A Theology of the Gospel

To become the 4^th soil, we need to become people with both courage and clarity in sharing the gospel. But most of us are too consumed by fear, shame, and confusion, and our attempts at becoming effective evangelists fall short. We fear losing friendships and facing rejection, we’re ashamed of the offensiveness of the way of Jesus, and we’re confused by what the gospel actually is. Timothy, Paul’s pastoral protégé, dealt with many of the same problems. In 2 Timothy 1, Paul gives an encouraging reminder to Timothy and to us: the power of the gospel comes from God who saves us from death and gives us new life. While it’s God who ultimately saves people, it’s our job to sow the seeds and trust in the power of the gospel.

You can take interactive notes here. At the end of the message, you can email the notes to yourself.

 As you find your seat, we ask you to remain standing in honor of God’s word. We’re going to start right away with scripture. As this whole month, let us actually meditate our minds and hearts anchored in the words of Jesus in Mark chapter 4, starting in verse 14. The sower sows the word. Some are like the word sown on the path.

When they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them. And others are like seeds sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy, but they have no root. They are short lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the Word, they immediately fall away.

And others are like seeds sown among thorns. These are the ones who hear the Word, but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those like seeds sown on good ground hear the Word, welcome it. and produce fruit 30, 60, and 100 times what was sown.

You may be seated. Today is our fourth teaching on the fourth quarter Fourth soil. As we close, again, we’re keeping this theme all year long, but as we close this series, what I actually want us to do is really look at the heartbeat of verse 14 and verse 20, the beginning and the end of this parable.

We’re going to look at today, what does it mean to be a sower who sows the word? I think Jesus in context here is saying God is the one who ultimately shares the gospel. But the good news is God shares the gospel through you and I, his disciples. And those who actually listen to this gospel, what happens, it says at the end, it produces fruit 30, 60, and 100 times what was sown.

And so far, we’ve really been studying this fourth soil and looking at a fruitful life. And I think we’ve been saying, and this is true, this is a transformed life. So we’ve been looking at this individually, saying, if we have character that’s formed by Jesus, we can do that through self control and through endurance.

But at the same time, what I love about the scriptures As one thing can mean multiple things, not only is this harvest or this fruit talking about your transformed life, but the harvest, of course, represents multiplication. It represents adding other souls into the kingdom of God. And today as we end, that’ll be our focus.

The reality is, is we cannot do this without God. So let’s pray. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we just ask that you use this word in Mark 4, but also in 2 Timothy. The same way you’ve used it the last 2, 000 years, and that’s bringing glory to you, God, and entering more saints into your kingdom. God would come before you, acknowledging some of us have distress, some of us have these chokeholds of the third soil.

May you set us free from them, and may you give us a focus on your word, and maybe, God, just maybe, may you change our lives forever in the here and now based off of these scriptures. In Jesus name, everybody says amen. In October of 1962, it seemed America was in the fourth quarter. With 13 seconds to go, the Soviet Union, this was in the middle of the Cold War.

The Soviet Union had actually secretly installed nuclear missiles in Cuba. And this is a problem because Cuba is just 90 miles off of the coast of Florida. If you know the story, president JFK requested for those missiles to be removed and yet they refused. And so tensions were very high. For the next 13 days, the world was on edge as they watched two competing nations engage in very intense negotiations, and you may know this time as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Looking back, the scariest day was October 27th, 1962. There was a Soviet submarine who was being tracked by the U. S. Navy destroyers. And this submarine had actually lost all contact with Moscow. They were running low on food, and these U. S. ships were dropping these underwater explosives to hopefully force this submarine to come to the surface.

This submarine’s captain interpreted all of these events as a sign that the war had begun. He concluded that it was the time to launch the nuclear missiles, thinking in his mind, we are absolutely going to die, but at least we will serve our country. So as they prepared to forever change history, they still had a protocol to follow.

He was one of three senior officers on the submarine, and the way it went was all three had to give their consent before pressing the button. Thankfully, by the grace of God, Vassily Arkhipov, the second in command, knew something was off. He was the only one, but he refused to give consent and insisted that they wait a little while and possibly go to the surface to see if they can hear from Moscow.

And it turns out, they were not in war. They were panicking for no reason, and October 28th, the very next day, a peace agreement was signed. Who knows if we’d even be here today if it weren’t for Vassili Arkhipov. In that fourth quarter moment, the world, and especially America, was saved because of Vassili’s courage and his insistence for clarity.

If you think about it, the other men in the boat had a lot of courage. They were willing to die for their country. But they had no clarity. They were willing to start a nuclear war based on assumptions. But imagine a facility had clarity but had no courage. What if he knew this was the wrong decision?

What if he knew war has not begun and yet the pressure of the submarine would press him to give in to the peer pressure and press the button. And it’s honestly hard to know which combination is worse. Courage without clarity or clarity Without courage. And I believe, as we’ve been arguing all month long, we too are in a fourth quarter moment.

And I believe this moment requires both from us. Both courage and clarity. And I would go further to say, if we don’t have both, people’s eternal lives are at stake. To that end, turn with me to 2 Timothy. If you haven’t noticed all month long, we’ve been anchoring our hearts and the ideas in Mark chapter 4, but I’ve really, in my study of 2 Timothy, it seems like Paul was taking this idea of the fourth soil and fleshing it out in his fourth quarter moment.

And so Paul is writing here to his protege Timothy. Paul is in the fourth quarter of his life and he wants to ensure that Timothy doesn’t fall away. Like the second soil because of distress or persecution. He wants to make sure that Timothy doesn’t get caught up and choked out by the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth or the desires for other things that enter in like the third soil.

He wants Timothy to live a fruitful life. And I think a great summary of this letter is found in second Timothy four verse five, which we have read. Many times this month. But as for you, exercise self control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and so fulfill your ministry.

Essentially, Paul is telling Timothy the three step formula to a fourth soil life. Number one, which we looked at week two, was to exercise self control. Our argument is we will begin to do that through the practice of fasting. Number two is to endure hardship. This was last Sunday. If you weren’t here, that’s totally fine.

But we argued the way that we can endure hardship is through the practice of prayer. And of course, all of this is by the power of the Holy Spirit. But today, let’s look at the final element of Paul’s formula to a fulfilled fourth soil life. And it’s that of doing the work of an evangelist. This is in, in Jesus’s language.

And Mark 4, this is the one who sows the word, or sows and shares the gospel. So to faithfully interpret that last part of this verse, we must obviously ask two questions. First of all, what is an evangelist? And then of course, what is the work that involves in becoming one? So before it was a religious term.

Evangelist was a political one. An evangelist was essentially the messenger who would deliver the euangelion. Euangelion literally means good news, so anytime you see in the scriptures the gospel, that’s actually euangelion. Aren’t you grateful we don’t call it that? It’s called the gospel for us, much easier to say.

But that’s, if you notice the root word there, euangelion, the evangelist. This is the one who shares the euangelion. Again this was political before it was religious. The messenger would go to a city and his only job was to declare really good news, either that they won the war or that a new Caesar was born.

And notice he doesn’t come to bring good advice. He doesn’t come with a list of commands and things you must do. The beauty of being a euangelion is to bring good news. What he announced was already done, the victory is accomplished, but it’s the people’s job to receive it and to rejoice in it. So Paul took that word, noticing how it has so many good gospel elements and says, okay, you too are called to be evangelists, but not just for any good news, for the good news of Jesus.

And so we’re called to go to people and announce that the Savior has accomplished victory on our behalf. He has overcome sin, Satan, and death. It has fully been defeated and the tomb is empty. And so as we deliver that good news as evangelists, we hope people receive and rejoice. So it sounds pretty simple, but as you know, being an evangelist is easier said than done.

Just get rejected once or twice and you’ll know why Paul calls it work. Being an evangelist is exciting and it’s also exhausting. It’s really, really rewarding. It’s also very daunting. And I think, again, because I think chapter 4 is a summary of his previous chapters, Paul teaches Timothy what an evangelist really is and how to do it in chapter 1.

So 2 Timothy chapter 1, you’ll notice in week 2 we looked at chapters 4 and 3, last Sunday we went to chapter 2, now we’re in chapter 1, I sometimes like to work backwards. But let’s look at verse 5 through 10 in 2 Timothy, it should also be on the screen. Paul to Timothy, I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and now I am convinced is in you also.

Therefore, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands. This is why when we ordain somebody or call them to a specific ministry, we like to lay hands on them to follow the example of Paul. But verse seven, one of my favorite verses in all of scripture, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.

Other translations may say a sound mind. Don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. Instead, share in his suffering for the gospel, the euangelion, relying on the power of God. He has saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works. This is so often when we’re sharing the gospel and the scriptures, we have to remember it’s not because of what we’ve done, it’s because of His power, so it’s not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

This now has been made evident through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through His power. The gospel. Okay. There’s a lot here. But from these six verses, we learn that being an evangelist requires us to work at overcoming a lack of courage and a lack of clarity.

Let’s look at each. First, a lack of courage. Look again at verse 7, it says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment. Think about it. Timothy, actually a lot of people call him Timid Timothy, throughout his letters it even says that he has stomach problems, which many assume it’s because of his anxiety.

He probably has IBS or something. This is a very fearful Person he’s stricken with fear and it totally makes sense. Why think about it? Paul is his mentor and paul is saying follow me as I follow christ Paul is saying for your life to be fruitful. You need to walk in step with mine Well, where is paul while he’s writing second timothy?

He is literally on death row So timothy’s thinking I don’t know if I want to follow you man. This is a bit Terrifying! You are about to be beheaded by Nero, and you’re telling me to follow in steps. So, we should give Timothy a break. Of course, he is fearful, but Paul is saying, Hey, that fear is normal, but don’t give in to it.

Allow God to give you courage. Now, what I love about the Scriptures, it’s important for us to always know, this was written to someone, but it’s also written for us. So, this letter was written to Timothy, but as a result, though, is also written for us. So, at the same time, not only does Timothy struggle with fear, of course, you and I do.

When it comes to living out and sharing the gospel, even on our groups this week, we were chatting about how we fear losing friendships or even losing our career. We fear that people will treat us differently. I know that I had a really awkward conversation with my neighbor two years ago, and I still wave and he doesn’t wave back anymore.

That’s not the greatest way to live a life. But that’s what happens sometimes when you bring up the gospel. And Paul is saying, Hey, this spirit of fear, that’s not from God. And this is not something we do ourselves, but this is something we receive from God alone. So quickly, just to explain those three words, power, it essentially means we walk in authority that’s not our own.

It’s like, uh, football, right? When those referees, isn’t it incredible how they’re not afraid of those NFL players? They just go in and break up the fight, even though they’re like 5’5 How come? They have power that’s not their own. They know, if you actually knock me out, you’re gonna get sued in a very big way.

So let’s do this, right? You’re walking in. power but also love. What I love about the gospel, and we need to be reminded of this in America today, we never coerce or force people to believe. We selflessly extend the offer and we love people and are patient with them every step of the way. And lastly, sound judgment is really comforting for me when I am trying to share the gospel because I know a lot of us were worried.

What if we don’t say the right thing? thing. What if we don’t have an answer for their problems? What if we aren’t composed under pressure and the sound mind or sound judgment says the Holy Spirit will give us words to speak. He will enable us to really share this with clarity, but it’s not just fear that saps our courage.

If you keep reading, it’s also shame. Fear and shame are the biggest reasons we lose courage. Look at verse eight. So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. Timothy likely felt shame because of how Jesus died. I think we forget this, but the cross is the most shameful and inhumane way to die.

It was reserved for the worst of the worst criminals. In fact, if you were a Roman, you would never be crucified because a Roman, it doesn’t matter how bad you are, you don’t deserve that kind of death. And so to outsiders, dying on a cross is embarrassing. It’s condemning. Why would you tell me I need to worship a God who was crucified on a cross?

That is an oxymoron. Even Deuteronomy says, cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. Now, good gospel news, by the way, is That’s actually the amazing part. The gospel is he took on our curse so that he can give us his righteousness. Which is why he had to die on the cross. But I get how there can be moments of shame thinking, God, couldn’t you have saved us another way?

This is a bit embarrassing. Now today, the cross has been tamed to a necklace, and that’s fine. Wonderful to wear one. I think it brings up good gospel conversations. But I still think there’s other aspects of this gospel that we are tempted to be ashamed of today, and they change every generation. I think the one we are tempted to be ashamed of is things like Jesus radical sex ethic.

It’s very narrow, it’s very exclusive. We’re in a culture that says it’s hateful and it’s wrong to put boundaries around our sexual desires. Consult week two if you have problems with that. Another thing is Jesus exclusive claims of salvation. Have you ever shared the gospel? I know for me, they’re like, this sounds great, but how exclusive?

Like, that sounds terrible that you think you’re the only right religion. It can bring about shame and it can bring about fear. The other thing is, of course, is the Bible claims that evil is evil and sin is sin and the wages of sin is death. I think it’s okay for the culture. We all agree there’s evil out there.

But we get ashamed because people shame us when we claim there’s evil in here, in you, and in me. So Paul knows this temptation. They’re different for every generation. But he says, hey, don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. I think what he’s implying here is You need to overcome this fear and shame.

You need to pick up courage and that takes work. The more and more God continues to move in the life of our fellowship, which seems to really increase in recent days, the more and more I am aware the world, the flesh, and the devil are constantly at work against us. So we can be working to propagate the gospel, but the more we do that, the more in the enemy rears its ugly head.

For example, the world loves to normalize sin, and when it normalizes sin, it shames you for calling it out, or no longer participating in it. Our flesh, we don’t want to lose friends, we want to keep friends, we don’t want to live holy lives, we just want to live comfortable lives. And the devil whispers so many lies into our ears, while the Lord is sowing seeds, he is coming to snatch them from our hearts.

And so, our goal this year, Again, this vision series is a little bit about, like, here’s what’s to come. Our goal this year is to create environments to help you. I think, as Pastor Caleb said earlier, we can’t do this alone. This is a group project, and we have to all be honest with each other and vulnerable in our groups and say, yeah, fear and shame is a very real thing.

But through the power of the Holy Spirit and through us confessing that in community, God can give us power. love and sound judgment. So please, my invitation to you is to stick with us. I’m so excited by the way we have plans for this to work out, but in community, we’re going to work together to overcome our lack of courage through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But what good is courage for the gospel if we don’t have clarity on the gospel? Because the more I live life, the question I’ve learned is not, are you sharing the gospel? The question is, are you sharing the biblical gospel? The reality is, is everyone is following a gospel. Simply put, number one, everybody knows something’s wrong.

If they don’t come back to reality, but number two, everybody puts their hope in something or someone to fix it. Whenever that is, that is your gospel. Now, for us to have clarity and sharing the gospel, we need to understand the different gospels around us. And we are in a moment. where many put their faith in what many call the secular gospel.

And to be honest, they boldly preach this gospel to their neighbors. What’s interesting about the secular gospel is there’s no religious textbook to point to. Uh, and that’s actually what makes it so hard. That’s why Christians look like we’re the ones who share a gospel because we have a book to point to.

But secularists, they have a gospel, but there’s no chapter and verse. So it’s really hard to debate with them. They don’t have commandments written in stone, but they certainly do have commandments. And let me just mention a few, uh, this isn’t in your notes, but Tim Keller has a wonderful book we’re going to be looking at in the fall, uh, how to reach the West again.

He mentions quite a few commandments that even you this morning may believe. And he argues is of course a result of secularism. One of course is identity. You don’t see this written anywhere. But you see this on memes and billboards and we feel this. The identity commandment is you have to be true to yourself no matter the cost.

What about freedom? The way we define freedom in the secular culture is you should be free to live what, however you choose, as long as you don’t hurt anyone. Now that sounds beautiful, but what does hurt mean? Right? Number three, of course, is happiness. This is a huge commandment in our culture today. Do whatever makes you the happiest and you can’t sacrifice that for anyone.

This is sad. Many people even sacrifice their children or their careers or whatever because they just want to be happy. And sadly, many Christians have been surrounded with these commandments for so long that we believe a lot of them to be true. And of course, because we are. A lot of Christian influence in our culture, some of those things are partially true.

And that’s what gets even more difficult when we share the true gospel. Essentially, the message of this gospel is we need saving from the idea that we need saving. Andrew Root, he’s one of my favorite authors. He’s a modern day professor and author, and he argues our society, since the Enlightenment, assumed if we just got rid of God, we can get rid of guilt.

If we just got rid of God, we can get rid of all this oppression and bad feelings. And so, really, we’ve been in a human experiment trying to get rid of God little by little because the rationality is, well, who could hold us accountable if we get rid of God? I think we would all just be happier. And so, it’s pretty fascinating to look at history.

Compare today, say, to the 1500s, which, let me be clear, I’m so grateful to not be living in the 1500s. Even just AC alone is a gift from God, not of works, lest any man should boast, okay? And so, I’m very happy to live in this century. But we’ve done a pretty good job when you compare the 1500s to today of cutting out God.

Even as Christians, just think about it. It’s possible for a good Christian to go a whole week without praying. That was impossible in the 1500s. In fact, they were so obsessed in this idea that God is involved in all things that they would take communion and they would hide some of the cracker in the corner of their mouth.

They would go home to their farm and feed it to their pig, believing that now that pig will produce all that they need for that coming year. We have taken God out thinking we’ve taken away guilt and now everything’s happy. And my question is, how is that going for us? See, the irony is that while society claims to offer freedom, it’s actually enslaving us to an impossible standard of performance and success.

Root puts it this way, quote, in late modernity, among its accelerating technology and global capitalist markets, guilt is back and its teeth are sharp. What is shocking is that this source of guilt is not of God. It’s the performing self. We feel guilty to our own selves. We punish ourselves for not winning, for not being magnificent.

Quote, I’m my own worst critic, people say. See, the secular gospel refuses to acknowledge that our hearts are broken, that we need saving. And so we never look for a savior beyond ourselves. And what it has done, it has created modern day Pharisees, people striving endlessly to outdo others to feel better about themselves, thinking, if I just achieve ultimate success, I will finally find satisfaction.

And yet. Like the religious legalism of old, it’s an exhausting and fruitless pursuit. So Paul tells Timothy, remember the hope of the gospel. And this gospel power lies outside of us. Look again at verse 8, it says, Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God. Modern day secularism says relying on the power of you, you queen, right?

You got this! Verse nine, he has saved us. And called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, or you can even say performance. No, no, no. But according to his own purpose and grace. Remember we looked at grace last week. Grace is a pardon, but it’s also a power which was given to us, meaning we cannot earn it.

Consult Ephesians 2 because this was Given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. So if we’re not clear, it’s really easy for us to at least even share parts of the secular gospel. And so this fall, we’re gonna study the secular gospel in more detail and be honest with ourselves and go, how much of this have I believed?

I think there’s a easy way for us to kind of sync up to different lies of the enemy. So I’m so excited for us to fight that. But at the same time, it’s even easier for everybody in this room to fall into the lie of the American gospel. This American gospel was made popular right after World War II. And I think there was a lot of good intentions in the beginning.

This was an effort, uh, to turn the gospel essentially into an elevator pitch. I think we had to, I don’t know why, but we feel this pressure to, within 30 seconds we need to share the full gospel in order for somebody to get saved. But if this really is the most important news in the world, Can’t we give it five minutes with this American gospel, it highlights personal salvation, which is wonderful.

It really stresses a personal relationship with God, our savior, and the Lord Jesus Christ, which I am all for, but it leaves out the need for community. This is why, bless, I’m so grateful for Billy Graham, but he constantly was fighting that battle. I’m saving all these people, but they’re not getting plugged in the church.

And they wound up trying to do a lot of different things, but part of it was maybe how we represented the gospel. Oh, it’s also strange about this American gospel is it takes away the need to examine yourself. So this idea that you need to constantly repent, that you kind of, again, we believe in eternal security, but we also should live with.

caution and say, am I bearing fruit? Am I actually a part of this way of Jesus? And the main question of this gospel, and I come from a long line of wonderful men and women who have asked this question, and I have as well. So please hear me. I’m not as against this one as I am the secular gospel. The question is, if you were to die tonight, would you know that you know that, you know, I never knew why it was three, but it would, you know, that you know, that you know that you’re going to heaven.

Now, let me be clear before you walk out, I don’t think this is a false gospel. It’s just not the full gospel. The main message of this gospel is we need saving from eternal death. What it is, it’s a super focus on what happens when you die. But so far I keep waking up and my question is what happens if I live?

What do I do? So this, uh, junior high, I consider to be sacred ground for a few reasons. One, it’s where I met the love of my life, even though she doesn’t remember. But in eighth grade, I was here in cafeteria and Jordan Smith came into the room and my life was forever changed. Come on. Also, thank you. Yes.

All right. That’ll, that’ll be good. All right. For me later, you got to get points where you can. Um, but also in eighth grade, seventh grade in particular, I fell in love with the Bible. And I didn’t have any friends because it was a new school, and I didn’t know how to make friends, super introverted. And so I would just sit in this cafeteria, not knowing what God would do 22 years later in this room, sitting alone in the cafeteria, reading my Bible and perfectly content, because the book of Matthew in particular grabbed my heart.

I think I read it 50 times that year. And I would hope that people would feel sorry for me in the cafeteria, and they would come sit by me, and boy, did they not know what they just signed up for. I would say, Hi, I’m Trey. If you were to die tonight, where would you go? And they thought, I was just trying to help you, man.

I was like, Nope! Gotcha! Come on in! And so we would talk, and honestly, to my youth pastor, he was getting so confused because every Wednesday night we’d get together, and I was like, another five, and he’s like, what are you talking about? No, I led five to Christ. Five people prayed the sinner’s prayer. In eighth grade, I led sixty five people to the Lord.

In eighth grade, praying, no, don’t clap yet, I’m the bad version of the story, just hold on. I love you for clapping because usually there’s no response. The one time you respond, I’m telling you to stop. I’m so sorry. This is why I can’t have nice things, but God used my courage in incredible ways. And honestly, I think I’ll see the fruit of that more in the next life than this one.

But if I were to go back to my seventh grade self, I wish I paired that courage with more clarity. I shared a gospel that never got people to church. I shared a gospel that showed Jesus was savior, but never that he was their rabbi, and that it was a life to live now, not just when you die. See, the main problem with the American gospel is it does a really, really good job at making attenders, making bystanders, making consumers, right?

This is what it says here. I know that’s kind of a weird, don’t take a picture of that. But what it does do is it. What it doesn’t do is make disciples. This presentation of the gospel is more about passing a test. What are you going to say when you get to the pearly gates? Than it is about placing your trust.

Do you just love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Have you noticed that the world has failed you, but Jesus has never failed you? Will you follow him, not just with your death, but with your life? I love John Ortberg in his book, The Eternity is Now in Session, often a recommended read for us.

It says the following, can you imagine Jesus himself teaching this? He’s referencing the American gospel here, quote, believing all that I teach is true. That’s optional. Believing that I can run your life and allowing me to do so. That’s optional. Intending to actually obey me. That’s optional. As long as you believe that my death paid for your sins, you don’t need to worry about doing what I’ve said as far as heaven is concerned.

Is this not the gospel most of us preach today? And let’s be fair. It makes sense. When you read the scriptures, it seems to be a huge theme. That the gospel is about saving you from eternal death. It’s in the bible. Look at verse 10 again. It says This has now been made evident through the appearing of our savior christ jesus who has abolished death Let’s look at a few of those words though.

This word Savior simply means saving us from sin, Satan and death through the cross, resurrection and his exaltation. Yes and amen. We needed saving. Christ actually means Messiah. He’s the long awaited one, this hero, this King that we’ve been looking forward to in the Old Testament. Jesus has come. And then Jesus, this word Jesus literally means Yeshua, Yeh, meaning Yahweh.

Shua means saves. Jesus literally means God saves. But the other important part about calling him Jesus is he’s a real person in history. He actually came and walked this earth. He was of Nazareth. He was born in Bethlehem. This isn’t some fairy tale. This is a person who came, lived, The perfect life for 33 years died and rose again and is ushering in this new kingdom.

And all we focus on though, is abolishing death, which yes and amen, to give you more theology. There’s three types of deaths in the Bible. Anytime you see that word death, first of all, it’s physical death, Adam and Eve. We weren’t designed to die, but because of sin, physical death entered into the picture.

Disease, destruction entered into the story. And so when he rose again, he was saying, Hey, that death thing, I’ve defeated it. It’s lost its sting. You and I will die, but guess what? We will live. Again, with resurrected bodies. There’s also a spiritual death. Again, consult Ephesians chapter 2. Our hearts are dead because of our trespasses and sins against us.

Meaning, there’s nothing we can do to earn our way back to God. We are helpless, but He has come to give us new hearts if we have that fourth soil heart. And there’s, so there’s physical death, there’s spiritual death, and there’s eternal death. And here’s what’s so hard. For us to share the good news, we have to share the bad news.

Without the, His saving grace, you and I, we don’t live with God for eternity. We’re forever separated from him and that’s not the good life And yes and amen, and that’s always was my gospel presentation and I believe it was enough I pray to transform their heart. But goodness gracious. There’s also the other side of the gospel Look paul continues and abolished death and has brought life And immortality to light Through the gospel see his gospel Is that of a kingdom that we are invited to participate in the here and now?

Another way I like to put it is the gospel is right standing with God and light living with God. So right standing is usually what we emphasize and we can’t skip it. If you were to die tonight, are you in right standing with God? Are your sins forgiven? Have you surrendered to Him? Yes and Amen. But here’s what’s beautiful.

Once you surrender to Him, That right standing is forever secure. Your next objective is, are you light living with him? Jesus is easy yoke. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Are you living the Jesus life in the here and now? Like fasting, right? This is what we’re called to do, light living. We’re not trying to earn something.

We’re turning to the one who is everything. This is light. Living, it’s the decision to be with Jesus and to become like him every single day. And so, is there a practice from the way of Jesus that can empower us to do the work of an evangelist? Yes, and I believe it’s through the ancient practice of witnessing.

Up on the docket in the fall, I know that feels so far away. Up at formedbyjesus. com, we’re going to learn what it means to be a witness. Notice it’s not a lawyer. Our job is just to share what we’ve seen and heard ourselves. Our plan is to equip you to be courageous with the gospel, but also to be clear in your gospel presentation to a lost and dying world.

And it’s going to take work. But goodness gracious, there’s nothing better to devote your entire life to. And here’s what we believe witnessing is a combination of mastery. And mystery. It takes mastery. It takes some skill sets to learn. To be honest, I had enough skill sets to at least share some part of the gospel, even as a seventh grader.

And so I am so excited for our youth group, which by the way, started on Tuesday night and I heard it was an incredible beginning. And let me tell you, they’re going to impress us the most. They’re going to be the ones sharing the gospel. We’re going to have some baptisms with teenagers because teenagers love to share about what they love and we are praying that they fall in love more and more with King Jesus.

So it takes mastery and we’re so excited to teach you that, but it also takes mystery. If you’ve ever shared the gospel before, anybody else, when you leave the conversation, you’re like, I’m not even sure how I quoted that guy. I didn’t think I knew any Dallas Willard quotes. That’s Trey’s job, but I did.

Something there. Oh, I had no idea. I really reached their sin and helped convert them. It’s incredible when we step into it. So it takes mastery. It takes courage. But God, the Holy Spirit does something incredible along the way. To put another way, it is our job to make disciples, but it is God alone who wakes disciples.

He is the one who sets us free. He is the one who regenerates our hearts. So it’s beautiful. We get to like be a part of the story and he does all the heavy lifting. That’s every practice from the way of Jesus, by the way. And so we invite you, we’re gonna sprinkle it throughout the year, but definitely in the fall, come August, we’re gonna focus on witnessing, and we’re gonna give you all those resources at formedbyjesus.

com. Can you imagine how many baptisms we can have by the end of this year, if we just were faithful in learning how to witness, faithful in taking those steps of mastery and mystery? And so I just want to show you what our plan is for 2025. I’ve been saying it little by little. I thought a great way to end, uh, this vision series is to show you.

Now, I’ve been talking about how everything we do is, and our theory of change is give you a theology and then a template and then a trial run. I’ll show you how that fleshes out in real life. So the next slide from February to April, our theology we’re to keep leaning into is learning how to exercise self control in everything.

Go back to week two, we talked about a theology of desire. Come next week, we’re going to talk about a theology of the body. Theology, this understanding of God is so crucial here. So because Paul says a fourth soil life is to exercise self control in all things, we’re saying, great, the template, how we’re going to do is a practice called fasting.

So, We so invite you to come next Sunday. It’s the beginning of our fasting practice. Honestly, the practice months are my favorite months of the year. It’s amazing to see all of us lean in together and practice. It’s not called a performance for a reason. We could stumble along the way and that leads to the trial run.

So all of February, we’re going to look at fasting. And then for the next couple of months, we’re going to be studying the fruit of the spirit, recognizing this self control, all these. That’s a fruitful life. What does that even mean though? So we’re going to study from Galatians and other passages, but specifically Galatians five, a trial run.

We’re going to teach us how do we exercise self control? We’re going to do Lent together. So excited. We’re going to feast together on Sundays, but hopefully some of us or all of us are sat or fasting from something for 40 days throughout the week. So that’s February through April. Please come back this next Sunday, May through July.

is enduring hardship. That’s the main theology. And so in May, we’re gonna learn how to pray. We’re gonna give you a template. We’re gonna begin to lean into prayer some more. In fact, I hope during our trial run, meaning we’re to give you more opportunities to do that. My prayer is that we pray not just every first Saturday of the month as a church here on Saturday mornings, but every Saturday.

Once we learned about prayer, I so desire for us to be a praying culture. In fact, pray for me and Pastor Caleb and my wife, Jordan. We’re traveling to a conference this week It’s all about how do we develop a prayer culture. And then that summer, we’re just going to line by line study John 13 through 17, which is the upper room discourse, which is all about the Holy Spirit and living an abiding life of prayer.

Then from August to November, we are going to do the work of an evangelist. We’re going to practice together this idea of witnessing, and what I’m so excited for is we’re going to faithfully study 14 teachings from Jesus, 14 different parables, and we’re going to learn how storytelling was the way Jesus would lead people to Christ, because they would share these stories, and like in the words of Eugene Peterson, they would become like a ticking time bomb, that these stories we didn’t think was about God, we think about it a little bit longer.

All the sudden, God has invaded our hearts. Let’s do this together again. I really hope this communicates all year. We’re not making attenders. We are on a path together to grow. We’re here to actually be disciples and And none of this works if it’s just me up here talking. And I’m so proud of our groups, I’m so proud of what we do.

May we be not hearers only, but doers of the word. And I’d love for us to end with a meditation like we did in week one on Mark chapter four verse nine. Jesus said the following, let anyone who has ears to hear, listen. So I’d love for us just to spend a few moments of silence, just listening to what God has for us.

And if you feel distracted, just say in a whisper, or even in your mind, God, I’m here to listen. Please speak.

God, I praise you that most of the time in the scriptures when you would talk, it’s not through lightning or thunder or the earthquake, it’s through that still. Small voice.

Father God, I feel like what you’re saying to us in this moment is we have two paths, two opportunities for people to step into. One is resolve and one is repentance. God, I pray for those in the room where you’re drawing them to resolve. Pray that you give them courage to take these next steps with us.

Whether somebody has been a part of our church since we started these practices or this is brand new, would you give them the resolve to commit wholeheartedly to the practice of fasting starting next Sunday?

Jesus, would you spark their imagination? Would you create in us a clean heart? Would you give us a hunger and a thirst that we so desire you way more than we desire food? God, would you give every listening ear the resolve to follow you in that way?

But God, I also feel like you spoke to us, calling us to repentance.

I pray for those in the room who have been dabbling around the things of the Lord. Maybe they’re second or third soil people who haven’t really fully surrendered to you, or maybe all they’ve done is the American gospel where they prayed a prayer, but they haven’t been living the Jesus life. I pray that today’s the day,

whether it mean they come forward and pray with me, or we wait and linger at the end of service and chat. I just pray. I pray. I pray. As it says in the scriptures, help them know today is the day of salvation, for we do not know how many days we have left.

God, we know that repentance is not just for non believers, it’s also a way of life for the believer. So we just lay down before you any bitterness, any sin. Give us the courage to confess what we need to confess.

Help us detect the lies of the enemy, and may we turn from those. And run to you because you are a good father with open arms.

God, as I prayed all week, I’ve been so assured that it’s our job to make disciples, but it’s yours to wake them. Would you awaken souls this morning?

Would you save them from eternal death and into eternal life through the personal work of you, King Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit?

Pray that somebody leaves here today forever changed. Not just learning how to get away from hell, but how to bring heaven down here to earth.

God will we be doers.