Why Evangelize? (Part 1)

I feel like I should write some lyrics for this. This is recording. I know.

Opening Banter and Technical Setup

Welcome to No Compromise Radio. Spoiler alert. Steve jumps in for the first time ever in the history of thousands of shows, and he talks first. Something's wrong. If you could rename the show, what would you rename it?

The Tuesday Guy? Probably. Probably. Well, Steve, only one time I've had someone call in, this button over here, you can do a Bluetooth, and people can call in, and it goes straight in. We don't have to have them call that funny call box anymore.

Did you know that?

No, I did not. I mean, you know, you went to the 21st century on this machine, and I have no idea what's going on.

I think it started with someone, I can't remember the guy's name in Canada. Thanks for the ministry, appreciate it. Your sound system's awful. Have you ever thought of getting something else? They were nice about it, and they were right.

Did they suggest this machine and say, you can even put sound effects on it? You can do like a Dr. Demento show?

You know who has a lot of sound effects is the Heidel cast. He's got Iverson's, we're talking about practice, not a game, not a game, and then he's got Batman, and then he's got more Cowbell. It's a whole cornucopia of Demento stuff.

Demento stuff. And you're not even trying to compete. How could I? Well, you could try. I would lose. I think I need some updated sounds, though, because some of these sounds aren't that good.

But why not like set phasers on stun? You know, I mean, you can come up with all kinds of good stuff.

And if you were a kid and you could play with phasers or a tricorder, which one would you play with?

Oh, phasers, no question about it. Mom, can we play with the phasers? Just make sure they're set on sun, stun, stun sun.

Steve, our topic today is not this introduction. We're going to talk about evangelism in just a little bit. But I came across a little article called Why I Never Eat. Oh, okay. Yeah, eating's bad for you.

And it's a take on not attending church. So the same excuses that we use for not attending church, what if we applied those to the eating realm? And then it kind of gets comical. Okay. I don't eat anymore because I was forced to eat as a child.

Hmm. Yeah, I was. What's the worst thing you had to eat when you were a kid from your perspective and you were forced to eat it?

I don't know. The list would be long and Cauliflower for me. It might have been that. I mean, you know, I think mom really kind of, you know, grew in her cooking to where she stopped stewing things and that helped a lot, you know, where everything didn't have the consistency of mush.

Now we know why people say stop stewing over that. Oh. I don't eat anymore because I used to eat, but I got bored and stopped. I don't eat anymore because I only eat on special occasions like Christmas and Easter.

Well, I mean, we can do a whole show about, you know, going to church. I mean, that's because people that I think even sometimes the motivations for people going to church are sometimes not the best. Let's just put it that way.

And we would say in light of that, if you don't feel like going to church and you've got a bad motivation to go, but you're a member and you're a Christian, or even if you're not a member, but you're a Christian, you just go anyway and ask Lord to change your feelings and your motivations.

And you think I'm just going to go. And then usually probably in the middle of worship, you'll probably be reoriented.

Is that that way with just about everything? I don't feel like doing this. Okay. Well, feelings. Let's not go all Morris Albert here. That's so true.

We were driving to New York City last week, I think with, I was driving with Maddie, my daughter and Kim, my wife, and we put on Pandora Hall and Oats station and I don't pay for any Pandora extra, so I have to get the ads and you know, I can't pick what I want.

They play them for you, you know, songs in line. And I think we had 16 in a row we liked.

And then Morris Albert came on, whoa, whoa, whoa, feeling. Can I just tell you, like the very first full-time job I had was working in a warehouse where, you know, I thought it was going to be moving boxes around.

Nope. I was fixing a little music boxes that played feelings. Oh, how I came to hate that song. I did. I've known you for a long time.

I did not know that. Oh boy. Do I hate that song? Lastly, for today, why I never eat. I don't eat anymore because restaurants and groceries, grocery stores only want your money. Only after your money.

Yes, it's true. It's true. So today, let's talk a little bit about evangelism, Steve, the evangel. What is the evangel? Why are we supposed to evangelize? What pops in your mind when you think of evangelism?

Pick any of those questions.

Well, we have good news. We want to share that good news with people who, I mean, just think about the world we live in. The news is depressing, right? It's always bad. We just heard a little clip before we came on here, you know, what's happening now?

You know, live in the moments and well, the news of the moment is rarely good. We never, you know, I mean, what was the last time we had like VE day or something, you know, VJ day.

Right. I go to Citizen Free Press or you can go to any news outlet. Maybe you like, I don't know, if you like Powerline blog or if you like Fox News, if you like Breitbart, whatever you like, maybe you're left winging.

But I don't really get too much good news.

It's pretty rare because bad news sells. Hey, there you go.

Spurgeon said, if you have no wish for others to be saved, then you're not saved yourself. Be sure of that. And you said earlier, Steve, that when you get saved by Christ Jesus and his work, you want to tell other people about it because as you remember, probably wasn't that a good feeling and wasn't that a good experience?

And didn't you think rightly after God changed you and made you alive?

I mean, some of the most amazing, I mean, immediately, I think after I got saved, I mean, within a short period of time, I was taking a discipleship evangelism at Grace Community Church. And, you know, just the opportunity, even though most of the time, you know, the evenings would be a bust or whatever.

But whenever you got to sit there and tell people about Christ and, you know, sometimes it was people who loved Benny Hinn, whatever, it didn't matter, you know, I wasn't there to correct theology. I was just there to, you know, share the good news of Christ.

And it's so encouraging. Even if I get to ramble for a minute, even at Shepherds Conference this year, I was, somebody stopped me and wanted to talk to me. And we spoke for a minute and he goes, you may not remember this.

And I didn't. He goes, but 20 years ago, you know, you were teaching a class on evangelism and he goes, this is how it impacted my life. And I listen, I go, wow, you know, praise the Lord for that. Because I'm like, I, I don't know if I'm a good teacher now, but I know I wasn't a good teacher then.

So, you know, the Lord is really good and gracious.

I was putting some lime on our lawn yesterday, because here in New England with acid rain and other things, you have to lime up your lard, your lard, your lard, that's pretty good. Lime up your lard. There was lard in the refrigerator the other day and Kim needed for some special recipe.

I thought we're, we're buying lard. I thought people like get rid of that. We bought lard. Was she making donuts or something? And a lady and a younger lady came up the driveway and I thought, here we go.

Probably JWs or something. And they said, we're selling eggs and we're undercutting the grocery stores prices and we're selling organic eggs. And it seemed like there was the mom and the younger daughter.

And I said, well, you know what? I'd love some eggs. And what do you charge for them? $3 a dozen. Are they fresh? Yes. And then I said, okay, I'll take three dozen. I'll go get the money. I had the money.

The one older lady walks across the street and while the younger lady's halfway in my driveway waiting. So then I began to talk to her and she was a sweet little down syndrome lady. And I said, you know, how long you been selling the eggs and do you crack them at all?

Do you break them? You know, I just small talk. And then the other lady came back and I said, well, I'm a pastor down at Bethlehem Bible Church. And I said, we love to tell people about the good news and the God that made that son up there that's just coming out now.

He made you and he made me. And the bad news is we're sinners. And that's why the Lord Jesus had to come to rescue sinners like us and live and die on the cross and be raised from the dead. And you know what?

Afterward, I thought I probably should have bought four or five dozen. It just, Hey, they came to my door and I thought I'd like to have an attitude of, I don't have to read the entire book of Romans to them, but just get in as much as I could.

And it was sweet. Wait, you don't have to read the entire book of Romans? I'm doing things wrong.

It's not called the Romans road. It's you're not a good evangelist unless you read Romans in Greek, Koine Greek to people. So we've got a list of why you should evangelize here on No Compromise Radio and Steve and I'd like to talk about those.

How about Steve? I read why we should and then maybe a comment and then you run with the line. Why should you evangelize? In no particular order, although this is probably right at the top, it is a command of Christ.

Jesus came up and spoke to them, Matthew 28, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. That's kind of a cool Marism, by the way, heaven and earth and everything in between. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.

And so we have a great commission. Jesus commands it. So is that a good reason to evangelize?

That's a great reason. I mean, if you love the Lord Jesus Christ, which you should, if you're called a Christian, right? And he said, go do this. Well, it's a good thing to do. It's a good thing to obey.

If he has all authority and he does, right, it's a good thing to obey him. I mean, we wouldn't want to be known as disobedient Christians.

So true. I mean, the motivation is not, well, we want to obey him because if we don't, we'll lose our salvation. And if we don't, somehow, you know, we'll be in limbo when we die or something. Outcasts.

Right. Out of gratitude, right? Black sheep of the family. It's back to grace, gratitude, out of gratitude. I mean, can you imagine what would the Lord Jesus on earth say to Peter post-resurrection that Peter would say, I'm not going to do that.

Sorry. Sorry, Lord, I've got my limits, you know?

Now, maybe the old Peter, but the new Peter, you see what he, he actually obeyed the Lord Jesus. And in the book you're preaching through, the second book Luke writes, off he goes.

It's amazing in Acts how he, how he just is so brave. I mean, he just, I'm just like, he's just like the, you know, the old gunslinger in the West. I mean, Peter, Peter just walks into the hornets nest.

He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. They're going to shoot at me, but I've read the script. Nothing bad happens yet.

Steve, telling people the good news about a Savior who forgives sinners. Here in the Great Commission, we're to be going out. The Lord sends us. Steve, tell us a little bit about the difference between, well, the church gathering to be edified and then scattering to evangelize.

In other words, do we need big programs at the church, evangelistic outreaches, witnessing programs?

What's the strategy here? Well, I mean, the constant work of the church is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. That's what we do. So whether it's Sunday school, whether it's even in the sermons, what's happening?

Well, we're preaching the word of God. We're teaching the word of God. We're exhorting with the word of God. Why? Because that's what we as Christians need. And really, here's what I would say. We come on Sunday and we should get our tank filled up, not in the sense that some people say, well, I just like to get my tank topped off or whatever, you know, spiritual feeling.

But we should leave church with an overflow of knowledge, of zeal, of joy for the Lord, so that when we go out, we're not just excited to talk to people about Christ, but we want to give them the gospel.

And we have the means to do it because we've learned that at the church, right? That's why we come to church on Sunday. That's why, that's what's wrong with the seeker sensitive model is because on Sunday, well, there are several things wrong with it.

We come to worship the Lord, which we don't do if we're more concerned about the visitors. But we also want to give people the tools that they need, the knowledge that they need to go out and share the gospel of Christ with the world.

Even if, Steve, they only know what they got from that sermon, you learn enough from that sermon to say, oh, we just were in Luke chapter one, and Mary is a wonderful lady. She received grace and she received favor from God.

Grace means sin, and then now you've got a Catholic neighbor and she wants to talk about Mary. I mean, there's, there has to be something there. Right.

And, you know, like you said, there's just, especially since we live in such a Roman Catholic area here, it's good to even to just dwell on these things and to think about them. And to think about, well, I do have some common ground with my Roman Catholic neighbors, but there are a lot of significant differences where I can use those differences to get to the gospel.

Amen. Talking about evangelism today, why evangelize? And the first reason is because God commands us to evangelize. Steve, tell me your strategy when it's appropriate to evangelism. Here's my strategy.

I try to look at the mailman, the mailwoman, the people at the grocery store that I often go to, friends, neighbors, the auto mechanic. I'm just trying to look at all of them as a mission field. Now, maybe some of them are already saved.

I don't know, but I'm trying to think, well, I'd like to act godly and kind and nice. That doesn't save anybody, but I don't really need to be a jerk, right? I want to be adorning the gospel well, but isn't that better, a better strategy and attitude than, well, the church is going to put this big program together and these are the five ways we're going to do outreach.

I just want everybody in the church to think, oh, I have friends that I should evangelize. Contacts.

Exactly. And I, you know, I mean, really to my shame, a lot of times I have to put myself in the mindset of evangelism. I have to, you know, go, wait a minute, you know, I mean, I can remember being in Portland once and just looking at how bizarre people looked and, you know, just marveling at it for a while.

And then I thought, wait a second, I'm not thinking about this rightly. I should, instead of thinking how bizarre, how bizarre, I should be thinking, these people need Christ. They need to hear the gospel.

I mean, yes, they look odd, but they have souls and one day they're going to stand before the Lord and they're going to have to give an answer for what they did with Christ, right? And if I'm not going to be faithful to give them the gospel, I'm essentially holding their hand while they go to hell and I don't want to do that.

Steve, you brought up a good point when it comes to these people in the world. So many people have false ideologies and they're promoting awful things, whether it's diversity, equity, and inclusion, all these systemic racism, this, that, and the other, I mean, transgender issues, abortion.

I mean, the list could go on and on, the sin vice list that people seem to promote call evil good. I think we've got some kids in the background there. That's weird. They made it on the no compromise radio and we're just going to have to just keep going.

Is it the phone thing going on? No, no. That's the kids from the ladies Bible study.

That's just kind of loud. It sounds like it's directly into the... Oh, it must be the good equipment that we have.

Oh, okay. If I'm not careful, I think of the ideologies that they promote, which I hate, and then I don't want it to turn into, I hate this person so much that I'm not going to tell them the good news or I'm not going to think about them as image bearers.

I won't think of them as, well, you know what? I was an awful person before God saved me as well.

It's so important to be able to constantly remind ourselves to separate the actions from the person in the sense that whatever they've done, whether they're a murderer or a rapist, whatever they've done, they're still an image bearer.

And we're commanded to go to image bearers, not to really good people, not to people that we like.

Right? Well, think of the Lord Jesus, the sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, those kind of people. He didn't go affirm their sin. He went there to proclaim the good news. He himself incarnate.

Evangelism as Obedience to Christ

So I'm with you. Number two, why evangelize? I've got here on my list, Steve, because evangelism gives glory to the Father. In other words, you don't need to save people because you can't. You don't need to say to yourself, I failed in evangelism because they didn't sign the line, sign the bottom line.

The Lord wants us to go evangelize and it's his prerogative to save or not to save. Matthew 5 says, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Walk us through why it still honors the Lord when you preach the gospel and people maybe don't respond positively.

Well, if the Father sent his Son, which he did, the Son came into the world, took on, took to himself a human nature. We want to proclaim these truths, whether or not, you know, anybody ever believes it.

I mean, you know, if we talk about the prophets of old, you know, Isaiah, Ezekiel, I mean, these men told the truth. And did they have, you know, thousands and hundreds of thousands come to faith? The answer is no.

Well, then why did they do it? Because they were commanded to, because it brought glory to God, right? By their very obedience. Even sometimes when we think, I'm not even that obedient. I'm not even that good.

I'm not even that bold. I'm not even whatever. Well, I can, there are myriads of examples, not just in my life, but throughout church history where even the most feeble effort was used mightily by the Lord.

And we, it shows that we trust him. It shows that we believe him. These are all important things to do for ourselves, but they also glorify the Lord and honor him.

Steve, I think we could apply the same principle to preaching. Is the Lord glorified and honored if we preach a sermon and nobody likes the message? Everybody disagrees with the truth they're in. And maybe you're at the jail and you preach a sermon and there are 20 guys there and they all say, I don't believe it at all.

Is the father still glorified because we've talked about the son that he sent?

Yes, exactly. I mean, this is the purpose. The Holy Spirit is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. The father sent him, the son willingly came and all these things. So the triune God is glorified when we obey, when we do the right thing.

I think it's an encouragement where I say to myself, your wife is peeking through the window, she's like, where are they? That's the first time I've ever seen that. Janet at the window. Oh, there's Colt.

Uh-huh. Well, yeah, there they are trying to look. This is called live radio podcast. I'm just encouraged that if I meet somebody, I say something on the plane, I say something at the driveway and they don't really respond, I still think the Lord is honored.

Yes. I'm happy for that. I love 2 Corinthians 4. It says, for all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

And certainly, sometimes when we preach, people do respond positively and the Lord makes them alive again and that gives him glory. Wesley said, though I'm always in haste, I'm never in a hurry. I never undertake any more work that I can go through without perfect calmness of spirit.

Why would that be in my notes?

What's that doing there? Well, I mean, but it's good, right? Because if we let ourselves get frazzled or emotionally consumed in any kind of way, then it's easy to lose track of the main thing. And what's the main thing?

It's the souls that are out there that need to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. Good rescue. Thank you.

Remember, the Lord was going to go heal the daughter, the 12-year-old daughter, and then the other lady that had a 12-year-old issue comes up, right? And she's the bleeding lady. And you think about the Lord Jesus.

He was always working, but it was all according to the sovereign plan. You think about the timing of everything. You know, good for Wesley that he wanted to proclaim the truth. Remember that old quote that I found?

Here it is, Steve. A one-legged school teacher from Scotland came to J. Hudson Taylor and said, I'd like to serve in China. With only one leg? Why do you think you could do that as a missionary? Asked Taylor.

George Scott replied, I do not see those with two legs going. There you go. Steve, both of us are examples of how the Lord can use the least expected and the most unqualified people. That's not searching for a compliment either.

No, no, I took it exactly as the way you meant it. When applied to me. I mean, I know false humility at all. I'm constantly stunned. You know, when anybody says anything, you know, I just think, man, if you just knew how dopey I am and, you know, how much I wrestle with things and, you know, even to put together a sermon or whatever I'm doing, you know, I'm just like, the Lord is good.

And, you know, I'm a doofus.

That's one of the key words we use around this place. Is doofus.

Yes, and doofus I, which everyone knows is the plural of.

Evangelism as a Privilege and Ambassadorship

Why evangelize? Lastly for today, Steve, because you get to.

What an honor. I mean, seriously, I mean, the idea that we are ambassadors for the Lord, that we get to preach Christ in him crucified, you know, why? It's his appointed means. But I mean, it just it boggles my mind, you know, to think, yes, he uses these cracked vessels, these clay pots, clay pots, and, you know, just uses us to do really the work of reclaiming or rejuvenating or bringing back to life.

You know, I mean, he uses us in some way to bring life to dead people. And it's amazing.

Steve, while angels made certain proclamations, of course, on a regular basis, the gospel goes out, not through angels. I mean, the specific strict gospel about Jesus is through people, not through angels.

Which would it would make more sense, at least the angels are without sin. And, you know, they could say, hey, well, you've seen Jesus, you know.

So, let's take that example on the driveway that I had yesterday. This lady and this other lady that I thought was her daughter, but she wasn't. They were just friends. They invited me over to the 30th birthday party for this young down syndrome.

Oh, nice. I thought, you know, I should probably just go, right? And all of a sudden, I'm thinking to myself, all right, I'm talking to them. I'm just kind of fishing, talking, being sweet, creator, general sin.

What if I was an angel and what would their response be? They would be afraid, right? And they would be cowering and they would, you know, I just don't have the gravitas that an angel would. But so, he uses us.

Anyway, that's pretty amazing. It says in 1 Thessalonians 2, 4, but just as we have also been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts to be entrusted with the gospel.

I mean, years ago, I said to you, if Kim and I die, I entrust you and Janet to raise my children.

That's as good as I got. Yeah, and we said, we'll be praying for you guys.

We'll be praying for you. That would have been a busy household. Yeah, it would have been. Uh-huh. Maybe you would have turned my kids into, instead of Jack Russell lovers, they'd love those dachshunds at the gym.

They probably would, yeah. And they'd probably love UCLA basketball.

I'm sure they would love UCLA basketball. I can't believe you'd do that to me.

Dishonor me in my death. Dear folks, it is a privilege to be an ambassador for the Lord Jesus. Dick Lucas said, God only had one son and he made him an evangelist. You talk about what would Jesus do? Here this great evangelist, and now we get to, and he doesn't even have to use us.

Remember when Jesus said, I tell you, if these stones, if you become silent, these stones will cry out. If you won't do it, I'll have stones do it. And he wasn't talking about the Rolling Stones. That's exactly right.

I am an ambassador of Jesus. Steve Cooley, an ambassador for the Lord Jesus.

It's an amazing, you know, I mean, I think to myself, I don't deserve that title. And I mean, we know that we don't deserve that title. But, you know, it's like, sometimes I have to remind myself, I'm not the incognito ambassador for Jesus.

My wife has a relative who's a minister of parliament, and we had a tour by him. And he took us behind the scenes and we went inside and where they meet in parliament. What's that called in Britain? Parliament.

It's kind of those green seats, you know, and all that. And I thought, you know, this is, he's kind of a big shot. We got the royal treatment, almost royal. And I thought, I have a higher calling than that man does.

Minister of Parliament, our president, I get to be an ambassador.

I like that. For the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.

Gospel Proclamation and Closing Charge

All right, well, today on No Compromise Radio, as Steve so rudely started the show, I'm going to let him rudely end the show.

Well, I haven't written the lyrics yet. Gospel. Tell them about their problem. Tell them about the solution. The Lord Jesus Christ is life, death, and resurrection.