Evangelism God's Way, Part 5

Introduction: The Context of Evangelism and the Sermon Series

0:03 May I encourage you to turn with me to the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 24, and follow as I read in your hearing verses 44 through 49.

0:23 Luke is recording one of the final discourses of our Lord Jesus with his disciples prior to his ascension back to the right hand of the Father. And he, that is Jesus, said unto them, that is his disciples, These are my words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their mind, that they might understand the Scriptures. And he said unto them, Thus it is written.

1:06 It is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance unto remission of sin should be preached in his name unto all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you, but wait in the city. Until you be clothed with power from on high.

1:43 Let us again pray and ask the help of God the Holy Spirit in the preaching and in the hearing of the word of God.

1:55 Our Father, we are so thankful that we have every encouragement from your word to believe that you are never weary of your people coming to you when they come, not as empty form or ritual or seeking to impress one another. But when they come out of the crucible of felt weakness and felt ignorance and felt need, and Lord, we come in that disposition of heart. You know the needs of your servant. You know the needs of those gathered in this place.

2:30 And we pray that out of your perfect knowledge of our respective needs, you would minister to us in grace and in power. That as we take your word into our hands and set it before our eyes and our minds, that we may be conscious that we are not simply engaged in a mental exercise of words, but that by the word we are having heart dealings with you, the living God. Oh, Father, make this true, we pray, for our good and for your glory. Through Christ our Lord.

3:13 September will mark the 43rd year since I took up my labors among you as one of your pastors. And during those 43 years, there are many things that we as a church have done together many, many times. However, we are presently on the threshold of doing something as a church.

3:55 Which we have not done in those 43 years. And what is that? Well, it is our corporate endeavor to establish geographically structured, home-based, evangelistic Bible studies. Studies that will be held every other week during the months of April, May, and June, God willing.

4:25 And in an attempt to perpetuate that, we are going to do so. And to prepare us as a church for this effort to reach our Jerusalem with the gospel, I am bringing a series of messages that I have entitled, Some Biblical Perspectives Concerning God-Honoring, Spirit-Empowered Evangelistic Endeavors. For surely we are united in our desire that whatever we do, it will be God-honoring, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. And I have chosen to use the analogy of a tree as the organizing structure for these messages.

Review of the First Two Taproots of Evangelism

5:10 A tree that has its root system deeply embedded in the rich, nourishing, moist soil of the Word of God. That is, I am attempting to set before you some biblical perspectives. I am attempting to set before you some biblical perspectives concerning these issues. Believing, according to 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, that God-breathed Scripture is able to thoroughly furnish unto every good work, I and my fellow elders are attempting to set before you directives

5:49 and counsels regarding this endeavor that draw their substance from that rich, nourishing, moist soil of the Word of God. And then of course, if a tree is to be worth anything, if it is going to stand before any breezes, if it is going to be nourished, if it is going to be fruitful, it must have an adequate root system. And so I have begun, having identified the soil, with seeking to focus our attention upon what I am calling the tap roots. The tap roots.

6:27 The tap roots. The tap roots. The tap roots. The tap roots.

6:27 The tap roots. The tap roots. The tap roots. The tap roots.

6:27 of God-honoring, Spirit-empowered, evangelistic endeavors. And the first taproot I described in this way, it is possessing an understanding and a personal conviction concerning who and what people really are.

6:49 As uniquely created in the image of God, as really fallen and ruined in Adam, as savable and possibly elect in Christ, and as the objects of the loving mind and heart of Jesus when He gave the evangelistic mandate to His apostles, but obviously in perpetuity to His church until the consummation of the age. And then we have been considering the second taproot, and it is this. We must...

7:26 We must live before the unconverted a life that embodies and consistently manifests the transforming power of that gospel which we are seeking to convey to them. Now I gave the qualification that there are many circumstances in which it is right and even our duty to attempt to communicate the gospel in a setting where we have little or no opportunity to live before those to whom we bring. However, we are in a context where for the most part, those whom we will seek to bring to these Bible studies, and those hopefully who will come,

8:08 we will have sufficient interaction with them and before them that it is vital to focus on this principle of the necessity of living before them a life that embodies and consistently manifests the transforming power of that gospel that we seek to bring to them. I sought to establish that fact with three fundamental texts of Scripture, Matthew 5, 13-16, Philippians 2, 14-15, and 1 Peter 3, 15. I then went on to say that there are in the context of our own Jerusalem

8:53 peculiar areas in which we are able to live before the gospel. I sought to establish that fact with three fundamental texts of Scripture, Matthew 5, 13-16, Philippians 2, 14-15, and 1 Peter 3, 15. I then went on to say that there are in the context of our own Jerusalem peculiar areas in which we as God's people must be particularly concerned both to embody and consistently manifest the transforming power of the gospel. And if we are sensitive to these realities by God's grace and the power of the Spirit, we will seek to manifest a life that embodies in concrete ways a genuine love for all men.

9:23 It will be a life that embodies and manifest a prevailing joy and cheerfulness. Thirdly, it will be a life that embodies and manifests conscientious conformity to the ethical norms of Scripture. And when I sought to open up the particulars of that third act of a life that both embodies and manifests the power of the gospel, I said I would identify five areas. Several of you arrested me at the door last Sunday morning and said, Pastor, I take careful notes.

10:05 What one did I miss? I only got four. I said, You didn't miss any. I only gave you four.

10:11 And I have been counseled to give the little P.S. Those four areas which I sought to identify were these, in the matter of the domestic norms of Scripture. The tremendous breakdown of the family and of marriage.

10:28 It is vital that in our interaction with the unconverted to whom we would bring the gospel, that they see worked out in us those ethical norms for the marriage and family relationship. Secondly, in the matter of strict sexual purity, in our actions, in our words, and in our dress. That we make...

10:55 Make it evident that sexual purity is an issue of great concern to us, even as the Apostle Paul, in the context of the hedonism and the sensuality at Ephesus, takes much of chapter 5 in his epistle to the Ephesians, dealing with that issue. Thirdly, in the matter of our relationship to money and things, in a crassly materialistic money-grabbing, thing-obsessed generation, it is vital for us to manifest that in Jesus Christ we've been freed from the idolatry and the tyranny of things and of stuff.

11:38 And that our contentment has a source that goes beyond those things which men pursue, thinking they will bring them satisfaction. And the fourth was in the matter of self-control and self-denial in relationships. In our relationship to food and drink. In the midst of a nation that has epidemic problems, or problems of epidemic proportion, with the abuse of alcohol, the abuse of food, and obesity, and all that comes with it, how crucial that we manifest that by the grace of God we are enjoying a life of self-control and self-denial.

12:22 And what was the fifth? Well, it was this. In the matter of the sanctity of the Lord's day and the centrality of the church in the life of a real Christian. It is crucial that insofar as we have opportunity to interact with the unconverted, that we manifest this matter of the sanctity of the Lord's day and the centrality of the church in the life of a Christian.

12:53 And those two things together, generally stand or fall together. Looking at the patterns and the rhythms of our lives, they should know that for us some day is different. It is a day that for us is not fun day as they define fun. It's fun for us.

13:16 I mean some of the things that go on in this place on the Lord's day are sheer fun. Don't you have fun interacting with one another? Definition of fun. The rhythms and patterns of our lives know, though they don't know how to describe it, for those people a day is absolutely different from all the other days.

13:44 And the way they spend it is different from everyone else in the neighborhood. And I have a sneaking suspicion that when I talk to them that difference has an awful lot to do with church. I mean these people aren't satisfied with going to church for an hour in the morning. They go there almost all day.

14:02 They leave the house at night at 9 o'clock in the morning and don't come back till 1.30. And the next thing I know you turn around and they're going out the door again at 5 o'clock and they don't come home till 9 o'clock. Well you see that is bearing a true witness to what a real Christian is.

14:19 For a true Christian has his life in Christ nurtured in the church. He doesn't have it nurtured in isolation. Just having his devotions. Just reading his Bible.

14:33 As one of the old writers said he who will not have the church for his mother cannot have God for his father. And according to the New Testament it is in the fellowship of the church that our life in Christ is nurtured and the unconverted need way and I will find my life enmeshed in a group of people called the church. And it is crucial dear people that we validate our witness making it abundantly evident that in the matter of the sanctity of the Lord's day and the centrality of the church that's what being a Christian is. Well I've taken 15 minutes

The Third Taproot: Earnest and Persevering Prayer for the Holy Spirit

15:17 and condensed 4 hours of exposition and given you 7 minutes of an additional point. Now we come this morning to the third and final tap root of God honoring and spirit empowered evangelistic endeavors. Now with one of my elders last night I did a little teasing. I said what do you think it is?

15:42 I don't know whether he scratched his mustache for a little bit but he said I don't have a clue and then I think he did make a stab at one. Did you make a stab at one Jeff? You did. I forgot what it was so I won't embarrass you.

15:56 But he didn't get it. Now let me ask you sitting here this morning what do you think that third tap root would be? That thing which will sustain the trunk and the branches and the leaves and any fruit upon a tree of God honoring spirit empowered evangelism if the first root is seeing people for who and what they really are and the second root is that root of internalizing and consistently manifesting the transforming power of the gospel what do you think the third root

16:39 might be? Well I'm not going to ask for a show of hands but I hope you're thinking. I would suggest that it is this it is the necessity of earnest and persevering prayer for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit upon any evangelistic endeavor that's the third tap root that tap root without which we have no reason to expect God honoring spirit empowered evangelistic endeavor is

17:22 earnest persevering prayer for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit upon our evangelistic endeavor. Surely this truth lies on the very surface of the passage that I read in your hearing at the outset of my standing before you this morning turn back to the Luke 24 passage if you will please passage we are told that our Lord Jesus has made it evident that all that the prophets had prophesied concerning him

18:07 has been fulfilled these are my words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled that are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me then he does a marvelous thing by an operation of his grace and power it says he opens their minds that they might understand the scriptures a fascinating phrase he opens their minds it doesn't say they opened their mind it says he opened their minds he was the actor he was the agent he opened their minds that they might understand the scriptures

18:51 and now for the first time things that baffled them when prior to his death and resurrection he would speak about going to Jerusalem and their being rejected and their suffering and their dying you remember Peter's reaction Lord this will never happen to you they didn't understand it they didn't get it though they were schooled in the Old Testament scriptures though they had been with their Lord for three years and under his instruction when he spoke of those central events of his redemptive activity his death his burial his resurrection they didn't

19:35 get it now the Lord enables them to get it he opens their mind to understand the scriptures and he said unto them and this is the focal point of the understanding that he gave to them thus it is written that Christ should suffer rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name that is in the light of his person and work and all the understanding the Lord has given them with respect to his person and work this should be preached in his name among all the nations beginning from Jerusalem you are witnesses of these things

20:19 now then if you've had the Lord Jesus himself open your mind to adequately understand the Old Testament scriptures so that you are ready to go out and armed with this understanding of the scriptures demonstrate that when you preach to people that forgiveness of sins is to be found in this one Jesus of Nazareth who died who was buried and who was raised again from the dead and that on his authority you can command men all everywhere to repent you can set before them the free offers of his mercy with the promise that if they will repent and believe

21:03 they will have remission of sins what more do you need to get on with the job and do it the Lord tells them what they need look at the next verse verse 49 behold I send forth the promise of my Father upon you but wait in the city until you be clothed with power from on high now I fully understand that this text and this event of their being clothed with power in many respects is a unique event in the history of redemption follow

21:46 me now according to the scriptures until Jesus dies is raised from the dead and goes back to the right hand of the Father and is officially installed as the messianic king and is given the Holy Spirit that he might grant the Spirit as his donation to the church and that's all in Acts chapter 2 many other passages but particularly in Acts 2 then the church is not indwelt corporately by the Spirit so there is an element of unique activity in the history of redemption however however the great principle that is true throughout the entire history

22:30 of the church and in the life of every individual is that we need something more than a Christ illuminated mind concerning what the gospel is and a Christ authorized commission to communicate that gospel we must know the presence and supernatural power of the Holy Spirit for our endeavors to communicate that gospel and to see it effective will come to naught that's the great principle and Luke very clearly amplifies that in Acts chapter 1 turn there for a moment if you will please Jesus

23:15 spends 40 days with them speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God verse 4 of Acts 1 being assembled together with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which said he you heard from me John indeed baptized with water you should be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence verse 8 Jesus speaking you shall receive power the Holy Spirit coming upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth here our Lord makes

23:59 abundantly clear that in the coming of the Holy Spirit there is equipage for gospel witness the emphasis of John 14 through 16 the upper room discourse where we have the most dense concentrated instruction from the lips of our Lord concerning the coming of the Spirit has a different focus not exclusively but primarily a different focus here the emphasis in Luke chapter 24 Luke writing in Acts chapter 1 is that the Spirit's presence and power is absolutely essential

24:42 for the fulfilling of the evangelistic mandate you shall receive power the Holy Spirit coming upon you you shall be would establish I trust to the mind of every believer the necessity of the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit but now I want to descend to more particulars and I want to set before you both this morning and as I did my final preparation last night it became evident I have to split this up into two messages the reasons for the necessity of the presence

25:27 and supernatural power of the Holy Spirit in our evangelistic endeavors and having established that then to demonstrate the intimate connection between the earnest fervent prayers of the people of God and the coming of the Holy Spirit you follow where I am going I want to set forth the reasons of this necessity of the presence and supernatural power of the Holy Spirit in our evangelistic endeavors in other words when the Lord Jesus said open your mind to understand it

26:10 here is your task I am authorizing you to fulfill it but don't dare go out to fulfill it until you are clothed with power that was not an arbitrary direction when he said you should receive power the Holy Spirit coming upon you you shall be my witnesses that was not an arbitrary connection there are reasons for this necessity of the presence and supernatural power of the Holy Spirit in our evangelistic endeavors and I would like to demonstrate that that those reasons fall into two major categories first of all reasons arising from conditions in the unsaved

Reasons for the Spirit's Necessity: Conditions in the Unsaved

26:55 that is reasons arising from those to whom we are bringing the gospel and reasons arising from us our condition as those who would bring the gospel to them to open up in the time that remains this morning so consider with me why the presence and power of the Spirit are necessary because of the condition of the unsaved according to Ephesians 2 1 men are naturally dead in trespasses and sins you hath he made alive

27:38 who were dead in your trespasses and your sins 2 the dead men are to live they need the gracious intrusion of nothing short of supernatural power a man merely dozing may be tickled or shouted or shaken to wakefulness but if he is dead nothing will bring him to activity but supernatural power that imparts life and so as we seek to bring the gospel to men that they might know the blessing of the forgiveness of sins

28:21 adoption into the family of God and all of the host of blessings that come in the train of embracing Christ in the gospel the fact that those to whom we bring that gospel are naturally dead they desperately need nothing short of the intrusion the apostle goes on in Ephesians 2 after describing spiritually dead men and their characteristics he says in verse 4 but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us

29:02 quickened us together this is why the presence and power of the Holy Spirit are indispensable absolutely necessary for all men are naturally spiritually blind the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers blinded them particularly that they will never see any outshining of glory from the person and work of Jesus Christ

29:45 they have blinded their minds lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ should dawn upon them now what do blind people need in sight by shining more and more light upon their eyes a blind man can have his face turned to the noonday sun in the clear blue sky and having the intense rays of the sun directly falling on the surface of his eyes will not give him sight what does he need he needs a touch of supernatural power that will restore the spiritual optic nerve that will reattach the

30:30 spiritual retina that will remove the layers of spiritual cataracts upon his eyes and it is God the Holy Spirit who alone can do that that's why Jesus said in John 3 3 except the man be born from above he cannot see not only he cannot enter verse 5 he cannot see the kingdom of God he can't perceive the realities that must be seen that is to enter the kingdom particularly according to 2 Corinthians 4 it is seeing God's glory in the face of Jesus seeing something in Jesus as he is preached in the

31:13 gospel that causes the heart to go out in unreserved trust of him as our only savior that causes the heart to open up and embrace him as the altogether lovely one the hid treasure whom when it is found one sells all to obtain some of you are living proofs of that you have had Christ in the various dimensions of the glory of his person and the perfection of his work preached to you times without number you could give it back in an exam but the one great problem is

31:57 you've never seen anything in that that has ravished your heart and caused you to say Lord Jesus I'm yours why? you're spiritually blind you see no glory in all of that oh yes you can put it down you can write it out you can answer many questions but you're blind and you see the cure of that blindness is not more light now we who preach and teach we must continue to seek to shine that light in the proclamation but until your blinded eyes are open you'll see nothing in Jesus except ho-hum ho-hum more Jesus

32:40 ho-hum more gospel ho-hum more cross ho-hum more forgiveness my friend you get your spiritual eyes open and there's no more ho-hum when you hear about Jesus no more ho-hum it's Jesus blessed Jesus who died for sinners like me blessed Jesus who in his person and in his work is worthy of my whole heart of my heart's devotion furthermore according to Romans 8-7 all men are spiritual rebels that's why the presence and power of the spirit are desperately needed Romans 8-7 says the carnal mind

33:24 is enmity against God it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be and you see a determined rebel whose rebellion is ingrained into the very fabric and texture of his soul cannot be enticed out of his rebellion he can't be argued out of his rebellion he needs a supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit upon the very essence of his inner being upon his heart and upon his will and that's exactly what God says he does when he saves a sinner Ezekiel 36 verses 26 and 27 God says

34:08 I will take out the heart of stone what a beautiful imagery God says I'll cut out the heart of stone and what will he give in its place and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my ordinances and do them see what God says I'll do what no man can do I'll do that work that changes the inveterate stubborn rebel into a willing cheerful obedient subject of the living God

34:52 that's why the presence and power of the Holy Spirit are absolutely essential because of the condition of sinners to whom we would bring the gospel dead blind spiritual rebels and according to John 3 18 to 20 they are passionate lovers of spiritual darkness passionate lovers of spiritual darkness listen to the words of John and this is the judgment that light is coming to the world and men loved the darkness notice it doesn't say

35:36 and they were dwelling in the darkness they're passionately in love with the darkness and men loved the darkness rather than the light for their works were evil for everyone that does evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be reproved now what do you do with someone who passionately loves the darkness and the gospel is a gospel of light God describes the gospel coming as light shining out of the darkness how in the world do we take someone passionately in

36:21 love with the darkness we can't argue them into a state of loving the light we can't entice them only God can do that work that so changes the inner disposition of the soul that they will now become passionate lovers of the light that is they are willing as John goes on to say he that does the truth keeps coming to the light that his works may be made manifest that they are wrought in God he wants to live out before the open sky of the eye of God and the law of God and the truth of God he doesn't scurry to the nearest dark

37:05 hole like a spiritual mole and it's only God the Holy Spirit who can do that work now I could go on and further demonstrate additional aspects of the true light of the unsaved which make it absolutely necessary that we know the power and operation of the third person of the Godhead if ever our evangelistic endeavor is to bear fruit unto transformed lives but I hope just highlighting these four has brought us back again to the stark realism there's a sense and it's right of holy buzz and excitement in our

37:50 congregation about this endeavor and I bless God for it as I've said several times we have never never done anything in this church by the drive and push method where you just get behind God's people and rub their consciences raw and then try to push them and push them no we've never done it and we haven't done that with this this whole endeavor has grown out of stuff that has splashed back on us as your pastors in our interaction with you and as we laid out before you a few weeks ago the tentative vision of what we feel might be a way that we could reach our Jerusalem

38:30 you've taken hold of it we need to do so in the face of this realism we are going to confront people who are dead who are blind who are rebels who are passionate lovers of spiritual darkness and all of our gentle and all of our kindness and all of our seeking to live before them a life of integrity unless God the Holy Spirit supernaturally and powerfully does what only God can do

Reasons for the Spirit's Necessity: Conditions in Believers

39:14 there will be no turning to Christ there will be no embracing of the gospel that we love so the Spirit's ministry is absolutely necessary first of all because of the condition of those to whom we will attempt to bring the gospel but secondly the presence and supernatural power of the Spirit are necessary because of the conditions in us the people of God there are things in us as we make this endeavor that make it just as necessary to know the supernatural presence and power of the Spirit as that

39:58 is necessary because of conditions in the unconverted and what are those things well though we are new creatures in Christ though we are united to Christ though we are indwelt by the Spirit though sin's dominion has been broken though we are adopted sons and daughters though we are reconciled to God and I could go on and on describing who we are and have in Christ there are three realities that make it necessary for you and for me to experience His supernatural

40:41 presence and power and what are they number one we need the Spirit's supernatural presence and power to overcome our native lovelessness now I address the matter of seeking to demonstrate love to all men in the previous message but I think it's vital to come back and underscore it in this context it is the Spirit of God alone who can flood our hearts with a love that even faintly mirrors the love of our Savior for us the love that moved Him willingly in eternity to accept all the liabilities

41:26 of our sinfulness when in the mind and heart of God in the counsels of eternity in the womb of wherever that is back there when there was a commitment for the salvation of a great multitude whom no man can number out of every kindred tribe and tongue and nation and the Lord Jesus willingly while He was yet non incarnate while He was yet the eternal word the second person of the Godhead the love that moved Him to commit Himself to do whatever was necessary to procure a righteous salvation

42:11 the love that moved Him to come to Mary's womb we don't think enough of the incarnation what did it mean that moment in time when the eternal word leaves the immediate presence of the Father and unites Himself to true humanity in Mary's womb what love what love that He would be willing to leave all He left to take on all that He took on the love that moved Him to live in a household where His brothers didn't even believe

42:56 on Him John 7 imagine what it was like for the sinless Son of God with nothing but the purest of motives and the most blameless of life to live in a context of unbelieving siblings the grief the pain the hassles He must have received for they were lovers of darkness until some of them were changed later on in their life experience the love that caused Him to live in that setting the love that moved Him to pour out His life in such selfless service up early in the morning to pray laid at

43:40 night healing taking the misunderstanding of His own family and they thought He was out of His tree taking the horrible abuse of the Pharisees who say you're in league with the devil love that keeps Him bound to His mission the love that takes Him into Gethsemane and while sweat as it were like great drops of blood forced from His pores He says not my will but thine be done I'll drink the cup the cup full full of the unleashed wrath of God against your sins and mine

44:25 the love that bound Him to that cross yes the nails from the human sight put Him up there but my friend no nails could hold Him had love not bound Him to it and kept Him there the love that kept Him there the love that caused Him to wail over an impenitent Jerusalem my dear brothers and sisters we need the supernatural presence and power of the Holy Spirit to have even something that faintly mirrors that love and that's why His presence and power are absolutely necessary for though we might

45:09 speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love remember where that clanging hunk of brass where the little beard with the tin garbage can top and the spoon walking down the street just making a nuisance of ourselves that's why we need the presence and power of the Holy Spirit the Spirit who alone can give us the disposition we read about this morning here is Paul by nature as selfish self-centered as you as self-centered as any one of us and yet he could say I say the truth in Christ I do not lie my

45:52 conscience bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren's sake my kinsmen according to the flesh and as I sought to prepare our reading this morning came to that passage again I said oh God I don't have a clue what that means in here the apostle who just finished Romans 8 and said I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor height nor death nor being nothing can separate me from the love of God in

46:36 Christ he now says I could wish that I were accursed separated from Christ if by so being separated my kinsmen might come to embrace the Lord Jesus and his salvation by faith I say God I don't have a clue what that kind of love is where did Paul get it it wasn't self generated the Spirit of God brought him to that height of love and though we may never begin to begin to begin to begin to approach it certainly there must be something of a dimension of that

47:19 love that the Spirit of God would impart to us this is the man who said in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 do not I have a right to do this a right to do this a right to do that I have used none of these things I am become all things to all men that I might by all means save love that caused him to willingly cheerfully trample his liberties underfoot at point after point after point in pursuit of the salvation of the souls of men we desperately need that kind of love that only the Spirit of God can produce

48:04 we need his work because of our native lovelessness secondly we need the Spirit's supernatural presence and power not only to overcome our native lovelessness but our native timidity and reticence to speak to others about our Savior we have a native timidity and reticence to speak of our Savior to others and where is that boldness going to come to counteract that reticence well Acts chapter 4 points us in the direction of the answer here are God's servants who have just been abused for speaking

48:48 of Christ they come back to their own company whether that's the whole church or the company of the rest of the apostles it's not clear and they have a prayer meeting and they cry to God and what do they pray for well they pray first of all that God will continue by the Spirit to grant them the ability to do what apostles were given the power to do verse 30 while you stretch I'm sorry verse 29 and now Lord look upon their threatenings grant unto your servants to speak your word with all boldness that's their first request their second request is while you stretch forth your hand to heal signs and wonders may be done through the name of your

49:33 holy child Jesus they ask God for boldness they ask God for continued power to exercise unique apostolic ability to perform signs and wonders and what does God do verse 31 when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were gathered together and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit a fresh empowerment of the Spirit the ones of whom it is said in Acts 2 they were all filled with the Spirit there is a fresh endowment of the Holy Spirit and what was the manifestation they spoke the word of God with the Holy Spirit does that in the

50:17 entire inner structure of the soul that releases us from timidity and enables us to speak how can I ever Thursday night Stanford Connecticut Thursday night when the stores were open Thursday night when all the guys hung around the Liggett's drugstore on Atlantic Street in Stanford Connecticut the old man up in the Stanford Gospel Mission said to me and a few of my buddies who'd recently been converted you boys

51:01 need to get out on the street and preach on the street corner can I ever forget standing there seeing all the guys that formed the line that would open the holes for me when I was seeking to carry the ball on our footballs and there they were and there I stood a very natively some of you had it hard to believe this you ask my mother if you doubt it a natively timid insecure boy and I stood there had a little leather bound New Testament and I don't know what I said but I know when I open my mouth

51:44 God the Holy Spirit something in here that opened up this mouth right here the psychology of it all I know there was a fresh and doom into the spirit of God that enabled me to speak with boldness of what Jesus had done for me what Jesus meant to me and set me free from being teary by their frowns and their giggles and whatever else they might do

52:28 to intimidate me to shut my mouth dear people we desperately need the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to give us that boldness doesn't mean you're all going to go out in the street corner but it means the boldness necessary to cross over the fence not climb over it go around it however you get to your next door neighbor and knock and invite them to that Bible study the boldness God gave me an entirely different way after the death of my beloved

53:11 and I wanted desperately to use the occasion of her memorial service to reach my neighbors in a new way natively I was scared witness to go to them one by one and knock on their doors hand a personal invitation to them the same Holy Ghost that came upon my spirit and heart and mind and tongue and all the complex of what must be touched if we are to speak with boldness there 53 years ago came upon me that Thursday night as I went from door to door to door and you want to know something I'm a scared witness

53:54 now to invite them to the Bible study empowerment of the Spirit to give me boldness folks you don't get it and stick it in your pocket and have it for the rest of your life you say you're scared too yeah we're in this together folks we're in this together most of us are scared witness let's be honest about it but let's also recognize that there is one who can fill our hearts in such a way that that boldness can be overcome and by the grace of God we will speak

54:39 for our Savior so we desperately need the Spirit's presence and power not only because of our native lovelessness because of our native reticence and timidity but thirdly we need the Spirit's supernatural presence and power to supply the wisdom to say the appropriate words now what do we do when we're in situations where we can't prepare what we're going to say well the Lord Jesus anticipated those situations with His disciples and notice what He said to them in Mark chapter 10

The Intimate Connection Between Prayer and the Spirit's Activity

55:22 Mark chapter 10 notice what our Lord says I'm sorry, Matthew chapter 10 did I say Mark? No, Matthew chapter 10 the original commissioning of the twelve 16, 10-16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves is that what you feel like in this endeavor? I feel like a sheep going about good, you've got good company the Lord says I fully understand that be wise as serpents, harmless as doves but beware of men and here is a peculiar application to these they'll deliver you up to the councils, synagogues

56:06 yes, and before governors and kings you'll be brought for my sake for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles but when they deliver you up now notice, don't be anxious how or what you shall speak for it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak for it is not you that speak, but the spirit of your Father that speaks in you they were led to believe that in the crisis situation where preparation was impossible, they could cross the Holy Spirit to give them what to say and in another setting entirely different it's in the Olivet Discourse

56:50 Mark 13 and verse 11 the Lord gives to us so surely the promise wrapped up in them is not exhausted in that setting that when we are in circumstances in our living rooms in someone else's living room seeking to interact and we just don't, there's no way we could prepare what to say, how could we anticipate this or that objection or question etc, etc it's in those settings that we are warranted to say, oh Lord Jesus, by your spirit grant me the words to speak and we have his promise it will be given to us, and so you see the presence and

57:35 power of the Holy Spirit not only needed because of conditions in the those to whom we bring the Gospel, the unconverted but because of conditions in us, who would bring that word to them, now I trust this brief consideration of why sinners need the presence and supernatural power of the Spirit in conjunction with the Gospel, and why we need the supernatural presence and power of the Spirit in communicating the Gospel I trust this has persuaded you of the necessity of the Spirit's presence and power, but you say Pastor, you said this taproot

58:20 is the matter of persistent and fervent prayer for the aid of the Spirit yes, and what I want to do God willing next week is to demonstrate out of our Bibles the intimate relationship between prayer and the presence and supernatural activity of the Holy Spirit the Scriptures set before us a very intimate relationship between prayer and the supernatural activity of the Holy Spirit, now I am not going to teach because the Bible does not that God is so bound Himself to the prayers

59:04 of His people that He cannot and never does work in power unless someone is praying for that specific thing, I have heard people say that God does nothing but He does in answer to the prayers of His people you would have to be omniscient to be able to make such a statement, however however, I believe the Bible teaches and I will hope to demonstrate next week that ordinarily there is an intimate relationship between the prayers of God's people and the presence and powerful activity of the Holy Spirit such an intimate relationship that to expect the presence and the power of the Holy

59:48 Spirit without earnest and persistent and believing prayer is nothing less than the sin of presumption and that is what I will hope to demonstrate God willing in our study of the word next week, but in summary and conclusion this morning suffice it to say for our study today that earnest and persistent prayer for the presence and power of the Spirit in any evangelistic endeavor is rooted in the stark biblical realism concerning what needs to be done in sinners and what needs to be done in us in any

60:32 effective evangelistic context when we take seriously the teaching of the word in these matters then we will find ourselves crying out with the apostle who then is sufficient for these things who is sufficient and we are shut up to God and it is a wonderful place to be and it is out of the stuff of felt weakness and inadequacy that real prayer is born you may feel very adequate for something and still pray but your prayers are basically form and ritual

61:16 it is when there is the internal felt awareness of acute need that true prayer is birthed it is when a Peter is sinking beneath turbulent waves and says Lord save me brief but earnest prayer and when we take to heart what the scripture teaches us concerning the native condition of men and our condition in seeking to be the instruments to bring the gospel to them we will have a context out of which real prayers will be born the kind of prayers that God

Call to the Unsaved and Concluding Prayer

61:59 delights to hear and delights to answer and I want to say in closing for those of you who have yet to embrace the savior you have been described this morning it has not been a flattering picture God says you're dead you're blind you're a rebel that's your condition but it doesn't need to remain your condition remember that blind man Bartimaeus he hears that Jesus is passing by and he cries out and overcomes all of the obstacles when people tell him shut up he cries the louder Jesus stands still and says what do you want me to do for you

62:42 he says Lord that I may receive my sight and if sitting here today seeing your condition afresh you say what a fool I am to go on this way with Jesus here in the midst of his people Jesus coming to me in the preaching of the word and he comes to me waiting for my cry have mercy upon me son of David what do you want me to do that I may receive my sight he delights to hear the cry of the desperate desperate blind sinner of the sinner who knows he cannot help himself and we have his promise that whosoever shall call upon the name of the

63:27 Lord shall be saved let's pray our father how we thank you again for your word that word that is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway and we pray that you will continue to embed that word in our hearts as we seek as a people to be prepared for this endeavor to reach our Jerusalem Lord we know there is no inherent power in our plans no matter how carefully they are laid oh God will you not

64:11 send your spirit upon us in fresh and copious measures warming and infusing into our hearts love that we do not natively have for sinners boldness that we do not natively have oh Lord deliver us we pray from that fear of man that creates a snare and grant us new measures of liberty and confidence in the present powerful ministry of your gracious Holy Spirit seal then your word to all of our hearts and dismiss us with your blessing we pray in