Biblical Examples of Personal Witness

Transcript

I wanted to begin by showing you this issue of the Tidings magazine. This is the Chris Adelphian Tidings magazine from December. This is the last issue that was edited by brother Dave Jennings. Dave's become a friend over the years and there were some things that he wrote about that really resonated with me. And it caused me to want to use his thoughts as a springboard for our conversation tonight. So Dave edited the Chris Adelphian Tidings magazine for five and a half years. And during that time, the magazine grew in leadership. It grew in a lot of different ways. And at the end of his run as editor, he wrote a final piece, which he entitled, Thanking God for You. And in it, he talked about the community of which we are a part. He talked about the brotherhood. And I'd like to, if you just allow me, I'd like to read a couple of paragraphs from this because one, it mirrors my life's experience, brothers and sisters, growing up in a Chris Adelphian family, attending young people's gatherings. And now as I reach old age, if I can say that, right, I'm in my 60s. And I think that's what people say. You're finally an old age when you hit your 60s. And I look back, I just see how the community has been such a part of my life. And allow me to just read a couple of paragraphs from this. Quoting Dave Jennings, Brother Dave, he says, When I look back on my life, I see countless people who have cycled through my circles. Some were from school, some were neighbors, others were work associates. They came and went. There have been many bonds that drew us together for a time. However, when life changes occurred, these people usually disconnected. There are only a few experiences to this in my personal experience. There are only a few exceptions to this in my personal experience, Dave wrote. But Life and the Truth offers an eternal bond, unlike any other human relationship. The reason is that this bond is not based on us, but on our head, the Lord Jesus Christ. His leadership aligns our priorities, behaviors, values, and how we spend our time. His words cut through cultural differences. His grace brings us together with people we may not have mutually or naturally been drawn to. And we learn the value of their presence through the constant interactions in the community. In short, the relationships and the truth allow us to have a glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see it in the triumphs as well as the failures of one another. Christ is working in all of us. What a joy it is to embrace an active presence in our community. We can only begin to imagine the glory of the kingdom when we can serve God with sinless immortal bodies. So that's the first part of what I wanted to quote. And I'm just curious, you know, what your experiences have been. I know there are some people on the call, you know, on our Zoom class tonight who have known each other all their lives. And, you know, I think that's probably the case with several. So has that been a common, for those of us who have grown up in the faith, is this, is Dave's recollection here, I think, a fair, common thing? What are your thoughts? Not a lot of thoughts. Not a lot of thoughts, Jim. I would certainly concur with it. It's a completely different relationship than any other relationship we have with, you know, people at work or people, other people we grow up with and all of that. It's very, very unique and very, very special in my opinion. Yeah. No, I think many of us have good friendships with family members who are not in the faith or with neighbors or co-workers. And it's not that we are excluding them from the realm of our, you know, our friendship. But those, it seems to me that the friendships we have with this common faith tend to be deeper. And as Dave speaks about in his experience, you know, people will cycle in and out of his life. And I think that's been the case in my life. Yeah, mine as well. Yours too, Jim. Yeah. Luke is raising his hand. I hesitated to speak up until Jim spoke because I wasn't raised in the faith. So I don't have the school experience of these lifelong friends in the truth. But I give a bit of a spectrum here. The relationships I had before the truth, they're all gone. And thankfully, most of them are gone, thankfully, because they were not good relationships and fearful ones. And God took them away from me. So, Luke, how were you introduced to the gospel? A friend of mine came to a couple of classes at Scarlet Road Ecclesial Hall and took home every copy of Logos Heralds that was available on the rack. And after getting me to start reading a Bible for myself, he dumped these on me. And they tutored me into truth until I had the courage to go seek it out and find these Christadelphians. Some of them were Scarlet Road editions, so they led me to the hall. And that's how I got Christadelphians. And how old were you at the time, Luke? 23. Okay. And I was desperate to get baptized before it was too late. And that was 30 something years ago. Oh my God. But in the truth now, like you said, like the article you wrote, there's several circles in life. And the relationships are better because of Christ in my life. They're kind of walking parallel away from because they're not walking with me in the truth. But all my relationships are more positive. But then we have this bond in Christ that it's beyond everything. And it's because of Christ. He's that anchor that makes it's fantastic. Yeah. So that really, I think that allows us to transition really well into what Dave wrote about next in his editorial. So we began by emphasizing the value he placed in the lifelong friendships and the bonds that he had enjoyed with brothers and sisters and the benefits of being part of this worldwide community. But then this is how Dave transitions to his next thought. He says, however, being a member of the Christadelphians is not like being in a club. Ecclesias are places where the poison of the world is expelled, but also where the doors are wide open to anyone who is seeking purpose and righteousness in their life. We have yet to fully realize the power of active witness from the full membership of our community. And over the decades, we've established committees, organizations, websites, and numerous preaching groups to share the word with others. These activities are in themselves excellent. And some individuals have been brought to an understanding of the gospel through the diligent work of these organizations. But, and I think this is the point I really want to emphasize and sort of build our class around tonight. Dave says, but we should never see such efforts as anything other than supplementary at the core of who we are as believers is that every one of us individually is to be a light to the world. As Jesus taught, we are to be lights on a hill or on a candlestick. Concealing our light does not glorify God. And so I think that emphasis that I, you know, when I read that, I was thinking, you know, we have done a wonderful job, I think, in many, many ways with things like, you know, the YouTube preaching or even this Bible class that goes out, you know, to so many people. I think the CBMAs of the world do a wonderful job at sort of proclaiming the gospel. I think the ability for an ecclesia to have seminars or to do lectures or to preach in some way is a wonderful thing. But Dave's point, and I think the point of the gospel, is that these things should be viewed not as a replacement to what we do individually. Maybe they can supplement the individual conversations that we have, but they should be viewed that way. And that we have a role and a responsibility to preach the gospel and to be that light on the world. So thoughts about that? Does that, does that resonate? Yeah, Luke, go ahead. Preaching is a personal thing. And those relationships you build with someone at the workplace or elsewhere, we have that example from how Jesus dealt with legion. In one of the gospels, he wanted to get in the boat with Jesus and follow him, but Jesus forbade him and said, go back to your home and tell your friends what wonderful things the Lord has done for you, having had compassion on you. And he went and preached and everyone marveled. And then when returned to later on in the ministry, they welcomed him then. Instead of shooing him away, now they welcome him. And so that preaching of that one man to his friends and family made that impact. It's a lesson to all of us to get personal with our preaching. I think that's right. Jesus in Matthew 5 tells us, as Dave quoted, you are a light of the world, let your light shine before others. Legion certainly did that, as you described, Luke. Jesus also said, before he ascended to heaven, gave this great commission to his followers. And he said, go and make disciples, right? That's from Matthew 28. But I want to have you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. This is an interesting passage, and it's the apostle Paul that's writing here, of course. And he describes in this section sort of the psyche that he has, you know, the feeling he has about proclaiming the gospel message, how it was built into him. And I'll have you turn to chapter 9, and we'll look at the 16th verse. That is not, oh, let's see. He says in verse 15, but I have not used any of these right. Verse 16, yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. The apostle Paul felt this, you know, he just felt compelled, and there was something in him that drove him, that gave him this desire that he was, you know, as he says, compelled to preach. And then he says, woe to me if I do not preach the gospel, right? So it was this, you know, he just felt compelled, and he felt like if he didn't preach the gospel, it was to his detriment, it was just like breaking him apart. And when we're beginning this discussion tonight, and as we have this conversation, I want to frame this class as one of encouragement, not one of guilt. Okay, I want to say that again. This class is about encouragement, not guilt. Scripture never presents witness as pressure. It never describes, you know, participation in what, you know, it never describes the participation of sharing the gospel in any way other than an opportunity for us to participate in what God is already doing. I think it's easy to hear a subject like this and immediately think in terms of obligation, right? It's easy to sort of beat down on ourselves and say, I should be doing more. But the Bible often, I think more often, frames it and frames this idea of witnessing, this idea of preaching, this idea of sharing the gospel as a privilege, being invited by God to participate in his work. God doesn't need you, he doesn't need me to spread the gospel, but he chooses to use us. And for me, just that thought takes it from obligation to a joy. And I think that's how Paul was able to get to a point where he felt compelled, where he felt this like pleasure in what he was doing. So in our, you know, that's really the spirit that I'm trying to get at as we get into this subject. It's not about making anybody feel guilty or about making anybody feel inadequate or pressured because scripture never presents it that way, and neither should we. Every one of us, I mean, you know, just look around, every one of us that are online tonight, every one of us that's sitting at meeting on Sunday, we love the truth. The fact that we're even here tonight, thinking about this topic is evidence of the fact that we love the truth, that we feel blessed to have been called to have this understanding of the coming kingdom. So tonight isn't about, you know, why aren't we doing enough? It's about how God gently works through ordinary people like you and me. How God gently works with people who are sometimes hesitant to share the good news for whatever reason. And so I think that's really where I'm trying to go. Thoughts? Steve, I think it is important to see this as, to see this as God at work. You know, you cited those last verses of Matthew 28, you know, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And God is at work in his son, intimately in our lives. And I think we need to realize it's not just a human enterprise, as you pointed out earlier. You know, it's just not a human enterprise. We are part of this enormous process that God is carrying out to bring people to a new life. And I think that's very important. It's very easy to say, well, I know how I came into the truth. You know, this brother, you know, met me, said, talk to me, encourage me, and we can see it totally as a human enterprise. We just need to see that as part of the entire process that the Lord Jesus is orchestrating in our lives with the power of his father. And so the points you made there about God's working, I think is critical for us to see. So no matter how hesitant we are, he's able to pull the strings. He is. You know, and Jesus is working. And we are being invited to share in that work. And I think that's the best thing. We've become part of it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Brother Richard. What came to my mind when you mentioned about Brother Paul saying that he was compelled to preach the gospel. What came to my mind, I was just wondering, the road that Paul, whose name was Saul, first, when he found out the road that he was on, and then Jesus manifested the way. To me, the road that I was on and now that I know the gospel that was before, peace be upon Abraham, it's overwhelming. I feel that, uh, at the drop of a hat that when I get in a conversation with anybody that says something, God has given me the ability to take whatever they say and I can go to scripture with it and make it relative to even though if it had nothing to do with, for instance, um, boy, today was a bad day. Boy, I get that a lot sometimes. My thought, my answer on that is usually, but a better day is coming. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That you understand what I'm trying to say? Absolutely, Richard. You know, and I think, like, I remember you telling the story about, you know, Brother Phil Hazard teaching you the gospel and sort of, you know, looking out for you and trying to find ways to introduce you to the word and, you know, you talked about, um, you know, stall becoming Paul. So let's just, uh, just as an aside, let's turn to Acts chapter nine because when we talk about witnessing, when we talk about personal evangelism, I think it really is about relationships, that act of intentionally sharing the message of Jesus with an individual, sort of one-on-one. It's not, it doesn't have to be viewed as, you know, the beautiful words of an orator standing on a lectern, you know, giving this wonderful lecture. It's about the individual conversations that you might have with someone. And it's about being with that person, the relationship that you have with that person. So Richard mentioned Saul and his conversion on the road. So in Acts chapter nine, we're going to read about that and I'll have you, um, we're going to look at one verse really. Um, and it's, it's in, I think it's 27 Acts chapter nine and we'll look at the 26th verse. When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples. This is Saul, the one who had been out trying to murder these men for their faith in Jesus. Now he's been converted. He comes to Jerusalem and verse 26 says when he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. And in verse 27, we see this personal evangelism. It's not the words that are spoken by Barnabas here, but it's the friendship. It's the standing beside this man, this new convert, this one who was, you know, just trying to find his way in the community. Verse 27 says, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. And I guess the point I'm trying to bring out here is this idea that evangelism isn't just words. It can involve standing beside someone new in the faith and helping them to be accepted and discipled. You know, is that a word? Right? So again, it's about these relationships that are being formed. And I think Brother Phil did that for you, Richard, right? You were this crazy jazz musician. Well, how are we going to let a jazz musician into our community, right? You know, we've heard about what these jazz musicians do, right? And you got somebody standing there, you know, loving you. That's evangelism. That's witnessing. That's sharing the gospel, not just by what's said, but making sure that the person is able to integrate into the community and, you know, feel connected to Christ and to the body. Yeah. Comments? For the Steve. Yeah. For the Paul Gatanis. Nice to hear. Yeah, really good. It's so wonderful to see Bob and Nancy. Yeah. I miss seeing you so much. So for those that don't know, Paul Gatanis was a member of the Boston Ecclesia many years ago, and you were attending college in the area, right? Was it at U Lowell? Yeah, you have great memory. Yes, that's right. And that is where, by God's grace, I ran into a brother. Or he ran into me, as it was. And it was a horrible time in my life, just hopeless. You know, if you don't have hope, you're not really alive. You know, a difficult time in my life. And I, even though I'd grown up in a, quote, church environment, that consisted of going and watching the priest go through his motions. And then at the end of the service, you leave and didn't read the Bible at all. It wasn't encouraged. But anyway, but, you know, this brother took it upon himself to preach the word. And for some reason I responded out of mere curiosity. And I resisted for quite a while. But finally, what convinced me was that he, when I had a question, which I had many, he went to the word of God and showed me the answer, which flabbergasted me. You know, it's like, that's in there. I mean, how do you know this? And by God's grace, my thick skull was finally opened. And I realized, you know, God didn't need me. I needed him. And then the hope of the truth, the gospel, the hope of eternal life, was something real and tangible that the churches did not teach. So, yeah. So what was it, Paul, that you found most compelling? Was it the fact that this brother, like, had all the answers from the Bible? Or is that what you're saying? Yeah, well, a combination of that. He was very smart. And so, and plus, he had the honesty to say, when he didn't know the answer offhand, I'll find it for you. And he did, but he pointed it to me in black and white. And that was just seeing it with my eyes. It was like, you know, wow. And then I never heard of the kingdom, really, per se. You know, you say the Lord's prayer, but you don't even think what the word you're saying. You just say it just to recite it and that brings righteousness of some sort. And the hope, you know, the hope that we have through our Lord and just knowing our Lord. I mean, in the church, the Lord was someone with a menacing-looking image on the wall who was looking at you like, I know what you've done and I'm going to get revenge on you, you know, and not a loving Savior who gave himself for us. So when I think of your story here, Paul, it reminds me in some ways of what we find in Acts chapter eight. So we're in Acts chapter nine right now. But if we go over to Acts chapter eight, we read the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Remember that? Let's just, let's jump in there. So it's, it's found in the third verse and it says, Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. And he asks a question. There's no, like, oratory. There's no, like, he's just curious. Do you understand what you're reading? See where he says that? Do you understand what you're reading? Philip asked. How can I? He said, unless someone explains it to me. So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. And the eunuch was reading this passage of scripture. And the, you know, the account goes on and it talks about how Philip sort of opened this, opened it up to him and helped the man understand. And I think in some ways, Paul, that was your experience, right? Um, yeah, even though I really wasn't, yeah, looking for truth as it were, you know, yeah, just, you know, just kind of out of curiosity and I looked into the occult, things like that, you know, you know, you know, whatever, but. And then the question, like when I think of, when I think of things like that, I remember when I was younger and I felt like I didn't have any of the answers and I didn't want to go there because I didn't want to be exposed as not knowing the answers. And imagine I'm not alone in that, right? You know, sometimes, you know, some people are good at sort of recall and memory and being able to go from one passage to the other. And others of us, you know, that's not our skill set necessarily. And I think what I'd like to emphasize next is when we look at examples of people sharing their faith in the Bible, sort of being that light on the hill, it's not always about being the Bible answer man. OK, sometimes we find examples where we see individuals sharing and witnessing, you know, what has happened in their lives. So I'll give you a couple examples from the beginning of the Gospel of John. We're going to see Andrew and Peter and we'll see Philip and Samuel. Let's just turn there because, you know, at this stage in these brothers' lives, they didn't have the answers. They didn't have the ability to go to the Old Testament scriptures and point out that Jesus was the long promised Messiah based on the prophet's writings, right? But what they could do is they could bring people. They could say, this is what I saw and I want you to see the same thing. So let's go to John, Chapter 1, and we'll start in the 41st verse. And this is where Andrew goes to Peter and he says, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, verse 40, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. Verse 41, the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, we've found the Messiah. So there's like no long explanation. It's just proclaiming. He's proclaiming to his brother, you know, we've found the Messiah. When we look at verse 45, we see a similar thing. Philip found Nathaniel and told him, we found the one who Moses wrote about in the law about whom the prophets also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. In both cases, they're saying, you know, come and see. They're just providing this invitation. They're saying, this is what I think. I want to share this with you. And perhaps that's a lesson for us, that when we're talking about proclaiming the gospel, it's about bringing people. It's about bringing people to someone else that might be able to share, you know, doctrinal viewpoints or answer the questions that we might not be comfortable doing. Again, God is inviting you. He's inviting me to share in this work. And it doesn't mean we have to do it all. It just means we have to, we can make a connection with our friends and neighbors. You know, brothers and sisters, I got word today that a friend of mine died, one of my cycling buddies. And, you know, it saddens me because he's not in the faith. And I don't know, you know, it sure would have made me feel a little bit more confident and, you know, peaceful about his death if I knew that he had been baptized into the saving name of Jesus Christ, right? And this is sort of what we're talking about. This is the opportunity that I think we are given that we can share the good news with others. Why? Not out of a sense of obligation, but out of a duty, a joy of sharing the good news that others, too, might be saved. And that's the hope. Comments? Most biblical, did anybody have their hand up? Yeah, Stephen, brother Stephen, you're on mute. Yep. One of the things also is it says, let your light shine before men, then men might glorify their father, which is in heaven. And so by our actions, they can go and bring people to God. And a lot of the times, you know, too often, you know, if we don't feel we had the ability, but we can all show God's love. And that's something we can do, you know, and hopefully somebody will scratch their head and say, why are you doing this? I remember one person asking me that. And I said, because Christ told me to. And now they're going to go and scratch your head and maybe look into the Bible. Yeah. And you know, Stephen, I think that it's the expression, it says, good works in my name, right? It's not just the good work. It's as you describe, it's like, because Christ told me to, you know, I'm doing this in Jesus' honor. I'm doing this for Jesus' sake, because Jesus asked me to do this. There are a lot of good people in the world that do wonderful things, right? And I think what we're trying to do is explain, as you, I think, rightly point out, the motivation for doing these good things. And that motivation is, yes, it's to help individuals, but it's also to honor Jesus' teaching. Well, a lot of times when we do something, we have to do it and think we're doing it for Christ, because that person may not respond. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't mean that we're going to stop. It just means that Christ didn't call them. You know, that's all. But it doesn't mean we stop. We do it because we do it for the love of Christ. That's what we're doing. Yeah. Brother Richard? Yeah. I think what I'm going to say now, Brother Steve, you can relate to it. Brother Conway, who used to come and hear my band all the time. And Bill Hazard, who is asleep now, who we was talking about just recently. His wife's sister was getting married, and I was invited, so I went to them. And Brother Conway also came there. He wasn't a brother then. And he asked me, what was I doing there? And I said, my brother, his wife's sister is getting married. He said, what do you mean? He said, Bill Hazard, he said, he's not your brother. I said, yes, he is. He's my brother in Christ. He said, what do you mean? I said, we've been baptized into the same gospel. So he said, are you playing in your band anymore? I said, no. I said, I gave that up for a better life. He said, you gave up the way you played. You could have been somebody, and you gave that up. And I said, yes, I did. And so Richard, what you're describing there, I want to just sort of bring it back to some examples that we've drawn from. So we looked at Andrew and Peter, who were just saying, look at what we found. We talked about Philip and the Ethiopian, who's sort of reasoning with the scriptures, answering questions. And what you just described in sort of having this conversation with Mike Conway is sort of this testimony-based witnessing, where you are sharing your testimony. You're sharing, I gave up one way of life for something better. And I think that's what, was it Luke that talked about Legion, right? Legion goes, instead of getting in the boat with Jesus, he goes back to these people who are not fans of the Lord. And he proclaims what Jesus has done for them, for him. And then Jesus comes back, he receives a warm welcome, right? So in that case, Legion is sharing this testimony. And there are other examples like that. And I'll draw your attention to two more. One is the Samaritan woman in John chapter four. You're nodding your head. So you were thinking of that, right? So let's go to John four. What we see here is Jesus is sort of breaking with cultural norms. He's preaching to this woman in Samaria, and he shares this message with her. And verse 39, many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, right? She, like Legion, was able to say, this man told me all about it. He didn't know about me. He didn't know me, but he knew me. She shared with the people what Jesus had done to her and for her. And that's a great thing that we can do. And I think, Richard, you sort of got a modern day example of that. My life is better. I gave up life in the clubs because I'm looking for a greater day. What a terrible day it is. Yes, but a better day is coming, as you say, Richard, right? And these are things that people have been doing for generations. And we need to, and we have an opportunity to sort of do the same. So the Samaritan woman is one example. The man born blind, we talked about that at meeting on Sunday. That's in John chapter nine, verse 25. We'll just take a look at that one. Here it is, chapter nine, verse 25. This man is sort of being questioned and and and he responds to this crowd that's antagonistic towards Jesus and says, whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see this is what Jesus has done for me by implication. And this is what he can do for you too. So those are some examples. I want to transition for a second because we can look at examples like this, right? Whether it's Legion or whether it's the Samaritan woman or whether it's Philip in the Ethiopian. And we see all these wonderful examples of people proclaiming their faith. And then we look at our own lives and we say, how come it doesn't come more naturally to me? I think one of the reassuring parts of scripture for me is how honest it is. The Bible doesn't just show us bold, fearless witnesses. It shows us the reluctant ones too, brothers and sisters. It shows us the uncertain ones. We read about people who hesitated, people who questioned themselves, people who sometimes even failed, right? Hesitation, you know, when we hesitate to proclaim the gospel, I wouldn't say that that's disqualifying. I would encourage you to think of it as a starting point. I'd like you to think, okay, I'm hesitating right now, but what's one thing I can do to sort of get over the hump? And we see many examples in the Bible where we have great men and women who were reluctant. You know, Moses, I'm not qualified to speak. Jeremiah says, I'm not ready. Jonah, he didn't want to go to Nineveh. Gideon showed doubt and insecurity. Esther was afraid of sort of the personal cost to her. Peter had this fear of association followed behind. I don't know the man, right? Nicodemus had this quiet faith. These people are written about in the Bible so that you know you're not alone, so that you know, okay, I might be hesitant, but others were hesitant. And I think we can use this as a launching point, brothers and sisters. When we talk about why we hesitate, we're not diagnosing spiritual weakness. I think we're simply being honest about our human experience. God knows your fears. God knows what I'm afraid of. And the beautiful thing is, I think the Lord Jesus and his father, they work through these things with us. They don't necessarily wait for these fears to completely disappear from our lives. Sometimes they work with us in the middle of these fears so that we find ourselves saying the things that we might have worried about saying. And it's, you know, in my experience, when I sort of diagnose why I'm sometimes hesitant to share the gospel, sometimes it's because in our day and age, faith is viewed, I think, as a private matter. You know, it's like you don't bring up your faith at, you know, at certain events. You don't talk about, you know, faith and religion or politics and religion, right? These are the things that, you know, in polite company, you don't talk about. And so sometimes there's that. I think sometimes there's, for me, a fear of awkwardness or rejection. You know, maybe you have felt the same thing, but these are some of the reasons that we hesitate. And I guess the point I'm trying to emphasize is that despite these things, God can and does work with us in our inadequacies. Let me open it up to some questions or thoughts. Anybody? Brother Steve? Yeah, look, I see that you shared about awkwardness or being afraid of rejection. So the certain men that God brought into my life to eventually get me to open the Bible. I was, he was my maybe dearest friend for about three years. I never knew he was a Christian. He never revealed that he had any faith in Christ whatsoever. I didn't see it, didn't hear it from him. And one day, I guess I was in the real deep funk of a depression. And he let it out that he thought the Persian Gulf War was a sign of Christ's return. It's like the angel gave him a poke, a little bit of courage to speak up. It gave me some encouragement. There's hope. It had happened to be my birthday, too. That was my birthday gift. He told me about the kingdom. He didn't know anything about the kingdom, but he told me about it. Yeah. Yeah. And, okay. What do you know about this stuff, Pete? Didn't know a whole lot. But he had been to a Christ dolphin hall and he brought home the literature. And then he passed that on to me after he got me to read. So he was afraid to speak up because people had ridiculed him. And then someone needed to hear the message and he spoke up. And that's what we got to do. We got to see those opportunities and conversation where we could slip it in that our Lord is coming. Yeah. So what I'd like to do is we sort of come to the end of our time is I'd like to talk about some lessons from the biblical examples that we've looked at. And Luke, I think you bring up some of the lessons that we want to talk about. One is when we think about this personal evangelism, the personal interactions that we have one-on-one with the next door neighbor, the person that you can talk over the fence with, our desire to share the truth with, really flows from a genuine love and concern for people's eternal salvation. It's not about joining a club. It's not about being part of Club Christadelfia or part of our ecclesia. It's about giving them the gift of eternal life. Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman wasn't just strategic. Jesus' conversation with Legion telling him not to get in the boat, it wasn't just the strategic move to drive up the numbers that would eventually join the first century church. It was compassionate, brothers and sisters. When we think of the Samaritan woman, Jesus saw her need and he responded with just this amazing grace. And similarly, the Good Samaritan, when the Good Samaritan came on the road to the injured person, he acted out of mercy, not out of obligation. And so sometimes that act of compassion, that when someone senses that you are motivated by compassion towards them, I think it has the ability to soften the heart and to open the ears, that they'll be more willing to listen and to hear what you have to say because they know or they can feel that you have this interest in their wellbeing. And I think this compassion really has to flow across cultural, social, religious boundaries. We've got to be compassionate to all of those that we see. When we think about evangelism, when we think about sharing the gospel, it's not about winning arguments. It's not about my Bible verse against your Bible verse. It's about winning the lives of these individuals so that they can be part of the gift that God has given us. So that's one of the lessons that I learned from the stories that these examples that we have, our motivation to preach is based on compassion. I think one of the lessons that we need to learn is that courage is important. One of my favorite passages in scriptures comes from the Old Testament where Moses says to Joshua, be strong and courageous. The Lord commands you to be strong and courageous. And sometimes courage is required. From Philip approaching this stranger on a desert road to Peter boldly proclaiming and preaching Jesus at Pentecost, we see that sharing the gospel often involves stepping out of our comfort zones. Many of the biblical subjects that we read about, the biblical figures that we read about, they faced rejection. They faced misunderstanding. We talked about the man born blind and he and his parents were thrown out of the synagogue. It takes courage to stand up and to share your faith in examples like that. But their courage came not from this self-confidence. It didn't come from like I can muscle my way through this. It came from trust in God's message and from the mission, from the belief that we are to go out and be that light on the world, that light to the world. And I think modern evangelism doesn't mean that we're going to be thrown out of the synagogue, but it does require that we cultivate some form of courage, willing to speak up in workplaces or in families that might not want to be receptive at first. Courage, as they say, is not the absence of fear, but it's the obedience in spite of that fear. And so we are to be obedient, brothers and sisters. I think a third lesson that I get from these examples that we've explored tonight is that effective evangelism is about presenting the gospel clearly, without unnecessary complexity. It's about proclaiming Jesus Christ and him crucified. It's about the name of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. It doesn't have to be too complicated. It's not above your pay grade, I guess is what I'm trying to say. When Jesus explained salvation in Nicodemus or when Paul preached in Athens, Jesus and Paul, they used language that was understood by their audience, that they could understand. And so these are the things that I'm trying to implement in my life more. And when brother Dave shared this editorial and he exhorted us all to view personal evangelism as a responsibility, not to be delegated to the ecclesia or to the CBMA or to some organization that's going to do it for us, it resonated with me. And I hope it does with you. And so as we leave class tonight, I'd like to encourage you as I hope to encourage myself to begin having more open and honest, meaningful dialogues with people, not rehearsed conversations necessarily. Jesus talked with people in everyday settings, at wells and in homes and on the roads. He asked questions and he responded thoughtfully. And I think that's what I want to try and do. When people worry about what's happening in the country today, simply ask the question, where do you think this is going? What do you think the answers are? And inevitably they'll come back and say, well, how about you, Steve? What do you think? And just having these open, genuine conversations, I think is something that I want to try and do more. I want to share my story more. I want to pray for boldness, brothers and sisters, that I can have the courage to do this more. And perhaps even offer to pray with the people that are important in my life, that aren't part of the faith. People who are going through life's difficulties. I had a conversation with a friend of mine. He's not a chrysodolphian, but he was telling me that one of his friends was diagnosed with cancer. And his friend was sharing this with him. And afterwards he said to him, said, John, you know I'm a man of faith. Would you like me to pray with you? And John said, yeah. I don't know how to pray for myself. And this just opened up the desire, the need, the wish. So we can pray for boldness for ourselves and pray for the people we're with. I think we need to listen well. So let's just close with these thoughts. Personal evangelism is a vital and timeless way that God reaches hearts, one person at a time. I think the Bible gives us a lot of great examples of ordinary people sharing the extraordinary message of Jesus in the coming kingdom. So let's use this as motivation tomorrow morning when we wake up and start interacting with the world again.