Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris
Hey, Jeff. Hi, Chris. How are you doing? Man, I’m.

Jeff
So excited to be here today.

Chris
It’s Friday, it’s Friday, TGIF. There we go. Yes! By the way, all the TGIF Friday. What are they? What is it called? The restaurants.

Jeff
T.G.I. Fridays.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, T.G.I. Fridays. Yeah. They all shut down in our area.

Jeff
Yeah, in our area. They’re gone.

Chris
Yeah.

Jeff
That’s terrible. Does it feel like a loss to you?

Chris
Yeah. Kind of. Although it’s one of those things where I never went. Yeah, right.

Jeff
But it was just comforting to see. See them.

Chris
I really get sad when businesses falter.

Jeff
Well, for the people who are not listening to it on Friday is T.G.I. whatever day you’re in.

Chris
That’s true, T.G.I. Sunday. Okay.

Jeff
Well, hey, so today we have a segment we’ve never done before.

Chris
No, no, no, it just simply says share a celebratory story.

Jeff
Story, celebratory story. It could be about yourself.

Chris
So a family.

Jeff
Member we’ve had what made made you mad. What made Chris angry this week? What made we’ve had what made Chris happy this week? Yes. So happy and mad are, I think are differentiated from celebratory. So this is something you’re supposed to be celebrating.

Chris
Yeah. Well, it’s a story of and she actually said either about ourselves, our family member or the church.

Jeff
And this is just good news. Yes. Okay. Doo doo doo doo. Yes. Good news.

Chris
So what do you got?

Jeff
Well, I think you should go first.

Chris
Okay. So I’m going to share one about the church. Okay. Do it. And Heritage.

Jeff
Church.

Chris
Well no. Yes. But it happened at church, so we had this moment. For those of you who attend Heritage Church, which I’m sure are a portion of our listeners, right. Jeff and I are pastors at a place called Heritage Church, and we had this moment where we sang a song called come to the table. Yes. And in the whole message was about, you know, Jesus has a seat for you at the table kind of thing.

Jeff
And what an amazing delivery that message speaker was. Are you talking.

Chris
About the writing of the message? So so the so what ended up happening was a good friend of mine. I’ve known her for her and her husband and family for, I don’t know, 10 or 15 years or so. And she was overcome with tears. And she’s like, I’m just overwhelmed with, you know, with with the Spirit of God. You know, God’s really reminded me of a lot of good things. And she was just literally couldn’t talk without crying. And so I was like, well, yeah, let’s go talk. So we talked. And what’s so interesting is that you had said in that message that it’s time for you to forgive somebody or approach somebody about being forgiven. And what’s so ironic is out of all the years of somebody sharing stories with me, usually it’s like it’s like happening in the moment, right? Usually it’s like, oh, I know I have to forgive somebody or somebody has to forgive me. And it’s usually those kind of things, right? Right. But she was actually crying out of gratitude because years earlier I had said something similar in a, in a sermon. And, and so then she went and made it right with a friend, and she was the offender. She was the one that said, please forgive me. And then she was rekindled with her best friend, and now her best friend is going through cancer. And she is and she’s and she’s with her every day. And so, so think about this.

Jeff
Thanking God for that restored relationship.

Chris
So think about this. So, so the message of the song was saying. No matter what you’ve done in the past, no matter how bad you’ve been, there’s still a seat at the table for you. Did you take long enough to hit? Stop there. You just have it over. And I was like, hit stop.

Jeff
I’m sorry.

Chris
It’s okay. So.

Chris
So I was actually thinking to myself, this is an amazing celebratory moment because she is not crying because of something, you know, that’s currently miserable. She’s crying because of the blessings of God, because the message of the song is true. And she’s experienced the unbelievable on the other side, the unbelievable forgiveness and grace of God who has forgiven her of her wrongdoings. She went back to her friend and now she’s going through this really sweet and difficult time with cancer. And so she is. She’s just saying, I would never have gotten to go through this sweet and wonderful time with my friend, if not for the goodness and the forgiveness and the grace of God. And that’s why she was crying. Wow. And you know what? To be honest, of all the stories that people pull me aside and share with this was one of the most precious. It’s beautiful. Right? Because it’s like it’s like people are crying about the goodness of God on the other side. And I thought, wow, what a blessing to even be in this conversation.

Jeff
God’s ways are better. Yes. Right. What Jesus invites us to is better. It seems impossible. And it doesn’t, in our natural view, feel like the right way. Yeah, right. But she went down a difficult path. She did the right thing, and now she’s glorifying and thanking God for for it.

Chris
By the way, side note she imagined it to be a difficult conversation. But as soon as she reached out, after years and years and years of shunning this friend, as soon as she said she was sorry immediately, it was I forgive you. Wow. And it wasn’t difficult at all. Wow, wow. And she imagined it to be.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, well, I have one. Sorry about that alarm, by the way. Believe it or not, it was 1002 when that alarm went off. Yeah. And that is what we’re talking about today. So we’ll talk about it in a second. That’s crazy.

Chris
Okay. Oh is that why you hovered.

Jeff
Yeah, just for a second. Cuz I looked at it to go. Is that 1002. It was. So there’s a reason. So here’s my celebration. Can I give you a quick celebration? Of course. So, you know, we do a lot of work with the Timothy Initiative around the world. And that’s making disciples who are disciple makers and starting churches that start new churches and working with hundreds of thousands of leaders in 40 countries around the world. So you can imagine, because many of the places where we help start churches and train people are the most dangerous places in the world for Christians. And one of my friends is the leader of our movement in the Anglophone, the English speaking West Africa. So there’s French speaking West Africa, English speaking West Africa. And he gave us a prayer request the other day asking for us to pray for one of the disciples who’s helping lead a church and growing learning how to plant churches. Um, uh, husband and wife were kidnapped about two weeks ago by terrorist militants in Nigeria. And that usually doesn’t end well.

Chris
No.

Jeff
But he sent us a thing on WhatsApp that said that they were released yesterday unhurt, thanking God. So that’s a big celebration, right? When you and I have brothers and sisters around the world who suffer, we can’t we can’t hardly fathom it, can we? Yeah. And the fact that they’re willing to risk their lives to tell people about Jesus. And then when they get captured and we find ourselves praying for them and, oh, God, rescue them, it doesn’t always turn out well, right? Yeah. And God is glorified in his martyrs. And thank God for them to be willing to do that sometimes. John Fox said, the seed of the church is the blood of its martyrs, right? So sometimes there’s no other way to get the church going, the kingdom of God to move forward except for the sacrifice of his people. So you grieve over that? Certainly. But to get a message like that said, you know, thank you all for praying.

Chris
It didn’t just come in now, did it? It came in.

Jeff
Saturday.

Chris
Oh, Saturday. Okay.

Jeff
So I’ve just been celebrating the last couple of days.

Chris
So what’s with the 1002 thing?

Jeff
Yeah. So well, let’s read the passage and I’ll tell you, I’m not joking. This is really neat, huh? It’s unbelievable. This just happened. So, Luke, chapter ten Jesus sends out 72, right? Yeah. And here’s what it says. Verse one. So Luke ten one through 16. The Lord now chose 72 other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. Remember the question we had the other day about, hey, you’re going to go everywhere to all the towns, but before you even make it to all the towns of Israel, I’m going to come back. I’m going to return. So here he’s sending them to all the towns, right? These were his instructions to them. The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest. Ask him to send more workers into his fields. That’s ten to. So me and a bunch of my friends have set an alarm for 1002 to pray that God will send more workers into the field.

Chris
What is that?

Jeff
Crazy? And the alarm went off at 1002.

Chris
What?

Chris
So you set an alarm at 1002 to go off to remind you of chapter ten, verse two. Yeah, it’s.

Jeff
1002 every.

Chris
Day. Let me just let me clarify for our listeners and coincidentally, and I put that in air quotes. We are reading the verse today on the podcast. 1002 as your alarm went off, because it is currently just after 10 a.m. on this.

Jeff
Day while we’re shooting the podcast. Isn’t that neat?

Chris
No, it’s it’s unbelievable. It’s not just neat.

Jeff
Right before the podcast went or right before we started recording the podcast, I looked down and realized where we were. Yeah. So I knew it was going to happen and I decided not to stop it.

Chris
So you knew the alarm was coming?

Jeff
I knew it was getting ready to come because it’s been set for a long time. My friends and I, we’ve been doing this for quite a while, praying that God would send more harvest more, more workers into the field. The issue is not are there people out there ready to receive Christ? The issue is there aren’t enough people telling. Right, right. And so that’s that’s what we’re praying for. So he says verse two, these are the instructions to them. The harvest is great. This is ten to the harvest is great but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who’s in charge of the harvest. Ask him to send more workers into his fields. Now go and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor any extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road. Whenever you enter someone’s house, first say, May God’s peace be on this house. If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand. If they are not, the blessing will return to you. Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality because those who work deserve their pay. If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you heal the sick and tell them the Kingdom of God is near you now. But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say, we wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this the kingdom of God is near. I assure you, even wicked Sodom will be better off than such a town on Judgment Day. Jeff
What sorrow awaits you, Chorazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse. Yes, Tyre and Sidon will be better off in Judgment Day than you and you people of Capernaum. Will you be honored in heaven? No. You will go down to the place of the dead. Then he said to the disciples, anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me, and anyone who rejects you is rejecting me, and anyone who rejects me is rejecting God who sent me. So yeah, isn’t that neat? So the alarm went off. I knew it was going to happen. Yeah, but yeah, it was. I didn’t set it so that it would happen. Right? It was just.

Chris

1002. Jeff
      It’s already set.

Chris
1002 because you’ve been doing this on a daily basis. Yeah.

Jeff
1002 that’s really fun then.

Chris
That’s a lot of fun.

Jeff
So I was in a meeting last week and. Almost the entire room. All the alarms went off at the same time.

Chris
Oh that’s neat.

Jeff
Yeah, it was kind of funny. So all of a sudden, some people, it was the alarm out loud. Others phones all start buzzing and everybody’s like, all right, we need to stop praying. We prayed, Lord, send more workers into the field. Yeah. So he sends 72. This is surprising to some people to find out that Jesus has 72 disciples that were so well equipped, he was willing to send them out to represent him to, to to share the gospel, to do miracles. Right. And so it’s a big deal. It’s not just, we think 12, 12 plus a couple of.

Chris
Ladies, right?

Jeff
Right.

Chris
But here’s 7212 plus a couple of ladies. Right?

Jeff
And then that’s how you think, right? He had 12 disciples and some of these ladies are with him. Yeah. But here he’s got 72 people that he’s sending out that can do miracles, that are able to pray, heal the sick, that are able to declare the gospel. And then, you know, later on we find out in the upper room there were a bunch. And then Jesus, after his resurrection, he goes to 500 of his followers. So yeah, yeah, it was it was a significant movement of committed followers.

Chris
So the the idea of workers in the harvest, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the excuse me harvest therefore to go out and send workers into the harvest of the field. So that’s what you’ve been praying for. Yeah. And and and the word picture. There is just something that we just shouldn’t skip over. Right. So the harvest, meaning it’s ready to be harvested. Right? Right, right. So so it’s there’s a time to grow. Right. And then there’s a time to harvest. Yeah. And what he’s saying is, is that the harvest is, is, is ready. Right. Harvest is ready. So so the symbolism of that is, is that people are right now waiting for the laborers, they’re waiting for the workers, the they’re in need of, of laborers to go out into the field and harvest. And so the invitation, of course, then is to understand that like it’s it’s our job to share the gospel. Now, let me let me tell you a quick story. This happened three days ago. I did a random funeral. Random meaning? They called me. I wasn’t connected to the family at all. I didn’t know them. And somebody had heard that the pastor was here and he was a big time Christian from, oh, excuse me, from another church in the area, actually. And he’s like, oh, we attend X amount of church. It’s like, you know, ten miles away. Or have you heard of it? I’m like, yeah, I’ve heard of it. So anyway, he’s like, pastor, can I ask you a question? So we went into the room and we closed the door and we sat down and this is what he said, he said. I think I blew it, and I carry a lot of guilt. Chris
And he’s crying and I said, what? And he goes, I intended to have a conversation with my father in law about God over and over and over, and now he’s dead. And now I’ve missed my chance. And I said, well, I said, I want you to know that when I talked with his mom, which was, you know, your step mother before you, I’d already had like an hour long. No, not an hour, like 30 minute meeting with the wife of the deceased, which would have been his step mother. And I said she told me that there is no question that he believed in God. In fact, she went through the whole thing. You know, they were raised in this kind of a church, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But he says, well, I’ve known this guy for 19 years and went on to describe how this guy was not sort of a good guy, right?

Jeff
Like, he didn’t have the fruit of salvation in his life.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like we’re talking like like, you know. Never said a word to family members for 20 years. Angry yelled all the time. Cold hearted, you know, blankety blank. That kind of thing. So I said, but this lady ensures that he’s a Christian. And he says, well, how can that be true? And I said, well, you know, I believe that there is evidence of times where people can be a Christian and then they could even, you know, start to doubt God so much to where they made and say, I don’t believe in God anymore. But the Bible talks about if there’s true repentance, that they could be a Christian. But then again, we talked about that the other day. Right? Like, how do we really know it was true? Right. If there’s absolutely no evidence, was it real the first time? Right. So so only God knows, right?

Jeff
Only God knows he’s the judge.

Chris
And so anyway. But but here’s my point connected to this verse is that he was saying it’s on me, right? Like it was my job to share the gospel.

Jeff
I should have shared the gospel.

Chris
And now it’s too late. Yeah. And I said, listen, man, I said, there is nothing that I can say to take away that guilt, right? Because the bottom line is, is, yeah, maybe you should have, especially if you felt like God asked you to, right? I said, but but then he did say he goes, I did bring it up a few times and and he blew me off and said, I know God in my own way. And I said, well, then there you go. I said, you did what God asked you to do, right? And he’s like, yeah, but I didn’t give the gospel. And I said, he he’s heard the gospel.

Jeff
Well, it’s important to be able to share the gospel. Most Christians don’t even know how to present a cohesive, compelling gospel presentation. Right.

Chris
And so let’s define the gospel.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. So the idea that we’re all sinners and there’s a price for sin, but Christ paid the price for us when we couldn’t pay it ourselves because God loved us. And he demonstrated his love through the sacrifice. And then salvation is not a result of the good works we’ve done. It’s a free gift from God. So if we by faith will accept his free gift, then we can have our sins forgiven and confidence in heaven when we die, right that in a right relationship with him today, power to live our life. So all of that you can find book of Romans really the Romans wrote or any of those things. So learning how to present a compelling gospel presentation, I think is incredibly important. And and the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So it’s not just about me saying nice Bible words, it’s about. It’s the words of God. So learning how to present the gospel from Romans 323, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 623. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans five eight But God commended his own love for us in this, or he demonstrated his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And then the idea that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, right? You kind of go through that. So using Scripture. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. But then Paul says, how will they ever know if they don’t hear? And how will they ever hear if somebody doesn’t tell them so?

Chris
And then and then how would they tell them that a preacher. Right, right. And how will they how will the preacher, unless they’re sent, unless they’re sent.

Jeff
Right. So we have to understand that Jesus did send us and he’s not talking about pastors when it comes to preachers. He’s talking about anybody who is willing to declare. Right. And so in this passage, he’s saying, listen, the harvest is is ripe and ready. Yeah. So I learned a thing when I was a kid. We had kind of a I grew up on a homestead, so we had a vineyard, we had an orchard. We had, you know, huge garden. We grew all of our food and stuff. And one of my favorite things was pears. I loved our pears. We had some really great pear trees. And the pears would be like this big. So have you ever had a green pear? A pear that wasn’t ripe?

Chris
Yes.

Jeff
It just it breaks your teeth and it just tastes gross. But then, have you ever had a perfect pear? Yes. That you’re like. There’s almost nothing better than that perfect pear. Not too mushy, but unbelievably sweet. So soft. So my dad showed me one time because I’d get really bad pears, and it showed me one time. He said, A ripe pear. You don’t have to yank it. You just. Grab Ahold of it, reach Ahold of it, and just give a little pull and a ripe pear will come off the tree.

Chris
But because it’s ready to be harvested, you.

Jeff
Don’t have to yank it. You don’t have to yank a ripe pear. And so sometimes I think Christians, we don’t share our faith a lot. So we get one opposition. And from that point on, we’re afraid of no’s. Right? And it was because we were trying to pull an unripe fruit.

Chris
Or awkwardness or uncomfortability.

Chris
Right, right.

Jeff
It was because we tried the one time we tried to harvest, we tried to harvest something that wasn’t ripe yet. But if we just understand we’re surrounded by ripe. There are so many ripe fruit. There are so many people that are just looking for people.

Chris
Who would.

Chris
Be grateful.

Chris
They would be grateful to hear you, for you to bring it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
So I’ve had people say to me before, how come nobody ever told me this before, right? Right. You’re sharing the gospel with even a stranger. And I’ve had.

Chris
People say, definitely had that.

Jeff
Nobody’s ever told me this before. And I think if we could just understand, our job is not to always be just yanking fruit. Our job is to be sharing the gospel, and God’s the one who gives the harvest.

Chris
So. So I want to share two things. Number one, it’s the two clearest and simplest and easiest methods to to share the gospel. Okay, so I’m very much a, you know, that kind of person, right? Like like what is what is what is the bottom rung that I could hang on to. So here’s here’s the thing that first came to mind, which was ABC. Right. So the word admit, believe, confess. That’s it. If you want to know the ABC’s of sharing the gospel, that’s it. It’s admit, believe confess. That’s it. And then all you do is just find the verses that go along with that.

Chris
Admit that you’re a sinner.

Chris
Admit that you’re a sinner. Right. Romans 323 believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins.

Chris
He paid the price for your sins, paid.

Chris
The price for your sin.

Jeff
Romans five eight

Chris
Or 623 right. And then and then confess. Confess that Jesus is Lord.

Jeff
Romans 1013.

Chris
Yeah, that’s right. And so that’s it. Admit, believe, confess, and then just share those verses. And then there’s another way. And actually, perhaps this is even a more simple way, okay. And it’s because it’s found in one verse, John 316. So I heard a preacher one time talk about when, when it comes to getting to heaven or sharing the gospel, people want to know two things. They want to know, okay, what do I have to know? And then what do I have to do? And that’s what we that’s what we all are faced with, with anything. Right? What I need to know, what do I need to do? And he says, what you need to know is God loved and God gave. And what you need to do is believe and receive. That’s it. And and all four of those words are found in one verse, John 316, the greatest verse, the verse that perhaps summarizes the entire gospel in the clearest of ways in just one verse. And it says, For God so loved the world. There’s the word loved that he gave his one and only son. So if you want to know what you have to know for the gospel, that’s God loved and God gave. That’s it. That’s the only thing you have to know. Yeah. And then it says that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. And that word believe and have are is. You could change it to receive if you want to. Right. But you believe and you have. That’s it. So you believe that Jesus died for your sins and then you have eternal life. And so anyway, all that to say, anybody who’s not in the habit of sharing the gospel or telling people about Christ or saying like, hey, you know, the reason why I have peace is that I’m a Christian, or the reason why my life seems so different or why I can, you know, forgive is because I’m a Christian. Chris
If they say, what does that mean? Well, you have to be able to take the next step and say, it’s because I know God. And you know what the Bible says? You can know God today, too. Yeah. And then and then just share either the A, B, C or share, you know, the John 316. And I think for new people that’s a good place to start. Yeah. And if you want to, if you want to become sort of an expert later on, you can probably weave in Ephesians 289 and you know, a lot of other really great.

Jeff
The more time you spend in Scripture, the more scriptures the Holy Spirit can use in the moment. Right? Because those scriptures aren’t always for you. They’re for the people you’re supposed to be sharing the gospel with.

Chris
That’s right. Right.

Jeff
So he’ll he’ll bring those things to memory. Yeah.

Chris
Yeah. Well, that’s a great place to end, I think.

Jeff
Yeah. That’s great.

Chris
And so yeah. So be encouraged and we will see you next time on the Bible guys.