We Value Service and Evangelism - First Baptist Church Hattiesburg

8/14/2019 We Value Service and Evangelism - First Baptist Church Hattiesburg

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IntroductionLets review for a moment. We are in a series

discussing the core values which make up thefoundation of our church. You could call them thefoundational ve. You could call them the corepractices of our church. They are non-negotiablepractices of any biblical church.

Weve said that foundations are important. Why? Because everything rests on the foundation,and if it is not strong, then all that rests upon it willeventually fall.

That is true of our foundational core values. Allof the programs and ministries at FBC rest on these

values. If we are not practicing them then we willhave no eternal value!

Now, because so many of us are visual learners,we are using a hand to remind us of what the rstve core values are.

First is the thumb thats fellowship. Ask,Why is fellowship a foundational value?

Think again about the foundation of astructure. The larger the structure, the deeper thefoundation needs to go. Thats certainly true of achurch. For a church to grow and mature, thefellowship must also grow and mature. It must godeeper.

Second is the index nger thats Bible study. Ask, Why is Bible study a foundational value?

Think again about the foundation of astructure. Its important that it goes deep. Its equallyimportant that it is made of the right stuff . Mostfolks try not to build on sand or clay. They arebuilding structures on strong, solid foundations thatdont shift or move.

For the church that strong, solid foundation isbuilt from the Truth of Gods Word. It alone isunchanging, eternal, life-transforming.

Today we are combining the next two values.

Finger #3 Service Finger #4 Evangelism

Lets begin with service.

Service Ask, Why would service be a foundational

value?Lets ask the question a different way. What

happens when people dont serve in the ministries of

the church? (Examples: Ministries shut down, or aremuch less effective. Opportunities are lost. Thepeople lose out on Gods blessing, ) In a word, whenpeople dont serve we quickly become ineffective.

What happens when people dont serve inministries outside the church, such as ChristianServices or Habitat for Humanity? (Many of theanswers will be the same.) Let me add one moreresult. When the church does not serve those outsideits own walls, the world notices. And what do youthink the world concludes about us? (Christians areirrelevant, self-centered, out of touch with realneeds, etc) One young man was asked why he hadno interest in church. His response? Churches dont

care about what I care about.Now lets turn all this around. What happens

when people do serve in the ministries of thechurch? (Ministries grow and ourish; people areministered to; we are blessed; etc) And whathappens when we begin to serve those in ourcommunity?

Now lets talk about evangelism.

EvangelismEvangelism is a big word, so lets make sure

we know what were talking about. Could someonedene evangelism for us? (Its simply telling peopleabout Jesus!) Ask, Why would evangelism be afoundational value?

Lets ask the question a different way. Whathappens when people dont share their faith?(Examples: People continue in a life of fear,confusion, hurt, guilt, etc Christians lose out onGods blessing. The world never gets any better.Eventually the Church will get very, very small)

Now lets turn all this around. What happenswhen people do share their faith? (Lives arechanged; people go to heaven; we are energized;etc)

You can see that service and evangelism aresimilar in that they affect both us, and the worldaround us. They bring positive changes to those whoare the recipients of them, and they bring positivechanges to those who practice them.

Three Biblical Reasons toServe and Share Your Faith

Talk to the Handservice / evangelismBy Jeff Powell

B I B L E S T U D Y J

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There are at least three reasons that Gods Word gives for why we should be involved in serviceand evangelism.

We were created to serve.The Bible teaches that we have been created in

the image of God. What do you think that means?Let me suggest one more possibility. Could it alsomean that we have the same desires and passions

and interests that God has? Ask, How are you like your parents? (Hair,

height, build, personality, gifting, talents, etc) Mostof you carry some sort of family resemblance. Thesame is true of your Heavenly Father. He has aserving gene, and He passed it on to you!

Read Ephesians 2:10. What were you createdfor? To do good works! It is hardwired into yourspiritual DNA. To refuse to serve is to ignore a vitalpart of who you are!

Jesus was our most perfect representation of God. What did He do? He found ways to serve!Read Matthew 20:28. Why did Jesus come? Toserve! Does it not follow that if I want to be like

Jesus, I also must serve those around me? Let me saythat another way. It is impossible to be like Jesuswithout serving others!

We were also created to lead others to faith inChrist. As a child of God, you inherited the serving gene. (It occurs to me that someone might think that I mean that literally. Of course, its just a way toexpress a truth. As far as I know, we dont have aphysical serving gene. But who knows maybewell discover one soon!) But thats not all youinherited. You also got the sharing your faith gene!

Read Luke 19:10. Why did the Son of Mancome? To seek and to save what was lost! There is adeep, deep need in the heart of God to draw peopleto Himself. Turn a few pages back to Luke 15. Jesustells three stories in this chapter the lost sheep, thelost coin, and the lost son. What do they have incommon? The passion with which the lost things(sheep, coin, son) were sought!

Because you are made in His image, that samedesire is present in you! If you allow it to come to thesurface, it will! Because you were created to leadothers to faith in Christ!

We are commanded to serve.Read Galatians 5:13. We are commanded to

serve one another in love. James had a few strong things to say about the

place of service relative to faith. Let me read thispassage from James 2 to you from The Message:

Dear friends, do you think youll get anywherein this if you learn all the right words but never doanything? Does merely talking about faith indicatethat a person really has it? For instance, you comeupon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved

and say, Good morning, friend! Be clothed inChrist! Be lled with the Holy Spirit! and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup where does that get you? Isnt it obvious thatGod-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

The teaching is as clear as it is strong. You cancall yourself a Christian, but if your profession is notsupported by acts of service, then it is just talk.

We are also commanded to lead others to Jesus.

Teacher, read Matthew 28:18-20. Ask, What is thispassage commonly called? (The GreatCommission) Ask, Can anyone tell me what acommission is? Webster denes it as the authorityto act, perform certain duties on behalf of another.

When a soldier receives his commission, whatdoes that mean? It means he has his orders. Theresnot much left to do but follow those orders.

The Great Commission is our orders. Its nota suggestion, or guideline, or just a good idea. Its acommission! Its our orders! The King of Kings andLord of Lords has issued a command! (Not muchwiggle room here, is it?)

This isnt quite as scary as it may sound. Hereswhy

We are equipped to serve.You may or may not be aware that God has

gifted you for the purpose of serving Him. Thesegifts are listed in three places in the Bible Romans12, I Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4. (Manyscholars think these are not complete lists.)

Lots of gifts teaching, serving, mercy,administration, discernment, leadership,encouragement, etc And whats the point of all

these gifts? Is it to elevate myself ? Make money? Thepoint is to use them to serve God by serving others. Ask, Do you know what your spiritual gifts

are? If you dont know, heres a quick test. Yourgifts are probably what you like to do, and what

youre good at doing.But again, heres the point. God has gifted

youto equip youto serve!You are also equipped to share your faith. In

fact you have everything you need right now tointroduce someone to Jesus! Two things:

First, you have your own story. Do you knowwhy advertisers use testimonials to sell products?

Because they work! When a housewife tells her storyof how a certain detergent revolutionized herlaundry, the ears of housewives (and househusbands)all over America stick up, and they exclaim, I wantto revolutionize my laundry, too! The genuine storyis a powerful tool.

That is certainly true regarding evangelism. Youdont have to have extensive training. You dont haveto be a Bible scholar. You dont have to have all theanswers. By far your most powerful tool is your ownstory of how Jesus has changed your life.


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Think about how Jesus has changed yourlife. (Dont settle for short answers. Hes given mepeace. In what areas of life has He given youpeace? My kids. In what way? Keep asking

yourself questions.) When youre nished with this exercise say,

Now thats convincing to me. I could argue with you about what the Bible means, or if its real. But Icant contradict your experience, because it really

happened to you. And if He can do that for you,then maybe He can do that for me, too!

Second, you have the Holy Spirit. He helps usout in a couple of huge ways.

First, he softens folks up. Read John 16:7,8. Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit here. One of His jobs is to convict the world in regard to sin. Whatdo you think that means?

The word convict is closely related to theword convince. When a believer sins, what doesthe Holy Spirit do? He convicts/convinces me thatIm off track. Describe how that works in your ownlife? What does He do? How does it feel?

Though the Holy Spirit does not reside inunbelievers, He is nevertheless active with them. Heconvicts/convinces them of their lostness, and theirneed for a relationship with God through Jesus. Youmay remember how that felt, when you began tounderstand your need for Jesus. You may have felthopeless, lost, confused, afraid, lonely, unloved and

you sensed that Jesus was the One Who could andwould meet those needs in your life. The Holy Spiritdrew you to Himself.

Heres why thats important. Whenever youshare your story, or explain the gospel, or invitesomeone to church, chances are very good that theHoly Spirit has already gone ahead of you, andbegun preparing that persons heart. They may bemore ready than you think they are, because Godhas already begun to deal with them.

He gets folks ready to hear about Jesus. But hedoes more than that. He actually guides what wesay!

Turn to Matthew 10. Jesus is sending Hisdisciples out on a short term mission trip. He givesthem all sorts of instructions and warnings (vv. 5-18).

And then He makes this promise read vv. 18-20.Dont worry about what to say or how to say it.

At the time you will be given what to say Whatan incredible promise! And it is still true today!

Whenever I speak to another about Jesus, God willgive me the words. Its not me, but the Holy Spiritputting the words in my mouth. Sharing my faith isnot about knowing a slick presentation, or aboutknowing all the answers. Its about opening mymouth, and letting God take over!

Ask, Has that ever happened to you? Sharing your faith, talking with someone about Jesus,counseling or comforting someone? Tell us about it.

ApplicationLets wrap this up today by making it very

practical. That great theologian Dr. Phil says thatthere is a seven-step process for lasting changes totake place in a persons life. Two of those steps are:

Take little steps. Dont try to do everything atonce.

Changes must be programmed into yourlifestyle.

Radical diets dont usually work for these tworeasons. The diet is usually too big of a change, andit is not part of a lifestyle change its just a project.Go off the diet and the weight comes back.

So, how do I make service a part of my lifestyle?First, gure out what God has gifted you to do.

Thats what will be the most fun to you! Heres threeways to do that.

1. Read the spiritual gifts passages fromRomans, I Corinthians, Ephesians. Does anything

jump out at you? Can you look at any of those giftsand say, Thats me! I have that one?

2. Ask someone close to you to read the list of gifts and tell you what they think your gifts are. Theyare usually obvious to those closest to us.

3. Trial and error. Try some ministries. See what you like, and what you dont like. Find out what youre good at, and what youre not so good at.

Second, volunteer for a ministry, either inside oroutside the church. Nursery, greeters, teacher, choir,usher, etc This will make it a part of your weeklylife, and provide some accountability as well. Do itthis week. Do it today. Jump in!

(In the next few weeks we will begin a ministryat FBC to help you nd your place in ministry. Thegoal will be to pair the right gifts with the rightpositions. Keep your ears open for this.)

What about evangelism? How can I programthat into my life?

Remember, little steps. Most people have nevershared their faith, so heres a suggestion thats easy toremember.

I squared. That means Invest & Invite. Wetalk about this at First Family. Simply invest inpeople. Make friends. Get to know your neighbors,

your coworkers, the other soccer moms, Build a

friendship with them. And then invite them to church. Pretty easy. Infact, youll be amazed at many will say Yes.

Right now, think about a person that you wantto invite to church. Now write that persons namedown. Now, write a date beside their name. This isthe deadline you set for yourself to invite them tochurch.

Remember, the health of our church dependson our obedience to these commands. Lets pray thatGod will help us to be faithful.


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We Value Service and Evangelism - First Baptist Church Hattiesburg