Be Ready to Give an Answer
Speaker: Pastor Dean Odle
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxOpqfd6cJQ
YouTube upload date: 2022-06-06 (used as publication date; not represented as the recording date)
Video duration: 01:00:28
Transcript basis: Faster-Whisper small.en automatic timestamped transcription.
Transcript note: Formatted for publication while preserving the supplied sequence and substantive wording. Automatic recognition and punctuation errors may remain; verify against the audio before exact quotation. Statements in the transcript are the speaker's and are not automatically independently verified facts.

[00:00:15] Praise you, Lord, for your goodness, for the blood you shed on the cross, for your resurrection
[00:01:03] power, for your Holy Spirit you sent to dwell within us and to flow through us and to work
[00:01:09] through us.
[00:01:10] Lord God, for everything that we need, God, you've provided God all things that pertain
[00:01:15] to life and Godliness through Christ Jesus.
[00:01:18] Lord, you've provided what we need, Lord.
[00:01:20] You've provided the power, Lord, God, to be a witness, God, in this earth, Lord.
[00:01:25] God, with our lives, our examples, but also with our words that we speak, you, God, have
[00:01:30] empowered us, Lord, to be a witness, Father.
[00:01:33] And Lord, we just want more and more to be emptied of all of selfishness and flesh and
[00:01:39] lustly desires and lust and sins and just to be emptied out and those things washed
[00:01:46] away and Lord, to walk in that holiness and that purity and that hunger and that boldness
[00:01:51] for you, God.
[00:01:54] Lord, I pray that for everyone here, God, that you would just, Lord, just empty out all
[00:01:58] selfishness, all fear, all fear of man and Lord, that we would just get full of the Holy
[00:02:04] Spirit, God, and do what you've called us to do without fear or intimidation, without
[00:02:09] worry, Lord, even if it cost us things, even if we have to suffer loss to do the will
[00:02:17] of God, Lord, that that's more important.
[00:02:22] We thank you, God, that we know gain is not always Godliness and Father, this morning
[00:02:28] we just worship you, we want you, Lord, we want your glory and your power and your
[00:02:33] presence to flow again through the church, through your people, Lord, it's been dry
[00:02:42] too long, God.
[00:02:45] We're grateful for little things here and there, Lord, but I know, God, there's a
[00:02:49] move, there's an outpouring, there's a revival that you want to do.
[00:02:54] You're looking for people to show yourself strong, people whose hearts perfect
[00:03:01] Lord, Lord, that's what we are, pure heart, pure motives, a heart for the lost, a
[00:03:16] heart for our brethren that are falling away, a heart for those that have been
[00:03:21] wounded so bad they can't even look up, Father, we pray, I think we just need to
[00:03:38] worship and just, we don't need to move from this spot for a moment, thank you
[00:03:47] for your goodness. You're about to do, Lord, in this area, Lord, in this
[00:03:56] church even, in this region, I know you're about to do something, sovereign,
[00:04:01] special, supernatural, God, you're about to fulfill some things promised, Lord, years
[00:04:06] and years and years ago, I know that you're about to move mightily in
[00:04:11] Auburn, especially, Lord, I know you're about to move in a mighty way, we want to
[00:04:17] be a part of that, we want to do our part, we want to not miss, Lord, what
[00:04:23] you want us to do, your perfect will, your destiny, for our lives, God, Jesus.
[00:05:19] Thank you, Lord.
[00:05:49] I feel like the Lord is going to give someone that interpretation, just if you
[00:06:06] feel the Lord speaking that to you or something to you, don't be afraid to
[00:06:10] speak it out. Praise you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you,
[00:06:25] Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Glory to God. You may be seated. Hallelujah. Yes, sir.
[00:06:40] Amen. Praise God. We receive that. Amen. Anybody else have anything? I'll tell you,
[00:07:00] it's amazing, but the Lord, he is, he definitely speaking to us. And of course,
[00:07:05] I just want to say, I don't really need this in here, but we are recording it,
[00:07:08] so I'm going to use this. But if it's too loud, tell me, I'll turn it down a
[00:07:12] little bit. But the Lord is definitely stirring us, and I just want you to get
[00:07:21] your Bibles, and we're going to get into the Word. I guess we're going to
[00:07:23] continue on what we've been doing the last few weeks. The Lord, I think, is
[00:07:27] getting us ready, getting us ready for this fall and getting us ready for some
[00:07:33] outreach. But before I do that, some of you may not know because you hadn't
[00:07:36] been to the meetings yet, but this is Gene May back here and his wife,
[00:07:40] Sheri. They are just being with us today. He's got another meeting today
[00:07:46] at 3.30 at Eastwood Christian School, and that's David James right there
[00:07:50] and his wife, Rita. They are, I guess, are you the principal, or how would I?
[00:07:58] So you're all of the above, okay, of the school out there and the
[00:08:04] founders, and went to Gene's church many years ago that he had here
[00:08:08] back in the 70s. How long were you from, what, 74 to 78 here? So anyway,
[00:08:17] but I hope those of you hadn't made it to one. I hope you can at 3.30 this
[00:08:21] afternoon. We'll be there. Anyway, I wasn't sure about that. No, I said I
[00:08:30] was it. I said I was going to ask you to make sure, but yes, okay. All right,
[00:08:42] so we'll do that. All right, so we'll be there. So I hope you can make it. If
[00:08:48] you need directions, just ask me afterwards. But back to the Word. I want
[00:08:52] you to turn in your Bibles this morning. I just go to Acts 1. We've been
[00:09:00] on a series talking about being led by the Spirit of God and how important
[00:09:04] that is. We've talked about the gifts last week and about the power of
[00:09:09] the gifts to be used in witnessing. But I just want to kind of shift gears
[00:09:14] because I know we're going to be flowing into kind of some evangelism training
[00:09:18] in the next few weeks, and I just feel like I need to give you some stuff
[00:09:22] today on that. But let's just, we need to remember something, that God wants
[00:09:30] us, He wants us to be full of the Holy Spirit, not just so we can be blessed.
[00:09:35] I mean, that's true. I mean, God refreshes us and we get to experience
[00:09:39] His presence, and we get to experience joy and peace, and we get to experience
[00:09:43] healing, maybe inner healing sometimes of emotions and things, and we get
[00:09:47] to experience a lot of good things from the Lord. But those things aren't
[00:09:52] just to be kept to ourselves. And one of the main things God wants to get
[00:09:57] across to us, and as I've said, is that if you are full of the Holy
[00:10:00] Spirit and you are being led by the Holy Spirit, I guarantee you this
[00:10:04] thing's going to be happening. God is going to begin to give you His
[00:10:07] heart for people that are lost and on their way to hell around you.
[00:10:12] God's going to begin to give you His heart and a desire, not just His
[00:10:15] heart, not just what He feels about it, but a desire to do something
[00:10:19] about it, a desire to be used by God, to be a light, to be a witness,
[00:10:24] to be effective, not just that people might know you're a Christian,
[00:10:30] but to really be effective in speaking a word that may bring conviction
[00:10:34] or a word that may bring healing or a word that may bring somebody
[00:10:38] truly to repent and come to Jesus. And I just want you to know that
[00:10:43] if you're full of the Holy Spirit, He is going to begin to direct you
[00:10:47] in that path. And I mean to your neighbors, to your family, to your
[00:10:51] friends, I mean, you're going to begin to feel yourself moved in
[00:10:53] prayer to pray for them. I mean, I'm telling you, if you really
[00:10:57] have a revelation of what Jesus has done in you, in saving you,
[00:11:02] in washing your sins away, the reality that without Him you knew
[00:11:06] you were on your way to an eternity in hell and Jesus didn't have to
[00:11:10] die on the cross for you. He didn't have to convict you.
[00:11:13] He didn't have to draw you. He didn't have to forgive you again
[00:11:16] and again and again. He didn't have to. Sometimes I think
[00:11:19] Christians have this attitude that God owes them, you know,
[00:11:22] and He doesn't really owe us. It's His mercy. It's grace.
[00:11:26] It's, you know, it's goodness. And He doesn't owe us these
[00:11:31] things. But when you realize, and I think that's what
[00:11:34] motivated me so much when I came back to the Lord at 19,
[00:11:38] there was such a revelation to me that the way I was living,
[00:11:42] I was on my way to hell. And God made that very clear to me
[00:11:45] that I was, I was going to be lost forever if I did not change
[00:11:51] some things in my life, if I did not surrender my life fully
[00:11:54] to Him and follow Him. And when that transformation took place
[00:11:59] and when God came back into my life, I mean, I was, the
[00:12:02] revelation was so clear and the encounter with God was so
[00:12:06] clear. The realization came to me if I was like that, if I was
[00:12:10] so blinded by Satan and so in darkness and so, and really
[00:12:14] during that time period, you know, being in drunkenness and
[00:12:18] doing drugs and in fornication and pornography and all the
[00:12:21] stuff that I was into as a teenager and a college student
[00:12:25] and realizing that, you know, I thought I was okay. I thought,
[00:12:31] you know, because I'd gone to church when I was young and I
[00:12:34] thought I was okay. And I'm like, wow, when that, when
[00:12:37] that realization, when God woke me up and I realized how many
[00:12:41] people around me were like me, I could not keep my mouth
[00:12:48] shut. You understand? It wasn't about me forcing myself
[00:12:53] to be a witness to people. I could not help but be a
[00:12:57] witness to people. I had to tell my brother, Alan, to the
[00:13:01] point until he gave his life to the Lord, I had to tell my
[00:13:04] best friend, Billy and Craig, I had to go tell my mom and
[00:13:09] my dad and I couldn't keep my mouth shut because I
[00:13:12] didn't want them to be going down the same destructive
[00:13:16] path that I was going to. I didn't want them to end up
[00:13:19] in hell forever. I didn't want them to end up
[00:13:22] destroyed and so that's why I began to share with
[00:13:25] everybody and see, I want to tell you something at 19 and
[00:13:28] just returning back to the Lord. I didn't know a whole lot.
[00:13:32] I wasn't a big theologian or anything and I'm still not now
[00:13:36] but I mean I didn't know a whole lot but I knew what Jesus did
[00:13:39] in me and I was willing to share that and then I got in
[00:13:44] the word so I could give an answer to people. But I want
[00:13:48] you to know this. You have to, you know, and I'll say
[00:13:52] this, if you've been a Christian for a while, we all
[00:13:54] go through this where you'll get dry, you know, you get dry and
[00:13:58] you get busy with life and and you just get weighted down with
[00:14:02] things and it's almost like you begin to lose
[00:14:04] your sensitivity toward those things and your passion for those things
[00:14:10] and that's why, you know, it's a little bit easier sometimes it seems for a new
[00:14:14] convert or somebody that's just had a fresh encounter with God
[00:14:18] to share it with everybody because they're so excited but, you know, those
[00:14:21] of us that have been saved for a while, sometimes we have to
[00:14:24] stir up the gifts, right? We have to stir up
[00:14:27] ourselves back to get back to doing our first works, to get back to doing the
[00:14:32] things that when we were first in love with Jesus
[00:14:35] and just crazy about everything about God about God. I mean we wanted to go
[00:14:39] to church. I remember nobody told me to go to church.
[00:14:42] I mean nobody had to tell me to go to church when I came back to Jesus.
[00:14:45] Nobody had to tell me you need to read the Bible. Man, I couldn't quit
[00:14:48] reading it. I wanted to study. I wanted to learn. I
[00:14:51] wanted to know more about him and so what I'm saying is sometimes we get
[00:14:55] away from that because we get dry and, you know, we get
[00:14:59] we get a little too church sometimes and, you know, we need to stir it back up and
[00:15:04] so this for some of us, this is just a reminder
[00:15:08] about the Holy Spirit and I told you turn to Acts but Acts 1.8
[00:15:12] what does it say this it says but you shall receive power
[00:15:16] what after the Holy Spirit has come upon you
[00:15:20] and did he say so you could speak in tongues
[00:15:25] that is important we've been talking about that is that so you could operate
[00:15:31] in the other gifts yes but that's not what he said here
[00:15:37] but he said I'm going to give you power to be a witness
[00:15:42] and I love the way he puts it he says what a power you're going to be
[00:15:45] witnesses unto me where in Jerusalem Judea and Sumerian to the
[00:15:50] uttermost parts of the earth what was Jerusalem to them
[00:15:54] it's where they live he was right where they were
[00:15:58] you know I was telling Nancy on the way here I remember my brother and I went to
[00:16:02] Israel a long time ago back in the late 80s and we went to Israel we spent a
[00:16:06] month there and I remember we traveled around the
[00:16:09] country we met different people we led a
[00:16:12] an atheist Australian to Jesus at the Garden Tomb
[00:16:15] where Jesus rose from the dead and it was it was an awesome trip
[00:16:19] but I'll tell you we ran into we stayed in an apartment for a while
[00:16:25] in in Jerusalem across the street from I think it was the great synagogue there
[00:16:30] right across the street from it and it was a kind of an apartment where
[00:16:34] you had your own bedroom but you shared a kitchen type thing but
[00:16:38] I guess kind of like a hostel or whatever but
[00:16:40] there was an 81 year old preacher from England and I'll never
[00:16:48] forget he said this to us and you know we were young at the time
[00:16:51] and he said he said boys I want to tell you something
[00:16:54] and he said I know you you already do this
[00:16:57] but he said this is the truth he said we have a little saying in England he said
[00:17:01] he said those who preach the gospel from door to door will eventually preach it
[00:17:06] from shore to shore and what he was saying to us is that
[00:17:09] you have to be willing and now what that said to me is if you can't go next
[00:17:12] door you know and that's what sherry said
[00:17:16] this last night is what reminded me of it made me think of it
[00:17:19] I was like you know if we can't go next door
[00:17:22] then why are we thinking about Africa you know
[00:17:27] but if we'll learn to go next door and we'll learn to go to our
[00:17:31] family and we'll share this gospel of Jesus at work
[00:17:36] and Kevin got to see and Patrick got to see that
[00:17:39] this is not just talk with me I'll preach the word and tell somebody
[00:17:43] about Jesus at work I've done it I've led people to Jesus on
[00:17:48] a bus on an airplane on a college campus on the street corner
[00:17:54] long before I ever stood in a pulpit to preach the word
[00:17:57] to me that's more important if if if if I'm not leading somebody to Jesus I
[00:18:01] really I'm not impressed with standing in a
[00:18:04] pulpit preaching too much you know what I mean
[00:18:06] except I know God wants us the other part of that is to feed God's
[00:18:10] people but God wants people to be saved
[00:18:15] but he wants us to do something he's given us some power to do something
[00:18:19] but let me tell you something you don't always feel that power
[00:18:22] you don't always have a feeling when it's time to step out there and do it as
[00:18:25] a matter of fact sometimes you feel more fear and weakness
[00:18:30] when it comes time to do that then you feel power
[00:18:33] and that's why you don't move by what you feel you don't go by what you feel
[00:18:38] if you go by what you feel you will never do what I'm talking about
[00:18:42] I remember some of the guys that I first led to the Lord
[00:18:45] Craig Rivers and a guy named Billy McClendon that are now ministers
[00:18:48] assembly of God ministers and have been uh preaching the gospel
[00:18:52] now for 20 years but I remember leading when I led them to
[00:18:55] the Lord I remember the next thing God took me to Acts chapter two he said
[00:18:59] lead them in the baptism the Holy Spirit and they
[00:19:00] let them in the baptism Holy Spirit and the Lord said now I want you to take
[00:19:03] them out witnessing and I remember the first time I took them out witnessing
[00:19:06] to the mall down here in village mall in Auburn
[00:19:08] those two guys were shaking in their boots
[00:19:12] but they'll tell you to this day that overcoming that fear
[00:19:16] and obeying the word of God and stepping out to share the gospel with
[00:19:20] strangers in a mall changed their lives forever
[00:19:24] and those guys learned how to go to their neighbors and they learned how to go to
[00:19:27] their friends and they learned how to stand up for Jesus
[00:19:30] where they were and those guys ended up going overseas and they've led
[00:19:34] I don't know how many people they've led to Jesus because they overcame
[00:19:39] their fear they overcame the fear of man and worrying about what people
[00:19:43] think and said you know what Jesus said to go into all the world
[00:19:47] and preach the gospel to every creature and they said you know what we're going to
[00:19:51] do that and we don't care if the devil oppresses us
[00:19:53] or makes us sick or tries to attack us or or whatever he may try to do to stop
[00:19:58] us we're going to go and we're going to
[00:20:01] share the the gospel of Jesus the true gospel
[00:20:04] that demands repentance that demands change that says you got to give up
[00:20:08] something you got to turn from something you got to give up your life
[00:20:11] not this gospel says Jesus forgive you and just keep living the way you want to
[00:20:14] live but but people will rise up and preach
[00:20:17] that I'm going to tell you when you overcome your fear
[00:20:22] you're going to see yourself and I'll tell you this you're going to see
[00:20:24] yourself grow like you have never grown but there
[00:20:29] are some things that you have to do to prepare yourself
[00:20:33] of course you need to pray now of course everybody in here if you're born
[00:20:36] again you've got a testimony and that
[00:20:39] testimony is powerful you can tell somebody no way people
[00:20:42] can argue all day long but you say this is what Jesus did in my life
[00:20:46] you know I remember the guy on the job the other day the guy wanted to come and
[00:20:49] talk to me about Buddhism and we had a great conversation but I said
[00:20:54] you know what I said I was a a fornicator I was a
[00:20:58] drunkard I was really as a teenager almost an alcoholic and I
[00:21:05] said Jesus is what got me off of that stuff but your testimony
[00:21:11] but there's also some things that you need to know about how to give an
[00:21:14] answer you need to prepare yourself to give an
[00:21:17] answer and I want to show you some of those scriptures turn with me to the
[00:21:20] first first Peter chapter three just
[00:21:24] probably one of the most important scriptures and especially I want to say
[00:21:27] this because we live in a college town
[00:21:30] because we live in a college town we need to have answers for people
[00:21:34] and two because of the internet and other things and just the time that we
[00:21:38] live in there's more doubt being put out there
[00:21:40] there's more attacks on the the scriptures and on our faith and all
[00:21:45] these things and I want to say you just you just need to prepare yourself
[00:21:49] you need to prepare yourself with some answers for people and it will shake them
[00:21:53] the guy that wanted to talk to me about Buddhism
[00:21:56] you know and how he was studying Buddhism and looking into that and I want to tell
[00:22:00] you I was able because I had studied some
[00:22:03] about Buddhism and was able to to take some things about proving the
[00:22:07] Bible's the word of God and some some basic apologetics and it got him to
[00:22:11] listen and then as I got toward the end of
[00:22:14] the conversation I shared about my testimony
[00:22:17] and I shared about some people getting delivered from demons and
[00:22:20] people that have been you know abused or molested when they were young and how
[00:22:24] they got delivered and how God healed them and I want to tell you
[00:22:28] mixing in an answer with the testimony
[00:22:32] with the power of God this guy went from wanting to talk about Buddhism
[00:22:37] to telling me that he wanted to come visit our church
[00:22:43] I just want to tell you that that is what we've got to get prepared we got to
[00:22:46] be able to share our testimony we got to be able to share some
[00:22:49] scriptures that means we're going to have to know some
[00:22:51] we're going to have to be able to give some answers to some things well let's
[00:22:55] look at this so you'll so you'll see it's not just me
[00:22:58] making this up but first peter I'll tell you all to turn I do it all the
[00:23:02] time I tell you to turn there and then I don't
[00:23:05] first peter chapter three somebody ought to know where we're going here
[00:23:10] verse 15 what's the scripture say here everybody
[00:23:12] there verse 15 but sanctify the lord god in your
[00:23:18] hearts and be ready always to give an answer to
[00:23:22] every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you
[00:23:26] with meekness and fear sanctify the lord in your hearts
[00:23:31] and be ready always is that what it says be ready to give an answer
[00:23:40] to every man that means the the one that needs some logical answers to some
[00:23:46] things but be ready to give an answer to every
[00:23:50] man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you
[00:23:53] with meekness and fear are you preparing yourself to give an answer
[00:24:00] one of the things I want to tell you well in the early days of when I was
[00:24:04] came back to the lord was walking with the lord one of the reasons I studied
[00:24:07] so much is because there was this deep
[00:24:11] passionate desire I wanted people to be saved and I knew
[00:24:15] that I had to give answers I needed to be able to prove what I was saying
[00:24:19] I needed to be able to direct them to scriptures and even when I didn't have a
[00:24:22] lot of scriptures memorized important things I would actually
[00:24:26] taken right in the front of my bible so I'd have them with me at all times so
[00:24:30] I could if if I needed it I could give somebody
[00:24:33] an answer but what I'm saying what motivated me to do that
[00:24:37] was because I just didn't want I wanted to be a vehicle to help people
[00:24:40] get saved not to hinder them you know I wanted
[00:24:43] to do everything in my power so that's why I studied
[00:24:46] you know some of us like when we talk to y'all in the youth or in the youth
[00:24:49] meetings or whatever and maybe I talk to you in church I'm
[00:24:52] sitting here study your bible read your bible
[00:24:54] you know but the bottom line is why why should you do that
[00:24:58] well of course number one is so you can get to know God better but number two
[00:25:02] is so you can have an answer a biblical answer
[00:25:05] for every man that asks you a reason of the hope I want to show you another
[00:25:10] scripture turn to Proverbs 15 Proverbs 15 verse 28
[00:25:20] now different translations may say this a little differently so I'm going to give
[00:25:24] you the Hebrew definition of a word in Proverbs
[00:25:32] y'all there yet Proverbs 15 Proverbs 15 verse 28
[00:25:47] I'm reading from the King James version this is what it says here says
[00:25:50] the heart of the righteous studieth to answer
[00:25:54] but the mouth of the wicked pour forth evil things the heart of the righteous
[00:25:58] studieth to answer now some of your translations may say something about
[00:26:03] ways before it answers or thinks before it's answered anybody got that
[00:26:07] translation where it says that what does your
[00:26:11] say okay the wicked think before speaking
[00:26:17] I mean the the righteous think before speaking but let me let me give you the
[00:26:21] definition of this so that we're we're not confused about it at all
[00:26:25] sometimes translations you know there may be several words you
[00:26:28] actually need to define it but the word here when it says studieth or
[00:26:33] the word it might be meditate or whatever it is or ways
[00:26:37] or thinks about it but it is the word hog all
[00:26:41] and what it means here is to ponder or to imagine
[00:26:45] to meditate and I'm just going to give all of them then we'll talk about it
[00:26:48] but to mourn to speak to study to talk to murmur in
[00:26:54] pleasure or anger so what this is talking about here he
[00:26:58] said I think it's interesting to ponder and I think when it says the righteous
[00:27:03] studieth to answer that literally before time when you
[00:27:06] ponder something or you imagine something
[00:27:08] or you're thinking about it means you're you're pondering ahead of time
[00:27:12] you're thinking about it ahead of time you're meditating on it you're
[00:27:15] studying it ahead of time so that you can
[00:27:19] answer you don't just you don't just run out
[00:27:23] you prepare yourself and again the heart of the righteous think about this
[00:27:29] he's saying the heart motivation the one of the motivational factors of why you
[00:27:34] should study is that your heart cares for people you care you want to give
[00:27:41] them the truth because you know only the truth
[00:27:43] will set them free so you fill your heart
[00:27:47] with the truth you study to give an answer you prepare yourself
[00:27:53] to preach the gospel now I'm not going to turn there but how
[00:27:56] everybody knows in athesian six we know about the armor of God right
[00:28:00] and we know about the girdle of truth and the breastplate of righteousness and
[00:28:04] the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit
[00:28:07] but I think it's interesting we talk about it talks about either the shoes
[00:28:11] it says the preparation of the gospel of peace
[00:28:15] not just the gospel but the preparation of the gospel preparing
[00:28:20] yourself to preach the true gospel of Jesus preparing yourself
[00:28:24] to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you
[00:28:30] the preparation are you prepared and if not
[00:28:34] don't feel bad this isn't a message to make you feel bad this is a message to
[00:28:38] make you encourage yourself to encourage you rather to do this to get
[00:28:42] better prepared because I want to tell you in the days ahead I know God is going
[00:28:47] to move in this area but God's not going to move
[00:28:49] through people that just sit in church on Sundays
[00:28:53] right the lost are out there the backslidden are out there
[00:28:58] the deceived are out there we've got to go out into this world
[00:29:03] and share the true gospel with these people and I want to tell you when you
[00:29:06] share it when you when you take that step of faith
[00:29:09] when you overcome your fears when you've prepared your heart and studied and
[00:29:13] you've got some answers and in what's amazing you'll even feel
[00:29:16] more confident and when you get out there I'm gonna tell you when you step
[00:29:20] out and do it that's when power from the Holy Spirit
[00:29:24] is released sitting on the on the couch at home
[00:29:28] playing video games or watching the tv set is not a place
[00:29:31] where the Holy Spirit is going to give you power
[00:29:33] so you can be a witness you know what I'm saying you have to step out there and do
[00:29:37] something right and I'm going to tell you when
[00:29:40] you step out there you may be shaking and trembling and sweating
[00:29:45] but when you step out there you'll find yourself amazed that God will begin
[00:29:49] to remind you of what you studied he'll give you the moment what you need at
[00:29:53] that moment I sometimes I'm amazed I was amazed
[00:29:56] that day I was so amazed at what came out of my
[00:29:58] mouth that day with the the guy at work
[00:30:01] asking me the question about Buddhism and what we talked about that when he
[00:30:04] walked away I felt such the power from God that I
[00:30:07] just leaned up against the house and and broke down in tears
[00:30:11] because it's just an awesome thing when you you you take what you got
[00:30:17] and then God puts his power on it now listen even Paul
[00:30:23] and we might we might look at this in a second but even Paul didn't everybody
[00:30:26] listened to him didn't he didn't convert them immediately
[00:30:28] they didn't get converted we remember about Felix and Agrippa
[00:30:32] Felix trembled but still didn't repent Agrippa said you almost persuade me to
[00:30:36] be a Christian but the seeds are planted sometimes we
[00:30:39] just got to we've got to plant the seeds and even
[00:30:44] if they tremble to walk like this guy we hadn't seen him at church yet he keeps
[00:30:47] saying he's coming he was the one that stayed after me
[00:30:50] that day about where we met hadn't seen him yet but the bottom line is
[00:30:53] the seed got planted and we're praying for him
[00:30:57] we're praying for Charlie Charlie may never set foot in this church but I'll
[00:31:01] tell you one thing the holy spirit is going to hunt Charlie down because I'm not
[00:31:03] going to quit praying for him amen I don't mind if planting a seed
[00:31:14] plant all the seeds you can but here's the good thing you if you
[00:31:18] plant enough and you speak enough you're going to see some people
[00:31:24] converted see that's what I told you God gave me
[00:31:27] that word for you last week you speak you're going to see you've
[00:31:31] planted a lot of seeds but this year you're going to see
[00:31:35] some reaping of some seeds it's powerful turn with me we're going
[00:31:45] to turn turn to first Corinthians chapter one real quick
[00:31:51] I want to dispel something this morning that I hear in Christianity
[00:31:56] all too often all these years first Corinthians chapter one
[00:32:04] y'all don't mind flipping to some scriptures do you let me tell you one
[00:32:10] of the greatest enemies out there to witnessing or getting
[00:32:15] you know getting yourself out there or even getting the church stirred up to go
[00:32:20] do some of this stuff there are some well-intentioned people
[00:32:25] you start talking about getting out in the public and preaching the gospel and
[00:32:28] witnessing the people and and and even being confronted as you as
[00:32:32] we'll say you have to be confronted sometimes you have to confront sin
[00:32:35] you know this the gospel we preach is not that just come to Jesus he'll make
[00:32:39] your life better no uh because they're if that's the
[00:32:42] way they come to Jesus they won't stay because when uh trials and tests come
[00:32:47] they won't stand so we've got to preach the gospel the gospel
[00:32:52] Jesus died to deal with sin in their life they have to see themselves as
[00:32:57] criminals against God they have to see themselves as lost before they can get
[00:33:00] saved and so sometimes you do have to
[00:33:03] confront sin we talked about that last week with Jesus with the woman at the
[00:33:06] well he talked to her about eternal life he
[00:33:09] talked about water living water you know that
[00:33:11] she could drink and not ever have to drink again so he told her about some
[00:33:14] good stuff but then he said go get your husband
[00:33:18] right because i don't have a husband he said yes
[00:33:21] that's true you've you've had five husbands and the one you have now
[00:33:26] was not yours who confronted that thing right Jesus
[00:33:32] wasn't confronting it to be mean he knew that that she had to be
[00:33:35] convicted of her sin to repent and truly come to him fully
[00:33:41] okay but i want you to see this one of the biggest hindrances
[00:33:45] to preaching or getting Christians to step out of their fear
[00:33:49] and and do even if there has to be some of this confrontive stuff
[00:33:54] is you hear people all the time say this oh but you just need to live it in
[00:33:57] front of them they just need to see your lives they don't need a lot of
[00:34:00] talking you know just keep your mouth shut
[00:34:02] you know what that's a given my god if you've been a christian for any
[00:34:07] amount of time and you don't know you're supposed to live a godly life
[00:34:11] in front of the world then we have really not been preaching
[00:34:16] the truth right yes you're supposed to live but listen
[00:34:20] first corinthians 1 verse 18 what does it say this
[00:34:24] you have to open your mouth and be bold because god has chosen something
[00:34:29] that seems foolish to save people verse 18 he says for the preaching
[00:34:34] of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but
[00:34:37] unto us which are saved it is the power of god and look down at
[00:34:42] verse 21 for after that in the wisdom of god the world by wisdom knew not god
[00:34:47] it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching
[00:34:51] to save them that believe the foolishness of preaching
[00:34:55] isn't it something that yes god wants you to live a good
[00:35:00] example in a godly life in front of people in the world and
[00:35:03] and even within the church but the bottom line is god has chosen the
[00:35:07] foolishness of preaching to save people it's something about
[00:35:11] words it's something about the power of words that will
[00:35:15] prick and penetrate the heart i remember the guy that witnessed to me
[00:35:19] when when i was worried this christian guy spirit-filled guy and i remember the
[00:35:22] words that he spoke that stuck in my heart like an arrow
[00:35:27] we were talking and he had talked about jesus and he had he'd given me a
[00:35:31] tape to listen to on the the satanic mess and
[00:35:34] in the rock music i was so addicted to back then
[00:35:38] and it was starting to open my eyes to some things but i remember well i tell
[00:35:42] you i loved my beer i loved it i did man i love to drink
[00:35:48] and i could put it away but i remember one day he
[00:35:52] he he knew that i drank and i remember these words
[00:35:56] ate at me but he asked simple question he said why do you drink
[00:36:03] and for some reason that's stuck in my heart it would not leave me
[00:36:08] to the point i kind of got angry at him he said i just like it
[00:36:12] but on the inside of me you know what the holy spirit took those words
[00:36:16] and i heard this other voice inside of me go why do you drink
[00:36:25] and then the holy spirit goes began to convict me about no drunkards entering
[00:36:29] the kingdom of heaven and those words stayed with me and i
[00:36:34] remember i was under conviction for about three weeks
[00:36:41] words are powerful you have to speak words
[00:36:47] i remember going to school i remember you know i was born again
[00:36:51] when i was 11 years old and then all the mess that happened in my family and we
[00:36:55] stopped going to church and i i totally fell away from god but i
[00:36:58] remember that seven-year period i got to thinking about
[00:37:00] from the time i was about 12 until the time i was 19 when i came back to the
[00:37:04] lord i thought about that seven-year period
[00:37:07] i thought about my days at opelika high school and then at jeff davis high
[00:37:11] school in montgomery and then when i went down to troy
[00:37:15] and i remember thinking in seven years i was around some christians
[00:37:23] matter of fact one girl i kind of dated for a little while and
[00:37:27] she was i knew she was a christian and i knew she wasn't
[00:37:31] like the other girls i had dated right but i just thought no she's kind of
[00:37:39] weird or something but she never opened her mouth and said
[00:37:47] dean you are lost you're away from god
[00:37:52] you need to turn from your sin and give your life to jesus
[00:37:57] and i think about in that seven-year period no one ever said
[00:38:00] or even presented this simple gospel message to me
[00:38:05] to say hey you need to wake up you are not okay
[00:38:10] god is not happy with your life you need to turn from your sin and give
[00:38:16] jesus your whole life if the first person i think about this
[00:38:19] the first person that spoke to me the truth that confronted my sin
[00:38:25] that made me deal with it the first person in seven years it did that
[00:38:29] i turned and gave my life back to the lord and and and think about
[00:38:32] you want to talk about fruit think about that guy the fruit
[00:38:36] of me coming back to the lord how many people i've seen
[00:38:39] get saved over the years and i'm just sitting here thinking
[00:38:42] wow somebody finally opened their mouth and confronted my sin
[00:38:47] and yeah he confronted it and it made me a little angry at him but it was in a
[00:38:51] loving way it was in a good way he i could tell he was concerned about me
[00:38:58] but he didn't just say jesus loves you i've seen those signs they don't work
[00:39:05] you know it says in in proverbs 16 verses it says by the fear of the lord men
[00:39:10] depart from evil right i needed somebody to shake me a
[00:39:15] little bit and so i want to encourage you you've got
[00:39:20] to open your mouth and sometimes it's not pleasant to the
[00:39:25] other person you know the homosexual does not want
[00:39:32] you to tell that him that homosexuals don't go to heaven
[00:39:35] but that's what the word says but i've talked to some homosexuals i say look
[00:39:41] man don't don't get all upset about that i
[00:39:44] said i don't look at you any different as the little girl or the guy that's
[00:39:49] that's sleeping with a boyfriend or girlfriend every weekend they're in sin
[00:39:52] just like you're in sin but jesus died to wash that away you
[00:39:57] just got to give it up you give it up he'll give you power
[00:40:02] they don't like it but the truth see i'm telling you why you want to know why
[00:40:06] america's in such the the mess that it's in right now
[00:40:09] it's because for the last 20 years we've had 20 years of seeker sensitive
[00:40:13] watered down preaching of the gospel that offers
[00:40:16] forgiveness but does not preach repentance
[00:40:23] it doesn't preach total surrender to the will of god you can just add
[00:40:26] jesus to every other idol you got no true christianity demands you give up
[00:40:35] the world you give up your sin you turn from it
[00:40:39] you give up your own plans you give up your own life
[00:40:44] and i will tell you this we may get uh you may have a smaller church
[00:40:49] but you'll have true converts you'll have somebody that
[00:40:56] because they were truly converted to jesus can
[00:40:59] truly convert somebody else right i want to share this scripture this is
[00:41:04] one of my favorites when it comes to evangelism and i want you to
[00:41:07] i want you to look at this jude the little book of jude
[00:41:15] right by revelation if you don't know next to the last book
[00:41:33] now see this is and this is something i see i've preached on college campuses all
[00:41:37] over the united states i've done one-on-one witnessing open
[00:41:43] air i've seen one time we were at we were at auburn
[00:41:49] and this was back in the 90s sometime in january it was about 30 degrees outside
[00:41:55] it was a drizzling rain we were preaching the word out there
[00:42:00] and about 300 students gathered around and stood there for six hours in the
[00:42:04] drizzling rain in the cold and when the campus police came up to
[00:42:08] make us leave they started chanting no no no
[00:42:14] leave them alone leave them alone and i mean and they were arguing with us
[00:42:18] you know but they wanted to hear and i'm just sitting here going you know
[00:42:22] this is what i see in the days ahead there's confrontation that needs to take
[00:42:30] place and i don't mind a good debate a good debate with somebody
[00:42:34] i can have a heated debate with somebody doesn't mean i hate them
[00:42:37] doesn't mean i'm angry at them heated debate's good sometimes
[00:42:40] right paul said he preached in some places with great contention
[00:42:44] right riot or revival they used to say right
[00:42:49] that's what paul got riot or revival all right
[00:42:53] but this verse is probably the most powerful when it comes to this this is
[00:42:58] what it jude said of course he's talking about we're going to
[00:43:01] back up because we've been talking about being led by the spirit but he talks
[00:43:04] about praying in the holy ghost praying in tongues and
[00:43:07] and we talk about being led by the spirit he says but ye beloved verse 20
[00:43:10] but ye beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith
[00:43:13] praying in the holy ghost keep yourselves in the love of god looking
[00:43:18] for the mercy of our lord jesus christ unto eternal life
[00:43:21] and of some have compassion making a difference and others
[00:43:25] save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted
[00:43:31] by the flesh boy this is what is missing
[00:43:34] in the church right now in america more than i've ever seen in my
[00:43:39] my 22 years of being a christian now is this balance we want to talk about
[00:43:44] love all the time listen there are some
[00:43:46] that we need to show great compassion they've been wounded they've been abused
[00:43:50] they've been molested they've been raped they've been
[00:43:53] they've been tortured there there are people out there that have been so hurt
[00:43:56] and we we've got to have enough discernment
[00:43:59] to know when we need to be gentle but we've got to have enough
[00:44:03] boldness and enough strength to not cower
[00:44:06] in fear and only try to preach the love of god
[00:44:10] but yet confront the things that will produce the fear of god
[00:44:13] in people's lives and this word here in the in the greek there for fear is
[00:44:18] the greek word phobos which doesn't mean reverential all it
[00:44:22] means fear and terror i've i've heard the fear of god so watered
[00:44:28] down and played down by the church i can't stand it no
[00:44:31] you need to tremble you know here's a beautiful thing i know he's my father
[00:44:35] right but he's also my judge right and i've shared this before but i'm
[00:44:41] going to share it again you know what let's say
[00:44:44] that my natural father who loves me and i have a good relationship with him
[00:44:48] but let's just say that he's the only judge in the land
[00:44:52] and i decide that i'm going to go out and be a serial killer
[00:44:56] right and they got me on videotape well let me tell you something and i don't
[00:45:01] choose to repent and i want to live like that and i just want to go kill
[00:45:04] everybody i can right well when they bring me before my
[00:45:10] father who is also the judge he is going to have to deal
[00:45:17] with what i have chosen to do well how i have chosen to live
[00:45:23] and the fear and trembling of god is not that he doesn't love you
[00:45:27] and will forgive you but this thing of if i don't repent
[00:45:31] if i choose to live a lifestyle that is clearly
[00:45:36] against his will and his word then one day i will stand before him
[00:45:43] as a terrifying judge and that's the reality
[00:45:52] on that day he can be your father and say
[00:45:56] come on in son or daughter or on that day he can be
[00:46:01] the terrifying judge it has to say depart from me
[00:46:04] he cursed in the everlasting fire see i love god i look i love what jean says
[00:46:10] about faith his definition of faith actually i found i found the notes in
[00:46:14] one of my bible from like years ago where i had that written down
[00:46:19] from you i remember it i think it's in that other little bible but
[00:46:23] faith just acting like god told you the truth
[00:46:27] right just acting like god told you the truth well you know what the fear of god
[00:46:32] is simple simply this it's that believing that god meant what
[00:46:36] he said about sin and judgment you know when
[00:46:42] paul was before felix when paul was before felix this is
[00:46:46] what's interesting and we're going to get into this in the
[00:46:49] next week or two but when paul was before felix witnessing to
[00:46:53] an unsaved ungodly wicked man he said he did several things it said he
[00:46:59] reasoned of righteousness of temperance
[00:47:04] and judgment to come he didn't just say jesus loves you
[00:47:12] come to my church that was not paul's witnessing method boy i would love to
[00:47:20] have that sermon written down when you have to have all of that
[00:47:25] reasoned of righteousness i have an idea that
[00:47:30] that he had to reason with felix that you know all men know they're evil
[00:47:36] their conscience tells them so that no good deeds
[00:47:41] does away with that guilt and so he reasoned of righteousness that only
[00:47:45] righteousness can be found in jesus and then he reasoned of
[00:47:50] temperance and he reasoned with felix of why you
[00:47:53] should live a life of self-control not only so you can have a life
[00:47:57] worth living in this life but that god demands a life of self-control
[00:48:03] you can't just let the flesh run wild so paul preached that to him
[00:48:08] temperance self-control and then paul must have preached on hell
[00:48:13] because he said he talked about judgment to come
[00:48:16] the day god will judge man for every d done in the body
[00:48:24] so paul preached the full gospel to felix and it says there
[00:48:28] and this is in acts 24 if you want to look it up later
[00:48:31] but it says there that felix trembled paul's message to felix produced
[00:48:40] the fear of god which paul knew was probably the only one thing one of the
[00:48:46] only things that would eventually get that man saved
[00:48:51] on some as jude said have compassion making a difference
[00:48:55] others save with fear pulling them out of the fire
[00:49:01] do you know some people already have one foot in hell
[00:49:05] matter of fact most people in the world and a lot of them in church have
[00:49:09] one foot in hell i remember one time i was preaching
[00:49:12] to a group in montgomery at an assembly of god church and i was
[00:49:17] preaching to him and i actually saw a vision
[00:49:19] an open vision of flames coming up out of the floor under a few people
[00:49:22] and the and actually the one of them that it was mainly around i knew was
[00:49:25] living in fornication pulling them out of the fire if the
[00:49:33] fornicator if the fornication is going to lead somebody to hell and the
[00:49:36] bible says it we went through that a few weeks ago
[00:49:38] where it says that no fornicator is going to go to inherit the kingdom of
[00:49:42] god listen if that's what's in his way
[00:49:44] that's what i've got to address but if you got some little girl over here
[00:49:51] that's been raped or molested or abused you have got to know how to love her
[00:49:57] and and encourage her and bring healing to her
[00:50:01] and and she doesn't need to be you know beaten over the head but listen
[00:50:05] some people do need to be beaten over the head a
[00:50:08] little bit i did i know i did how many of you here
[00:50:12] needed that when you to come to the lord yeah exactly
[00:50:15] and needed a little slap a little wake up god is a judge
[00:50:18] right but we're going to learn we're going to learn in the days ahead how to
[00:50:26] share a balanced presentation of the gospel
[00:50:32] how to give some basic answers to some questions how to prove the bible
[00:50:38] is the word of god i know i've mentioned some of these things but we're going to
[00:50:42] get into more detail some facts you need to
[00:50:44] remember just like one one i've memorized a simple fact i've memorized
[00:50:49] you know we one of the proofs of the bibles that you know the prophecy in the
[00:50:52] scripture and how the you know the old testament we know was
[00:50:54] finished by 450 for at least by 400 bc the old testament canon
[00:51:00] but just in case some people out there don't want to believe that
[00:51:04] we have a non-christian historical issue
[00:51:08] where it told me the second philadelphia's king of egypt
[00:51:11] in 250 to 248 bc had the old testament hebrew scriptures
[00:51:17] translated into greek which is called the substituent version
[00:51:20] and he did that so he could put it in his big fancy library in alexandria
[00:51:26] this is documented historical facts so we know that
[00:51:29] we had the old testament if you have a translation in 250 bc
[00:51:35] you had to have it completed before 250 bc right
[00:51:41] and then you can go and you go look at all these prophecies
[00:51:44] psalm 22 and isaiah 53 and isaiah 9 and daniel and you could just go down
[00:51:52] through all of that stuff and go there's no and you can prove it
[00:51:55] and you see there's no religious writing there's no religious writing ever been
[00:51:59] done that has all of these prophecies so clearly fulfilled over here
[00:52:04] and you can start proving stuff and look i just memorized one little fact
[00:52:09] right to help me prove a point and if i can do it
[00:52:14] you can do it and let's pray
[00:52:22] father in heaven we thank you for this day we thank you lord for
[00:52:27] what you're doing lord what you're doing and and lord we just pray for an
[00:52:31] anointing and grace to help us lord begin to present a
[00:52:36] balanced message of the gospel of jesus of repentance of
[00:52:40] salvation of the cross to people around us to open our
[00:52:45] mouths and to overcome fear to overcome intimidation to overcome
[00:52:49] worrying about what people think so that we can lead somebody to jesus lord even
[00:52:56] if they get mad at us first or i remember many of my friends and even
[00:52:59] some of my family members got mad at me before they gave their
[00:53:03] lives to the lord the lord i thank you that they're saved now
[00:53:10] some of them filled with the whole spirit some of them preaching the
[00:53:12] gospel some of them pastors just fear this woman
[00:53:25] that they begin to act like it is jesus