my life. I believe you're the Son of God who rose from the dead, and today, I put my faith in you. In your name I pray, amen.