Encouragement For Evangelism

Just a quick update before we start, thanks for praying for Kim and for me.

We just got back from Rome. As you know, Christian Andreessen is one of our missionaries.

He serves in Berlin and he's the leader of the European Bible Training Center. And what he does is he tries to motivate students and give them a wonderful treat by studying

Corinthians at Corinth. And so this time it was studying Romans in Rome.

And so I taught for 30 hours over six days. I went through every verse of Romans.

I had about 20 students. And so we'd study in the mornings and then we'd sightsee in the afternoons.

So we saw the Colosseum. We saw Titus' arch. If you remember

Titus' arch, the victor, General Titus destroys Jerusalem in 70

AD. And there's a big arch commemorating his victory and you can see the candelabra, the menorah there, a showcase bread container, the spoils of the victory over Jerusalem.

That is there. What else did we see? We went to see the Pope, a general audience with the Pope on Wednesday because I thought that would be fascinating to see what people do.

But probably the most interesting thing we did is we went to the Scala Sancta.

The Scala Sancta are the sacred stairs that supposedly were pilots in Jerusalem that Jesus stepped on, allegedly.

And then one of the popes transported them to Rome. And then you could receive nine years off of purgatory for a friend if you would go up those stairs on your knees and say, and our father on each step, a paternoster.

And Luther in 1510 went up those steps and he at every step would pray the

Our Father, those 28 steps. When he got to the top in 1510, he said, could these things be true?

He was working through, is this real Christianity? This was before God actually saved him, but the

Lord was drawing him. And it was very sad, by the way. That was the most interesting place because people were on their knees and they were crying and the church is very crowded and packed.

And it reminded me of Charles Dickens when he said, watching people climb up those steps, this is both the most sad and the most ridiculous thing

I've ever seen. And I just thought to myself, I'm certainly not better than any of these people, but I'm glad I don't have to do that.

Right, Christ's death is sufficient, so we don't have to add anything else. We don't need to try to work on purgatory because Hebrews 1 says, he's purged our sins and then he sat down at the right hand of the

Father. Remember the Old Testament priests, they couldn't sit down, why? The work was never finished.

But Jesus, the language of Hebrews and elsewhere is he sits down, work is done, finished.

And I thought to myself, how do I know these truths and yet millions of people in Rome don't know these truths and it's just the grace of God.

And then finally, we wrapped it up on Sunday, Kim and I went down to Pompeii and then we climbed up Mount Vesuvius and you could see the smoke coming out of Vesuvius and I think,

I didn't know I was going to be killed by a volcano, that's how I die, but we made it. And then

Monday night, we met Luke, he showed up in Rome. He is at the

Master's College in Jerusalem this semester and so they get a week off and Luke said, dad, can I go to Rome for the week?

And I said, you think I'm made of money, money grow on trees? And then this is the kind of dad

I am. I first say no and then I reconsider and then I typed it in as $180 round trip from Tel Aviv to Rome and with an eight -hour layover in Athens.

And so I said, okay, you can go. And one condition, when you have that eight -hour layover in Athens, if you stay in the airport, you're fired.

So you get on public transportation and you head over to Mars Hill, the

Areopagus and stand there where Paul delivered the Acts 17 message, hop back on the plane, we'll meet you in Rome.

So to have dinner with Luke and some other Master's College students Monday night was a real treat. And I do have to say though, once I got back home and sat at my house, having my coffee in Lancaster and going just down to Hanford, I thought, you know,

I love the big cities. I love to travel, but it's so nice to be home. So I'm glad to be home and minister to you and with you and alongside of you.

Well, one time, now we're leading into the formal Sunday school. Is Sunday school formal by the way, by definition?

I went down to get some water. Well, no, I'll tell you the full story. One night

I went out to dinner with just two young men and they're seminary students and they needed a little exhortation on how to love their wives.

And Kim had been out all day, so she was going to stay home. So we went out to dinner and I wanted to encourage them to really lay down their lives for their wives' sake, even in ministry.

And so we talked for about an hour and I was trying to really encourage them and chide them and motivate them.

And I started to walk back to the hotel and I thought, I've completely forgot. Kim said, could you get some water and snacks on the way home?

And the whole time I'm trying to tell these guys, love your wives and then I completely forget what I'm supposed to do.

But I should teach a marriage class. So I went down the street to get something for Kim. And I saw this man and I thought he was

Indian. And so I asked him the question, where are you from? Because I've been to India quite a few times and it's easy for me to just preach the gospel and lie to that.

And he said, I'm from Bangladesh. And I said, oh, Bangladesh. I said, what religion are you?

What are most people there? And he said, Muslim. I said, are you a Muslim? He said, yes,

I'm a Muslim. I said, what does it mean to be a Muslim? He said, I don't know.

I said, you're a Muslim and you don't know what it means? He said, well, we believe in the prophet

Muhammad and pray five times a day. So he came up with a couple of things.

And I said, you know, speaking of prophets, Moses in Deuteronomy 18 writes about a greater prophet, a greater prophet than himself and a greater prophet than Muhammad.

And his name's Jesus. Now, when I said that, this guy's brother. So Flo, let's say you were that guy from Bangladesh.

And I was talking to this guy. The brother comes and steps right in between me and the brother trying to protect him from this crazy

American who's going to talk about Jesus as the ultimate prophet. And I thought, what a picture of sin. I will not hear this.

I want to protect you from these thoughts. Yesterday, we went to the rest home and I got to preach.

And I was excited because I love those folks there. And I met a guy before I preached, and his name was

Dickie. And I know Dickie because he walks all around West Boylston, walks, walks, walks, walks. I call him the walker.

And then now he's at this Oakdale rest home. And I said, hey, Dickie, how you doing? He said,

I'm doing great. He said, you know, I've never smoked and I never drank. I said, well, good. He said,

I don't smoke or drink either. We talked a little bit more. He goes, you know what? I've never smoked and I've never drank.

And I said, it's good. But I said, you know, I'm a pastor. He goes, oh, you're a pastor.

And I said, I'm here today to tell all your other residents, along with you, about how you can go to heaven, how you can have forgiveness fully and freely.

And I said, my question to you is when you die and stand before God and he were to ask you, why should

I let you into heaven? Would your answer be, I don't smoke and I don't drink and never have? And then he started to back up like that.

And I said, Dickie, we're just talking about the Bible and you can't even talk to me.

I said, don't be afraid. Come here and talk like a man face to face about the Bible.

And he goes, I've got to go. I got to go. So I thought, you know what?

Let's talk a little bit this morning about evangelism and wisely turning conversations into a discussion about who

Jesus is and what he did. And then if people don't want to listen, well, they don't want to listen, right?

We don't convert anybody. It's not our jobs. And so this morning, we'll talk a little bit about evangelism. And I want to encourage you to evangelize to anybody you can and everybody you can, because everyone you meet is going to die one day and they'll either pay for their sins or Jesus will pay for their sins, but there's no in between.

Okay, sound like a plan? Why don't we pray first? Father, I thank you today that you are powerful and that you are faithful and that you care for sinners.

We did not have to become better before you saved us. You demonstrated your love towards us that while we were yet sinners, your son died for us.

And we want other people to know about that love and forgiveness. We want other people to be new creatures in Christ Jesus.

We'd like other people to think differently and clearly and biblically and to give your son honor. To think about 40 ,000 people just cheering and essentially worshiping a man there at the

Vatican. We want that worship and adoration to be given to someone else, the real mediator, the real

Pontifus Maximus, the real bridge builder. And his name is Jesus and he's the mediator.

He's the advocate. So would you help us as we meet people to be bold and fearless and want to talk about Jesus?

And when they don't want to listen, then that's fine. But we want to be the people that are quickly talking about who

Jesus is and what he's done. Such a great King, such a great Savior. In Jesus' name,

Amen. All right, let's do it this way since it's more of an interaction time.

What's he been teaching about, by the way, at Sunday school? Ordinary? Is that what he's been doing?

Okay. How would you encourage someone, another Christian, to be a better evangelist?

How would you approach it? You wanted to encourage them to tell people about the good news. Remember, euangelion, evangelist, means good news.

I have some good news for you. Remember, even the definition of good news is content and even delivery.

And so the war is over. That would be good news. Ronald Reagan is elected president.

To me, the first time I didn't vote for Reagan, but the second time I did. So that would have been good news. When you're in college, you know, you're really liberal and then you get a job and then you think, maybe

I'm not so liberal. Nebraska Cornhuskers win the championship. That would be good news.

I guess New England Patriots, if they win, that'd be good news. It's a boy, you have a child. It's a girl.

These are all good news. And when it comes to the declaration that we have, it's Jesus Christ died, was raised from the dead, and all those who trust in him can have forgiveness.

Whether you're Jew or Gentile, free or slave, I have some good news for you. You can be forgiven. And if people say, well,

I'm having a hard time preaching to other people. You would say, I'd like to encourage you by this.

What is this to you? What do you say to them? Well, certainly what we wanna do is when we have friends and we wanna love them and be kind to them.

And I wouldn't disagree with that. Although it's interesting with the man in Bangladesh and with Dickie, I knew a little bit, but I think he'd forgotten.

I just thought I'm probably never gonna see these people again. And so what I try to do is I try to even be friendly.

Right? I'm not trying to be some mean, you know, ogre of a guy, but I'm asking, you know, where are you from? What's going on?

And now let me tell you about such and such. And so if we do have friends, you think in any way, shape or form, it's harder to tell friends sometimes about who the

Lord is. It's almost counterintuitive. Become friends with people to preach the gospel and then it becomes harder. So we certainly wanna be friendly as we do it.

And if we had to try to encourage someone else at church, here's how to be a better evangelist. That's gonna factor in, in some way, shape or form.

What else would you tell someone? If I were to tell you that Spurgeon said, you're either a missionary or you're an imposter, and then you get convicted and think, when was the last time

I preached the gospel to somebody or tried? I should probably do that more often. How could

I be encouraged to do that more often? You would be told what by someone who might have some wisdom.

Yes, Scott. Okay, two comments. Number two, that's an excellent comment.

Number one, did you just address me as Mike? I'm just kidding. Can you imagine

God had somebody in His sovereign plan come to you with the good news? Probably behind the scenes, people praying for you.

And do you think, you know what? God, I'm glad you did. Because how can you believe unless somebody's taught you

Romans chapter 10? Good. Well, I have a few of these written down and some others, but let me open it up for a little bit more discussion.

What would you say to someone to encourage them? You're discipling someone. Let's say you're a lady and you're discipling another young lady.

And that young lady said, I just like to evangelize more or better. Can you encourage me? Can you help me?

Can you give me some more confidence? You would say, yes. And why would you say?

I like the answer. Okay, excellent. And even studying the gospel, and by reading the gospels, when you watch the

Lord, that's just what He does. I mean, He goes by the well and He begins to talk to the lady.

Wherever He is, He's Nicodemus, and He begins to talk to Nicodemus. And so, since we do love the

Lord, we've been loved by Him. When you study Jesus, you think He had a priority of evangelism.

On the way to the cross even, that is what He would do. And certainly punctuated with healings and other things.

But He would tell people the good news, right? He came to preach. Remember, they wanted to try to absorb

Him and keep Him as the healer only. And He said, I've come to preach. And so, He went to the next town and didn't heal any more people.

Off He goes to preach the gospel and good news. All right, yes, Flo. If God is for me, who could be against me?

Excellent. I think that's going to be on my notes. Good job. Are you Greek? All right.

Is a synonym for a Greek person, biblically, a barbarian? No, it's okay.

Okay, yes, please. Isn't it good to be able to say, this is what the

Lord did for me. And it's ultimately a testimony about what God did to me.

But still, it's nice to be able to say that. I mean, my friends would ask me questions and they would say, you know,

I cannot argue, you used to be a drunk drug addict and then now you're a pastor.

Something had to happen. I don't know what it is. But it's pretty hard to argue with that. As long as I'm telling them, who's the one who changed me versus I just kind of did some moral change or I had therapy or something like that.

Good. All right, any other questions before we look at the

Bible? Yes. Oh, see, now we're starting to have some response. Cooley told me it was rough.

All right, yes, please. That's excellent. By the way, just quickly turn your

Bibles to Romans chapter one. Isn't that the book of Romans? It's on my mind since I just got done teaching

Romans. If you had to define the book of Romans with one word, how would you define that?

If you're asked on a test, here's how you define the book of Romans and you can only use one word.

What would you say the book of Romans talks about? One word and only one. Pardon me?

Righteousness. She can play the piano, but she can do a lot more. Yesterday, Christine went to the rest home with us.

And when you can make an out of tune rest home organ play, you can do anything.

So I'm very thankful for her and her ministry. The word is righteousness. Paul in chapters one, two, and the first three, in the first part of three, tells us unbelievers have no righteousness.

Chapter one, Gentiles have no righteousness. They need righteousness. Chapter two, moralistic people,

Jewish people, they also have no righteousness. And then Paul puts this little cantina together.

That's a C -A -N -T -E -N -A, a list of Old Testament quotes, not even the 10 commandments, an

Old Testament quote list in chapter three, stressing the nature of man and why he or she needs a savior.

And in verse 10, it stands written, none is righteous, no, not one. And then he goes on to talk about what comes out of their mouths, who they are.

And then it says down in verse 19, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Then the good news comes in verse 21, that the righteousness of God, in verse 22 as well, through faith comes in Christ Jesus for all who believe.

So to Joni's point, we have to remind people, let's talk about their need of the savior and the problem that they have before they're even going to look for a solution.

Is that what you were saying? Okay. Well, those are some good thoughts. Any last thoughts that somebody's wanting to talk about?

Yes. Whenever I get done attempting to preach the gospel,

I always feel great. When I talked to that guy from Bangladesh, I felt great. When I was talking to Dickie yesterday,

I felt great, even though neither of them bowed the knee and said, you know, when can I get baptized kind of thing. I felt so good.

And so those feelings that we have are good, but they're good after, right? You have an opportunity to talk about the

Lord and you say no, so you feel conviction. Your conscience gets you, that's a feeling after.

And the same thing when you do the right thing and then the Lord gives you the feelings of, oh, yes, I did that.

That's a good feeling. But to drive and to motivate with feelings is bad. And we know that, and you'll know that when you have kids and you'll say, you know what?

You know, daddy's going to run an errand and when I get back, I'd like to have the dishes done, please. That'd be sweet to have that done for mom.

When I come home and the dishes aren't done and I say, Haley, is this indicative of you?

Haley, I'll blame the other kids. Maddie, Gracie, why didn't you do the dishes?

Well, I didn't feel led. Well, we wouldn't accept that from our kids, but we accept it from ourselves where we think

I wasn't led. And with the Great Commission, make disciples by going, teaching, baptizing, we already have the command, so we don't need to feel led.

We just need to open our mouths. That's all. Yes, Brian. Why are you up there? Yeah.

Yes, please. Super good.

Let's start with that one. Turn to Matthew chapter 28, please. Left to ourselves, we can't do anything.

Knees knocking, hearts beating. It's very difficult. And when

Jesus gives the lowercase g, Great Commission, because I think the greatest commission of all is in eternity past where the father gives a commission to the son to go rescue the bride.

But then when Jesus gives us the small g, lowercase, Great Commission, he tells us something that's great.

And I know you, because I've been your pastor for 18 years, that you know the passage, but just to remind you that someone is with you to help you.

And Matthew 28, verse 18 says, Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

That's fully inclusive in heaven and earth. I say something like, from the top of your head to the sole of your foot.

Is that a figure of speech? Me trying to tell you all of you, write everything about you. Who knows if that figure of speech?

It starts with an M, Amerism, M -E -R -I -S -M.

So if I say from the top of the heavens to the bottom of the earth, it means everything. And so there's all authority.

Go, therefore, make disciples. You know, the key verb is make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them, super interesting in the singular name.

There's one God in the singular name, but that God subsists in three persons of the

Father, definite article, and the Son, definite article, and the Holy Spirit. One God, three persons.

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo, behold, listen, focus.

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

I mean, if I think about it, apart from Christ, I can do how much? Nothing.

But with Him, I can do all kinds of things. This emphatic pronoun, I am with you.

And it's, by the way, present tense. No less than I myself am with you.

Now, if I had to ask you the question, would you rather have Jesus on earth today?

Or would you rather have the Holy Spirit indwelling Christians today? What would you say? Kind of a trick question.

Let's say it's hypothetical. You want Jesus on earth today, or you want the Holy Spirit indwelling Christians today? Which would you pick and why?

Okay, why, Charlie? Okay, we won't go to John 16 right now, but your answer's correct.

Jesus says to the man, I'm going to leave, but I'm gonna leave someone with you who's just like me, and he's gonna indwell you.

And Jesus is in a body, and he can only be one place at a time. I'm talking about his humanity.

But the Spirit of God, he can be anywhere and everywhere, and so you have the Spirit of God dwelling within you.

And I'm gonna make sure you're not left alone as orphans. And so actually it's better because it's revealed, but it's also a wiser plan of God than he can give the

Spirit to us. And so, so often I think to myself, if I would just pray this, Lord, I'm not sufficient, help me.

I'm weak, help me. God, I don't know what to do, help me. Don't you think the

Lord would be pleased to answer that? Romans chapter seven, I do what I don't want to do.

Never in Romans seven is there a mention of the Holy Spirit. Chapter eight, I think 20 times the

Holy Spirit's mentioned. That just makes me want to say, I should say, Lord, I just need help.

If somebody comes up to you, and they're a child, and they say, could you please help me? What do you just want to do instinctively?

You want to help. And so if you say, Lord, I'm weak, and I want to tell this other person about who Jesus is, could you help me?

What do you think the Lord might do? I think he might help you. So the best thing that I think of is the

Lord is with me. Number two, turn to Acts chapter 18. If I want to try to encourage you, the congregation, to keep on preaching the gospel, to tell people about who

Jesus is. Acts chapter 18, God said he'd be with you, number one.

How do I encourage you further? God says that he has his chosen ones just waiting for you to talk to.

Here we go. This is interesting. Acts chapter 18, everything's all planned.

Do you think God's sovereign? To what extent is God sovereign? To what degree is

God sovereign? He's completely sovereign.

Thank you. If you were God, you would like to be sovereign, and you could be sovereign since you're powerful. Since you're omnipresent, you can be sovereign.

Does that include salvation? He's sovereign over everything, but he just kind of lets salvation, hope it happens.

Well, Acts 18, it says in verse five, but when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the

Jews that Jesus was the Christ or the Messiah. And when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook his garments out and said to them, your blood be upon your own heads.

I am clean. From now on, I shall go to the Gentiles. And he departed from there and went to the house of a certain man named

Tidius Justus, a worshiper of God. He was a monotheist, that's all that means, whose house was next to the synagogue.

And Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, when they had heard, were believing and being baptized.

Verse nine, and the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking, do not be silent.

Now this is very reminiscent of what we just looked at in Matthew chapter 28, but something else is given.

For I am with you, sound familiar, and no man will attack you in order to harm you.

For I have many people in this city. All right, what does

Luke mean when he writes Acts 18 .10? I have many people in this city to protect you, to be a bouncer for you or a bodyguard for you.

What is he trying to tell Paul? What's the answer? Yes. Okay, don't be afraid.

For what reason though? I'm with you, but what else?

What's this? I have many people in this city. What's that referring to? Pardon me?

Can you imagine? There are people that God knows about, that God has foreknown, foreloved to use the language of Romans chapter eight.

And they don't just spontaneously combust into becoming a Christian. There's a way that God works and he works through the preaching.

And as through preaching Romans chapter 10, they hear the gospel when God's pleased, he quickens people.

He makes them alive. And what if you were to know, if you were Paul, by the way, remember when

Paul would go to a city? What would he do when he first got to a city? This isn't in the

Bible, but it's my tradition. It's my made up thing. So that means it's worthless.

You know, when I go to a city, when I'm in Rome, I think to myself, check where the hotel is or how to figure out the

Metro, whatever. As some commentators say, Paul would always ask where the jail was because he knew he would be there soon enough, right?

So he'd always find the jail. To think that there are people who are not believing, but chosen by God.

And it's your responsibility just to give them the good news. That's all you need to do. This is unregenerate elect people need to hear the gospel.

There are people there. God is going to save and they need to hear the gospel in order to be saved because that's the way

God works. Why don't you give them the gospel? It's encouraging. I don't know how many elect people are in West Boylston, but you have to imagine out of 6 ,000 people, there's some around here.

I love to go to the gym and I go to a little gym over here in Clinton. I don't preach the gospel more at any other place than at this gym because when somebody's bench pressing 350 pounds,

I don't help them unless they repent because I can just preach right there and off they go.

But I love to be able to talk and so I think to myself, some of these people

God probably is going to save. My responsibility is just to tell them the truth. And if they say yes, they say yes.

If they say no, I don't have to save anyone. And so what Paul is being told here, verse 10, and I am with you.

No one will attack you in order to harm you. And I have many people in this city. There are people here in Corinth that God has chosen in eternity past.

And your preaching, Paul, will have them believe the gospel because God will change their minds and quicken their hearts through the preaching of the gospel.

Look back to Acts 13 just for a second, Acts 13, 48, as we're talking about the sovereignty of God.

Of course, people are responsible. Of course, people have a duty to believe, but because they're dead in trespasses and sins,

God has to be the initiator. God has to work first. And this is a reminder that God works in the hearts of people in Acts 13, 48.

If you don't know this verse, you ought to underline it or highlight it in your iPad. And when the

Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life, make sure you get the order properly.

As many as had been appointed to eternal life. When does God appoint people to eternal life, by the way?

In eternity past. That's correct. As many people has been appointed to eternal life, believed.

I know there are people out there who are just going to hear the gospel and respond.

And so I say to myself, that gives me encouragement because without the appointing to eternal life, how many people that you witnessed to would ever believe?

Zero. People say, well, you know, if this is the sovereignty of God and this is ordination and this is appointment and this is predestination, that is a damper, puts a damper on my evangelism.

If you think of church history, who were the most well -known evangelist of all time?

Can you give me some names? Who were the most? I'm reading a Hudson Taylor biography now.

Hudson Taylor. Give me some other missionaries, famous missionaries. Who are the most famous missionaries you can come up with?

David Livingston. Pardon me, William Carey. Finally, Adoniram Judson, because when

I say Salem to you, Massachusetts, what's your automatic word association? See, because you're so pagan, you say witches.

I mean, who are you guys? Witches. You don't say witches, you say Adoniram Judson because there's a statue of him right there at the ocean that he's the first missionary sent from American soil.

And where did he go to, by the way? Burma. Adoniram Judson, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, David Livingston.

Anybody else you can think of? Pardon me? Oh, thank you.

I thought you said Mary Slessor. Well, let's include those two ladies as well. Do you know what? I don't know about Gladys as much, but the other ones, they all believed in the sovereignty of God that in eternity past,

God chose some, and it's our responsibility to give the good news to everyone. And those some,

God will make alive through the preaching of the gospel. I know they're out there. Maybe there were some sitting at the rest home yesterday when

I was preaching. I don't know. It's just a matter of time. What's the responsibility with the parable of the sower?

Right, there's all kinds of soil there in Matthew 13. But what's the responsibility of the sower?

He just keeps sowing, and he just keeps sowing, and some soil is hard, some soil isn't good, some soil gives fruit.

And so we just keep preaching to people, and when God decides to save, he decides to save.

I could use this language, Ephesians 2 .10, where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

God prepared what? Beforehand that we should walk in him.

God's got it all arranged. He's got it all figured out. Turn to Acts 16. Let me give you an illustration of how

God perfectly planned this out. It wasn't that long ago. Lucille and I were right here, along with some other folks from Bethlehem Bible Church, at a little river outside of Berea.

And remember that river, Lucille? All right. Remember there were some people right over to the side of us that were kind of getting re -baptized and stuff like that and singing?

Well, let's see an example of how God's got it all planned out. And I think he gives us this example for lots of reasons, but one that encourages me to keep preaching the gospel.

Here, Acts 16, verse 11. Everything's planned out.

Therefore, putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace. I don't even know how to say this one.

Who could say this one for me? Samothrace? Samothrace?

K -O -R -A -C -E, Samothrace. Oh, funny story.

We're in Rome, and I did rent a car for just a couple days. And I had a little

Fiat Panda, is what I rented. And we were zipping all around.

And so I put my Google Maps to try to get to this place because driving in Rome is very difficult.

And there's all these Italian streets, obviously. And my Google Map person pronounces things kind of like I pronounce

Spanish words, K -O -R -A -C -E. You know how you have the Google Maps and it says, in 400 meters, take a right on Worcester Avenue, you know?

And so she was totally destroying the Italian language. And I felt kind of good about it because that's what

I do. But it wasn't Schadenfreude where I was glad about it because she wasn't really a real person.

Siri doesn't exist, so Samothrace.

And on the following day to Neapolis, new city.

And from there, they went to Philippi, verse 12, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a

Roman colony. And we were staying in this city for some days. And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to a riverside.

We were supposing that there would be a place of prayer, right? It wasn't large enough for a synagogue.

And we sat down and began speaking to the woman who had assembled, the women who had assembled rather.

Weren't 10 men there for a synagogue, so there were some ladies praying. And a certain woman named

Lydia from the city of Thyatira, remember that for a moment, a seller of purple fabrics.

She was a monotheist, a worshiper of God, was listening and the Lord opened her heart, look at the sovereignty of God, to respond to the things spoken by God.

Yes, you have to have responsibility. Yes, you have to have duty. But that comes after God opens your heart. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the

Lord, come into my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us.

What's the cool thing about God having everything all set up? And this is ordained by God and planned by God.

How is this wonderful that it was all worked out? Give me some background. How does this show

God's got His sovereignty over salvation of people, even like Lydia? And I'm going to let silence be my close.

How does this show God's sovereignty in saving people? Yes. She wasn't there by accident.

She wasn't there by accident. Good. By the way, sometimes when I think to myself, you know,

I used to want to make that flight and with the flights delayed and everything else. And I just think, you know what?

It's just better to just rest in the Lord's sovereignty. If I don't make that flight, I don't make that flight. Everything's going to plan.

So she wasn't there by accident. What else is going on? The Lord's the one that opened her heart.

Okay. Yes, Brian. Okay. Now, where are they?

Are they technically in Europe? Are they in Asia? Where is

Greece? Is it Europe or Asia? These days it's becoming Asia, but that's another story. Sorry, Charlie.

What? Okay, so they're in Europe, Greece, Berea.

And how many other born -again people were there? Maybe no one. But Thyatira, where's

Thyatira? Asia. Paul wanted to go to Asia, remember?

And he was thwarted. The Spirit of God wouldn't let him go. And isn't it amazing that all the sovereignty of God, here's a certain river at a certain place, at a certain city, at a place where there was not enough people for a synagogue.

Up walks the Apostle Paul. He's dying in his heart to preach the gospel to Asians. He wanted to go there badly.

He thought God wanted him to go, but God said no. And he talks to a lady in Europe from Asia, and then

God opens her heart. Pretty good. Pretty exciting to me, where you just think the right person at the right place at the right time.

It's kind of a coinkydink, isn't it? Right? Isn't that just so lucky? I mean, it's fortunate.

Charlie, that's an excellent insight, because in light of the sovereignty of God, we ought not to think from a human perspective.

This person seems like low -hanging fruit. This person seems impossible to save. I mean, if you had to pick somebody impossible to save, wouldn't we all have picked

Saul? I mean, what about these people? Could God save one of these

ISIS people? You just think, how can God do these things? Because God gets glory when he saves people that grow up in the church.

He also gets glory when he saves these murdering kind of people. But the day,

Charlie, that I went door -to -door and I told you all this story so many times, you'll probably get tired of it. But new people come.

They need to hear the story. When I went door -to -door and I saw the one guy with the beard, big kind of biker guy,

ZZ Top thing going on, he was the one that said, please come in. It was the grandma who

I thought she was going to offer me some kind of my grandma's favorite sugar cookies and to please come in and talk about the

Lord. She's the one that slammed the door on my face saying, I've already got my religion and I'm ready to die with it.

So how do I know? I just know it's the general call. I'm supposed to just preach to everybody I can.

And there's a reason why we have friends. And there's a reason why we go out. There's a reason why you shouldn't buy everything in your life from Amazon.

What's that reason? I shop from Amazon too. But it's nice to be able to get to know your postal carrier, the person at the butcher shop, the person at the grocery store.

And you get to know them and you talk with them. And when you're able to preach to them, it's appropriate, then you do.

I think too often we get all caught up in, I have a job and I'm supposed to preach everywhere. And now

I'm supposed to preach at my job. And then we get in trouble because you get paid not to preach.

You get paid to assemble widgets. And so there's opportunities outside of widget assembly that you can preach.

Other comments? Yes. Carol, that is so important. Steve last night said,

Jan, it's not feeling well. And some of the other men are gone and other churches preaching. And I said, you know, I haven't done

Sunday school for a while. I'd love to help if I could. And I thought, well, what do I want to talk about? I mean, there's all kinds of subjects, right?

We could talk about 3 ,000 different Christian topics. But since the Lord had me and I was able to evangelize yesterday and then over in Europe, I'm fired up about it.

Because I can just talk to anybody. And so if I meet someone and then one of my favorite things to do is if I'm on the phone with, let's say,

MasterCard or Visa or, you know, Apple computer or something, they're breaking down all the time.

Oh, Sam, sorry. And here's what we, you know, we're on the phone 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and we get to this point.

Sir, could I please have your email address? I say bbcpastor at bbcchurch .org.

And then I always say, any guesses on what I do for a living? And sometimes then

I evangelize right out of there. One lady said to me, and I know she probably wasn't supposed to. She said, you're a pastor at a

Bible teaching church. I said, yes, I am. She said, you know, I have a great church that I go to in Houston.

I said, what's the name of the church? Joe Osteen's church. And I thought, well,

I've only got a few minutes to talk. And so yes, did you get the credit applied before I now talk to you?

And I said to her, I said, you know, here's the thing with Joe Osteen. Joe says that he doesn't want to talk about sin because we all know we're already sinners, so let's not talk about it.

And I said, but you know, the Lord Jesus Christ, he talked about sin a lot. And the more you realize how great your sin is, the more you appreciate his death for sinners who sin a lot.

And so we're going to talk about sin at bbcchurch .org. She goes, oh, that's a good point.

This call may be recorded. But I get fired up when you just think it's not, it's hard in the sense that you might offend people.

But friends, I have to tell you, most of the time, you're not even going to get to the offensive stuff because they're just going to stiff arm you.

And I think, you know what, Lord, I didn't have to close a deal yesterday. I just said to Dickie, you know what?

I know you don't want to talk about it. And it just shows me the hardness of sin. But there's forgiveness found.

We're going to be meeting in about 10 minutes right over there. We'd love to have you come. That's all you have to do. You don't have to be mean.

You don't have to be rude. You just smile and preach away. Anybody here have an opportunity where you just recently got to preach, or attempt to preach, and you were encouraged by it?

Because we'll use that as a testimony that Carol was just talking about where it encourages other people.

Charlie, one of the things about sin that's so enslaving is it's fueled by Satan and his power.

And if it's not for the gospel, these people just can't get out. I mean, when I went to a small counter -Reformation church in Rome that they don't talk about much because it's kind of a smudge on the

Roman Catholic Church. There's a statue, a huge statue, 10 foot tall of Mary with a cross that looks like a lightsaber.

And she's smashing these men with their feet, and those men are the Reformers. And there's a little imp demon who's ripping out pages of Luther's writings down at the bottom of that.

And I just thought, you know, here's what's going on. We're talking about sin, slavery to sin, satanic influence.

Remember, 2 Timothy says that unbelievers are held captive to do Satan's will, right?

They tout their free will, but they're doing Satan's will, thinking they're free the whole time. How do

I get through that? How do I talk to them? And I'm not Harvard educated or anything else.

What can I do? But I've been given the gospel of good news, that Jesus dies and was raised from the dead, and he's coming back, and I just have to talk about it.

And God can save as he pleases. That was going to be one of my other points, that God uses weak, frail people, sinful people, those people that don't know everything and haven't taken apologetics class.

I know who God is. He saved me, and I want him to save you. And then we open our mouths. All right, well, it is 10 till.

Why don't we pray, and then we'll get ready for service. Father, I thank you for our time today.

I pray for every person here that you would give them an opportunity in the next week of opening their mouths to talk about sin and the

Savior. Maybe they talk about what they've learned at church, maybe what they've learned from the

Bible, something about Jesus and the gospels, or anything to talk about spiritual things, eternal things.

And Father, may you just lead that conversation and drive it. We rehearsed again this morning that when we are evangelizing, of course, every other time, you are with us.

You never leave us or forsake us. Father, you did forsake your son on our behalf, but now because of that, we will never have to be forsaken.

So as you're with us during Thanksgiving and other times, I pray maybe for the dads, especially as they're leading the

Thanksgiving prayer, that they would just preach away as they pray about the sovereignty and supremacy of a

Jesus Christ who would save sinners. Enslaved to ISIS, enslaved to Catholicism, enslaved to Protestantism, if it's not saving.