Pagan Past to Promised Purpose

it is good to worship with you this morning I'm going to go a and dismiss the kids out to little district and for the rest of us if you'd go ahead and grab your Bibles and just hold on to them for a minute before I tell you where we're going to turn to um we are in a series right now called Fast to feast and um though we're not Catholic it is following um the lurgical calendar of Lent and so as a church we are fasting for 40 days uh as we are seeking to pray seeking to uh receive from the Lord exactly what he

is calling us to do how he is calling us to engage our community with the gospel how he's calling us to engage our relationships with Jesus um and and that we would focus on that in this season um as we kind of started the year off we kicked it off with a series on grow to go and what we really mean by that is looking at Matthew 28 looking at acts 18 how God has the Nations on his mind but in order for the gospel to get to the Nations it's got to start with where you are locally and so in order for us to

go we got to be able to grow here and so what does that look like from an individual standpoint what does that look like from a collective Church standpoint that eventually gets us to be able to send people to the Nations and so for us one of our ways that we are kind of setting some goals for ourselves as a church is that we would love to see God baptize 25 people by the end of this year now God can do whatever he wants to do God can baptize more than that he can baptize less than that but what we can control is how many

people we share the gospel with we can control how many conversations we have we can control how many people we invite to come and hear God's word and so that's what we kind of spent all of our first six seven weeks of the year on was what do we control and then now we're shifting into praying that the Lord as we are inviting people as we are having gospel conversations as we are engaging and and really I think one of the phrases we use was how do we take risks in our relationships to bring Christ into them and so we're as we are doing that

we are now seeking the Lord to do what only the Lord can do and that is save them save them like actually saved them and and what I'm hoping for today as we continue walking through Linton missions which again is our guide for the next 40 days of prayer and fasting leading up to Easter um as we look at what we covered in those topics this week which if we can be honest if you're following through it on a daily basis there were some heavy topics in there it was it was kind of a heavy week when you look at the fact that we are

sinners like that we broke God's law that we disobeyed God's commands that we saw what God gave to us in the garden and we had him as our creator as our Lord we had him as our King as our Shepherd and we ultimately said no we want to do our own thing we want to live our own way we want more than what you are providing and we turned away from him and especially one of the verses that we looked at this week in the guide is judges 21:25 which says in those days there was no king in Israel everyone did what was right in

his own eyes I mean that doesn't sound so bad right like there's so many days we wake up and man we just want to do whatever sounds right in our own eyes today we want to do whatever makes us feel good whatever makes us feel happy I mean that's the kind of life our kids want right they would love to wake up and in those days there were no parents in the house and the children did whatever they wanted to do I mean what's that house going to look like when you show back up and that's exactly what has gone on in our world is

we wanted God to exit and we wanted wanted to do whatever we felt was right in our own eyes and it has created quite a mess as humans we we love the lack of authority we love complete autonomy yet it always ends badly for us that's why Proverbs 14:12 says there's a way that seems right to amand and its end is death destruction it never goes well for us when we do whatever seems right and this is not has not this been the story throughout all of the Bible Adam and Eve created beautiful Walking with God Heaven on Earth then they sin and ruin everything

they say we don't need to trust God anymore let's do what we want God shows them Grace and provides a way out and then they continue to be fruitful and multiply and then it leads to Cain and Abel again created unique roles in respons abilities but Cain isn't satisfied with his role he wants more so he kills his brother Abel God again shows up shows Mercy shows Grace to humanity and Humanity continues on to fill the Earth by Genesis 6 as Humanity continued multiplying the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his

heart was only evil continually it goes on to say that the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart so the Lord said I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens for I am sorry that I have made them but once again God still provided Grace still provided Mercy Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord and once again God is going to punish sin but provide Grace for Humanity to continue on on through the line of Noah

and then by Genesis 11 once again Humanity disobeys the good commission and commands of God like spiteful children they not only refuse God's original commission to go and fill the Earth but now they want to localize it like if you go back to Genesis 1 128 God said be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it and then we continue wanting to do things our own way and then God would bring bring it back and start it over through a family and then they would again once again multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it but then continue to sin in Genesis 11

the people come to a point where they think let's stop doing that and let's just localize it let's bring everybody to one place and let's build a massive City that makes a name for ourselves and in that City let's build a tower that literally stretches into a heaven into the heavens I mean what are they trying to accomplish with this it's a complete and total 180 of God's original mandate in Genesis 1 128 but what does God do once again he shows Grace with the confusion of their language Babel might be a strange judgment you might look at it and be like it do feel

like that's Grace but it is done according to a gracious plan once again by God what was his original to scatter and fill the Earth and multiply and if they're saying no then he's going to confuse their languages so that they once again scatter and fill the Earth and multiply I've always said there is nothing we can do to thwart the ultimate plans of God Nothing Even in our sinning God still wins God still going to accomplish his plans and what I want to show you today I say that because I want you to walk away this morning with confidence with confidence that the gospel

We Believe has the ultimate power and authority to actually change and transform the most sinful and stubborn people in your world like I want us to believe that we nod at that we say yes that's right but I want us to walk away not just giving a nod to it but walk away with a desire to say you know what the gospel does work when people hear it they do get saved and and because of that I want to create a plan for how and when I'm going to bring Christ into my relationships again we looked at a study a few weeks ago that in

Great Britain back in 2001 they did case study on people who work out and they took 248 and they broke it into three categories and they said of those 248 people the these were people that want and desire to work out and they said the first group all we want you to do for the next month is document how often you work out and the second group they said we want you to also document how often you work out but but we also want you to read these articles we want you to read these resources on the benefits of working out maybe it'll motivate them

and they'll be more than the first group and then the third group they said we want you to document how often you work out we want you to read the resources that show you the benefits of working out but we also want you to put a plan together for when and where you are going to work out and at the end of the case study what they found was the the the first group and the second group were worked out at least 35 to 38% each week 35 to 38% of the time they worked out the third group that made a plan worked out 91%

of the time I think most of churches spend their time in the first two categories we know the gospel and we know the benefits of sharing the gospel but we don't ever plan it in our lives we don't ever look at that neighbor who's next door that we've built the relationship with and we've never said you know what on Wednesday at 6 o'clock I'm going to invite them over for dinner and I'm going to enter into gospel conversations with them we kind of spend our will saying eventually we'll share the gospel with them we'll get there when the conversation comes up because I live such

a good life next door to them I'm just waiting for them to come over and ask me whatat must I do to be saved never going to happen never going to happen I want us to walk away today with confidence that the gospel we believe when we have a plan to share it or we will create a plan to share it we'll actually see transformation in our spheres of influence in our neighborhoods in our workplaces in our families I want us to walk away with the banner of Romans 1:16 which says says I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of

God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek which is just a junk drao term for saying anybody anybody and so here's the truth we all land in one of two categories we are either ashamed of God and therefore Advance our own plans or we are not ashamed of God and we enance his plan which is the gospel and power to save everyone who believes in Jesus we're in one of those two categories I think the biggest frustration we have as Christians is we're trying to create a category in the Middle where we say we're not ashamed of

God but we functionally live that way and therefore the honestly the the most frustrating and I'm not saying like they're frustrating to me but the people that I experience who are the most frustrated in life are those who are living in that lukewarm status who are doing the church thing but still trying to receive satisfaction from the world and because they're doing the church thing they're not able to actually go after the world and therefore they're dissatisfied all the time and then at the same time those who are trying to do the church thing and believe everything but still also engaging in the world are

dissatisfied like you're going to be dissatisfied one way or the other if you're trying to keep your foot in both the only way that we will live lives like Paul where he says to live as Christ and to die is gain like all of my life is dedicated to him is when we put all of our eggs in the basket of Jesus Christ that we say when I get up it's about him what I eat it's about him how I live my life it's about him how I um manage and Steward my relationships it's about him it's all about Christ and that's why Paul says

even though it's gain for me to die and go to heaven so that I can be with Jesus it would be gain for you that I remain and Contin doing Ministry work so that more people get to come and experience Jesus do we have that mindset that while we are alive here today it's not for our gain but it's for the gain of others that we engage with the person and work of Jesus is that our mindset is that why we get married so that we can help the other person know more about Jesus and have them help us know more about Jesus do we

have kids so that we are fruitful and multiplying but engaging more people to know Jesus and to be raised up so that they are treasuring Jesus and then helping others follow him as well are we working jobs that help us Advance the gospel as we Steward Society and culture are we moving into neighborhoods so that we're not just buying our forever home but that we are looking for opportunities to advance the kingdom of Jesus what are we doing if we're not doing those things you're going to be the most dissatisfied person that exists it's just true and I say that not to be like woe

is you I'm saying that because we're trying to help you become the most joyful people that exist that's what we want is it going to be easy absolutely not it's going to be the hardest thing you've ever done in your entire life but will it be joyful will it be rewarding absolutely absolutely with that being said there's one key figure I want to hone in on for today that was included in our lent devotion this week which is Abraham and so if you have your Bibles I want you to open them up to Joshua chapter 24 we're going to go back and forth between Joshua

and 2 Chronicles but Joshua chapter 24 um as you're turning there for for whatever reason the world's narrative regarding Abraham is that he's always been a good guy like when we just think of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob when as Christians we look back in the old and we look at Abraham for the Jews when they look to their patriarch Abraham being honest with you even the Muslims when they look at their patriarch who they also believe to be Abraham they all look to Abraham and they think this is where God's grace and favor begins this was the man for whatever reason we've always held

this narrative that Abraham's a good guy that's why God picked him to be the patriarch of the Israelites after all the Bible does say that Abraham found favor with God that he believed in God and it was credited to him as righteousness but my question is was that always Abraham's life because once again what I want us to see today is the power of the Gospel what it's able to do in transforming individuals but also transforming peoples to be honest with you Abraham was not favored by God as it started out he was lost he was lost from God look at Joshua 242 long ago

your ancestors including Tara the father of Abraham and theore the lived beyond the Euphrates river and they worshiped what what you can speak back to me it's all right is it up there other gods well that doesn't sound good the family that Abraham grew up in did not worship the one true God so something along the line from Noah to the Tower of Babel the lineage of Abraham no longer believed whatever Noah's family believed but instead wherever they settled in the land of Earth they believed in the worship of other gods and so question who is is that I thought we just had one God

what is the mention of other gods the mention of other gods and this is where I don't know if if how you learned history um this will either shatter your view of well that's not what I learned in seventh grade or this will be like yes that's exactly what I learned when you look at Greek mythology when you look at Roman mythology when you look at all all of these ideas of all of these different types of gods the gods of weather the gods of fertility the gods of the river the gods of nature the gods of the Sun the gods of the star whatever

it is all they are are demons masquerading as the true God in order to get people to serve them that's all they are they're running the play that we don't want you to worship the true God so we are going to present ourselves as characteristics of the one true God but have you worshiped the characteristic rather than God himself and so if God is the creator of life then we are going to create a god of fertility if God is the creator of creation then we are going to create a god of the mountains a god of the seas a god of whatever you want

to say the Sun the moon the stars the day the night and so there's this Pantheon of gods that were designed by the enemy in order to thwart people away from God and have them worship creation rather than Creator and Abraham's family has bought into that lie that they are worshiping all of these Gods rather than the one true God and I say that to say that when we because I think people are still doing it today when you look at Roman mythology or Greek mythology and how I was kind of brought up and raised which was not in the church um I was raised

that again this is just mythology it's it's it's not real but it's just stories that were just passed down and what I want to actually tell you which you might look at this and be like you're crazy is I don't think it's mythology I don't think it's fake I think it's true now was there a Zeus No but was there a demon god masquerading himself as Zeus yes was there a demon god masquerading himself as Baal yes was there a demon god masquerading himself as Thor and Odin yes convincing people to worship them in order for them to kind of play the strings of all

of society and the rising up of Empires in that day and age and I believe that's why as you kind of Walk Through the Bible every time it says that they were worshiping Gods what then is the fruit of that it's exactly what God continues to say they're doing whatever they want to do in their own eyes and is leading to them only having evil thoughts and wickedness in their hearts because that's exactly what the Demonic realm wants you to believe and wants you to participate in because it doesn't want God to be honored and glorified and it doesn't want you to receive any reward

of following the one true God like they don't get to go to heaven they don't want anyone else either and so they masquerade themselves in order to pull you away from the one true God and that's exactly what Abraham's family was believing but this is an amazing thing that the Lord does in Joshua 24:3 Abraham becomes led by God but I just love that there's so many times throughout scripture where God gives the bad news and then just that one little word but which just means god is more powerful greater greater than and again nothing's ever going to thwart his plans he can take anybody

from anywhere and say you're now mine you're now mine but I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants you see God's call to Abraham was providential demonstrating that his Divine sovereign and purpose God's covenant with Abraham marked the beginning of a new identity and a mission for him and his descendants Now flip over to 2 Chronicles 7 17-18 real quick 2 Chronicles 7 actually before we get there I want you to see verses 13 through 14 as well when I shut up the Heavens so that there is no rain or command the

Locust to Devour the land or send pestilence among my people if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their Wicked Ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive them their sin and heal their land when I think about Abraham because his family was following many gods just sinful what God does in those situations is he sends pestilence he sins he sh sets up the Heavens which is basically providing no rain he creates famines in order to give them over to what they're Desiring like when we are sinful and we are Desiring

sin it is not going to produce fruit that is good for us and so a Grace of the Lord is to actually then give us over to the thing that we think is going to provide us fruit which eventually provides us famine death and so then he says to them if you my people who are called by my name humble themselves basically see that the way you are doing things is not going well for you and instead turn to the Lord and say I'm sorry I want to live under your banner I want to live under your grace then God will send the Reigns and

that's exactly what happens in this transformation of Abraham is is when God calls him he gives up the following many other gods and instead turns and follows the one true God in this moment and that's where Joshua 24:3 says I took your father Abraham from the land and eventually would give him many descendants now look down at verses 17 through 18 because again this is as we how are we then led by God as for you if you will walk before me as David your father walked doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules then I will

establish your Royal Throne as I covenanted with David your father saying you shall not lack a man to rule Israel when we recognize God's hand in our life which calls us out of darkness and into his Marvel this light as we sung today and we Embrace this new identity and purpose that he has for us it leads us to be able to walk with him and when we are walking with him his Covenant his promise to the people is established among us but we are walking in it so that we are reaping the benefits of that Covenant we are actually being led by God which

leads to us being able to have then a legacy for God and so though Abraham at one point was lost he then becomes led by God which then leads to his legacy that he has for God look at look back at Joshua 24: 4-5 once he has turned from worshiping many gods and then turning to the one true God God establishes this Covenant and gives him this Legacy Joshua 24 4-5 I gave him Isaac and to Isaac I gave him Jacob and Esau and I assigned the Hill Country of the S to Esau Esau but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt then I

sent Moses because again the Egyptians a Pantheon of gods worshiping anything and everything once again tried to enslave the people of God and have them convert to their way of living but God once again provided grace and mercy and sent Moses and Aaron and he Afflicted the Egyptians by what he did there and he brought them out to a land flowing with milk and honey which is a beautiful story but what we find ourselves in is we want to get to the promised land we want to be out of Egypt but just as I said in the beginning if we don't step into the promised

land and we've only asked to get out of Egypt we find ourselves in the wilderness wandering frustrated at times saying it'd be better if we went back to our former lives but because he did save us and bring us out we still long for the promised land but we got to get there the Fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham through his descendants shows God's faithfulness and the unfolding of his Redemptive plan Abraham's Legacy is a testament to the transformative power of God's call he will get you there he will he will get you there and that same transformative power is what has been passed down

from Abraham to Isaac and Isaac to Jacob and Jacob to the 12 tribes and the 12 tribes over 400 years of Silence eventually to the 12 apostles and from the 12 apostles to churches and from the churches throughout the church era of growth throughout the last 2,000 years the same gospel message the same power that can transform someone from lostness to a legacy is still active among us today it's still true and that's why second Timothy 2:2 exists when Paul says to Timothy what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to Faithful Men Who will then go and teach others as

well what is he entrusting to him he's entrusting to him the power of the Gospel so that there will be faithful men who will then be able to go and teach others so that the idea of lost people who are sinners being transformed into Saints people who are destined for hell because of their sin who are now going to be destined for heaven because they've become Saints in the Forgiveness of Jesus like that's still the same thing that he is that has been all communicated throughout all history is now being communicated today like we don't ever graduate from that transforming gift and Grace of the

Lord if that is not what we are proclaiming as a church that when you are born right out of the gate all you want to do is whatever is right in your own eyes it's all you want to do hold a baby it wants to do whatever is right in its own eyes I want want to eat right now I want to sleep right now and instead of sleeping I'm going to scream I want to do whatever I want to do toddlers are the worst the worst at it not only is it do I want to eat when I want to eat and sleep when

I want to sleep which is rare but but it's also I want everything that you have oh that's your ni vase that you have on the Shelf over there I want it it's mine now and I'm going to break it I want I want I want and if we continue on with that that want is going to be paying a price and if never gone unchecked if never gone forgiven it pays the price of hell it's just true and our job as ambassadors of Christ is to make sure that everyone has a chance to hear that Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that they could

not live that he died the death that we deserve and because the wrath of God that was placed on you was substituted and placed on Jesus death because that happened God's Wrath was satisfied in killing his son Jesus At The Cross because it was satisfied three days later Jesus raises from the grave guaranteeing for us anyone who believes in his substitutionary atonement for your sins we also will be raised from the grave and get to spend eternity with him it's a transforming message that takes you from a sinner to a saint and that's why he gave the disciples the Commission in acts: 18 that you

are to be my Witnesses in Jerusalem Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the Earth because he doesn't want to just localize like they did at the tower of babyl he doesn't want it to just be in Jerusalem hey Jews here's Jesus the rest of the world is out of luck no he started there but that's why he says for it spread throughout Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the Earth that's why Matthew 28 when he's giving them this Commission on this mountain he doesn't say go and make disciples of all of your streets within a three mile radius of Jerusalem

go and make disciples of all Nations go and make disciples people who follow the teacher that is Jesus Christ who is discipling them to observe all that he has commanded them because there is a way that seems right to a man and it leads to death we don't want them following that anymore we want them following a way that seems right to Jesus and it leads to life and so make sure you teach them everything that Jesus has taught you that's why we preached the Bible is because this is what he's taught us these hold the Comm plans of God that actually lead to a

life that is flourishing not necessarily fattening your 401k not necessarily leading to you having all of the health and wealth and prosperity that you so desire that's not what the Bible is all about you're going to get enough of that when you get to heaven you don't even have to worry about it you'll get all the health you've ever wanted all the wealth you've ever wanted all the prosperity you've ever wanted Heaven's already taken care of instead what he wants for us here is to walk with the God who created us and find Pleasures forever more that's why the new city catechism literally the first

question is what's the chief end of man and the answer is is to worship God and enjoy him forever why were you created were you created because God needed a friend no were you created because God was lonely no were you created because God was lacking no God existed in a perfect Community for eternity amongst himself the Son and the Holy Spirit there was nothing lacking there but because God Is So charitable because God is so loving and joyful and kind he wanted to share himself with a community that he creates so that they would worship Him and enjoy him for eternity it's the most

loving and gracious thing a good and perfect and gracious God can do is create something to enjoy him that's why we were created sin robs us of being able to worship God and enjoy him forever because we try to worship and enjoy ourselves rather than him Abraham's Journey from paganism which is worshiping anything and everything other than the one true God worshiping nature worshiping demon Gods worshiping anything and everything else that's not God Abraham's Journey from paganism to becoming a great nation is a powerful reminder of God's transformative power and faithfulness God is calling you to a purpose that is greater than your past it's

just true true for everyone in this room if you believe in Jesus he is calling you to a purpose that is greater than your past and so don't look don't live your life in the rear view that's why Paul says like I I I have to look forward because if I'm only ever looking at things in my past I'm depressed I'm depressed but if I'm looking ahead at what God has called me to and who he's transforming me into to become like his son Jesus and and the people that he is like in front of me there are going to be so many people that

I meet that don't know Jesus that I have the opportunity to share Jesus with and they go from sinner to Saint they go from not knowing god to knowing god they go from no hope to all hope that's worth getting up in the morning that's worth getting up in the morning that's worth saying I'll wait and be patient for my time to go to heaven if it means that I get to bring more people along with me by sharing the good news with them every single day there is no person there is no group there is no people that cannot be transformed by the power

of the Gospel even that worst person that you know maybe it's a family member maybe it's a neighbor maybe it's a cooworker that you just absolutely like you just you know maybe it's that person that cut you off on the way here like I have I I I sin a lot while I drive I don't know why I just when someone when people just don't drive how they should drive I don't know why it bothers me so bad so bad that there are times it's like you have to pull off because you take a phone call I have to pull off to just repent it

doesn't matter who they are or what they've done when we think about people in the world the Hitlers the stalins the there is no one beyond the grace and mercy of God no one there's no one Beyond it when I think about the Roman Empire I'll close with this story I I mean I simply think about a historical Powerhouse just its territory alone one of the largest in history at its peak during Emperor Tran's reign in 117 ad the Roman Empire covered approximately 2 million square miles in Andrew iser's book the bonfice option he describes how Rome had destroyed the powerful Empire of Carthage it

subdued all of Gaul had taken Greece and nearly all the lands of Alexander's domain and it turned the Mediterranean Sea into a Roman Lake essentially at the height of Rome's Imperial Glory she attempted for centuries to defeat and subdue the Germanic peoples beyond the Rin River and no matter how many Legions they devoted to the task the fierce of these Warrior peoples was too much to overcome and in one battle specifically in the tberg forest 20,000 Roman troops were dispatched to these Germanic peoples and not a single one escaped with his life Germania successfully ended the Roman Imperial expansion and then centuries later other germanics

the Goths would snuff out Roman Imperial Glory for good to say that the germanics were a fierce people would be an understatement they were Fierce they were ferocious and they were Pagan iser goes on to say it was to these unconquerable people I mean when you think about like the Roman Empire could not take them over like at its height it's like you know the Titanic being the unsinkable ship the Roman Empire was like the unbeatable Empire but the ones that they could not conquer this unconquerable people it was to them that an ambitious Anglo-Saxon monk named Winfred from the order of St Ben Benedict

was called to preach the message of Jesus Christ before Winfred began his missionary journey to Germania he was renamed bonfice as pagans the germanics offered sacrifices to Odin and Thor they examined the entrails of sacrificial victims they cast runes and other divinations they practice sorcery and dark incantations in short Germania was ruled by demons and it was into this culture stepped bonifas and it was a big step I mean if you're thinking about it like we're asking you to like go into your neighborhood if you're looking down your street and you're seeing human sacrifices and then them examining the insides and then you're seeing runes

and divinations and you're seeing Wiccan and you're seeing all kinds of sorcery and dark incantations from house to house it wouldn't Shock Me If You said let me try the street over right you're going to be like I mean they need it let's let's get a few reps in over here before we go there with Romans 1:16 as his heartbeat bonfice went straight for the artery of the germanics he went to the great Pagan Shrine in gazmer and hessie a great oak tree called Donner's Oak which was where the Pagan priests would offer sacrifices human sacrifices to their demon god Donner which is for us

better known as Thor which was the same ancient storm demon named Jupiter among Romans which was the same Zeus among the Greeks which was also the same Baal among the Canaanites they all believed in the same demon god it was just a different name and their different cultures and it was believed that if anyone profaned Thor's oak by touching it again you see how they go back to the Garden of Eden and they just borrow the same rules don't touch this tree that's in the middle of the garden it was said that if anyone would touch it the demon would strike that man down with

a bolt of lightning from his hammer well when bonifas arrived at the tree Story Goes to say that he told the Pagan priest that he would return at the same time tomorrow and not only would he touch the tree but he would cut it down the reason why he didn't just do it in the moment was because he wanted the Pagan priests to go and tell everyone come watch what Thor is going to do to this foolish Christian they wanted it to be a show word traveled quickly and all of the pagans came out in massive crowds to watch their demon god strike down this

foolish Christian Story Goes that bonovas reared back his ax and as he took one blow a powerful wind came down from the heavens and it blew the tree over bonovas then boldly proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and everyone present forsook their paganism and was baptized in the name of Jesus this is a true story it happened in the 8th Century true story bonovas then began planting churches throughout Germania and he formed the Germanic Church which was a network of churches that could minister to the multiplying of Believers all throughout the land he did a an anglosaxon monk that was named Winfred and they changed

his name to bonfice because I'm like I mean if you're G to send him to these types of unconquerable pagans like yeah he's going to need a better name than Winfred but this man goes and does what the Roman Empire could not all with the gospel the gospel it goes on to say that from the 8th Century to the 16th century Germany would um would convert close to 97% I just wonder like do we have that same confidence in the gospel that we believe in do we have that same confidence are we looking at the Doner Oaks that are in our culture that are in

our city I mean if you want to hear more about that like just buy the book the bonfice option what are the doners Oaks that are in our culture in our neighborhood in our relationships are we confident to come in with an axe and just give them a solid blow and say stop believing in this believe this believe the gospel believe what Jesus Christ is actually accomplished for us Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the Gospel it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek if we really want to truly look at

it again look at yourself if you believe in Jesus today then you know that you have been a sinner before you know that you were without Christ you know that you had a idea for life that was not going to be Jesus it was going to be something way different and you knew that you were without hope and helpless in that life of pursuing happiness and then someone shared the gospel with you whether it was through a sermon or whether it was on a college campus or whether it was a parent like someone told you you got to stop running for this and you got

to believe in this and the power of that when you heard the good news of Jesus God reached into your heart and into your mind he drew you to himself and he called you to himself and you put Faith In Jesus you said yeah I don't want to believe this anymore I want to believe in Jesus and you asked him to forgive you and he is faithful and just and will forgive you when you confess your sins like it worked for you it worked for you why do we not think it will work for others or do we think we were good do we think

we were deserving of it well I can tell you no one lies to yourself more than you lie to yourself which again just reminds you of how awful you were but the good news of the Gospel is that's not who God sees you as anymore he sees you as he sees his son Jesus and just as he looks at his son Jesus and says this is who in whom I am well pleased man when we believe in Jesus and we receive that new identity and the spirit of God comes to dwell within us and he no longer sees us according to our sins because he

forgives them and the scapegoat he sends them away and he remembers them no more he doesn't see you as a sinner anymore he sees you as a saint he sees you as an adopted son and daughter of his because he's transformed you that same power and that same confidence he gives us to be able to share with others who don't know it worked for us it can work for them I just need us to believe that that is true that that is true because I believe if you believe it's true you'll start planning and then start seeing people come to know him so if you

believe is true and then in the in this next week man I want you to I want you to get after it I want you to plan to share what God has done for you with someone else how Jesus has forgiven you I want you to share that with someone else I know you're going to be nervous about it I know you're going to be scared about it but again I am not ashamed of the Gospel I'm not ashamed of Jesus I was in a coffee shop just this last week and um someone they saw that I was studying my Bible and they asked me

like are are you a pastor or I was like apparently now today only people that like study their bibl just must be pastors and so um it's not as prevalent for people to just study their Bibles out in public and I said yes I'm a pastor and they're like why in the world would you would you be a pastor and and at first my first thought was well it's just because there were so many good guys in my life who discipled me and who helped me and and I just want to be able to do the same thing for other people like that actually makes

it sound more human but I stopped myself and I said thee only reason why I want to be a pastor is because of what Jesus Christ has done for me that I was a sinner that all I cared about was how much money I could make in life being a very successful athlete having all the women that I possibly would want that's all I could think about and then God met me Me and My Neighbor Next Door shared the gospel with me and said you're never going to find any happiness in those things you're never going to be satisfied you're never going to have enough

it's never going to be enough because you're seeking for heaven on Earth and it's not going to you were created for that and it's not going to happen I say so I gave my life over to Jesus I surrendered to him he subdued me he he is Lord of my life now and I want to spend my whole life just telling other people that you can actually find joy and satisfaction here and now but it's not going to be in creation it's going to be in your creator it's going to be in Jesus that's why I'm a pastor and it doesn't make a lot of

money and that's fine because again I'm already taken care of the 401K in heaven is nice it's real nice I promise you that and so it's okay man the joy that we get to receive the joy that is complete when we see others come to know Jesus is so good so good let's pray together this morning Father we thank you this morning that we were once lost but are now found we thank you that we were once Sinners but you have made us Saints we were once orphans but you adopted us and brought us home to be your children and it's all because of your

son Jesus and what he accomplished that we could not accomplish for ourselves and that's why it takes faith it takes believing in something that we cannot muster up ourselves there is no amount of Merit that will help us get to heaven and be with you but is all the work of Jesus in our place we thank you for that the same power that raised Jesus from the grave can raise us from being dead in our sins to being alive in you I pray we believe that with our whole heart our whole mind and I pray that it moves us to stop focusing on ourselves and

our lives alone but start focusing on [Music] others Our Lives will be taken care of you've already promised that may we be ambassadors of you helping those who still need to hear the gospel here in Indianapolis across our nation and then to the Nations will you help us with that Jesus we love you we serve you we honor you we worship you in this place it's in your name we pray amen