Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Join us in worship this morning we're.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: So glad that you're here.
We worship the God who was.
We worship the God who is.
We worship the God who evermore will be.
He opened the prison doors he parted the raging sea My God he holds the victory there's joy in the house of the Lord there's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise there's joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise oh we shout out your praise.
[00:01:03] Speaker C: We.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: We sing to the God who heals we sing to the God who saves. We sing to the God who always makes a way Cause he hung up on that cross and he rose up from that grave My God still rolling stones away there's joy in the house of the Lord there's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise there's joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise.
We were the beggars, now we're royalty we were the prisoners, now we're running free we are forgiven accept, redeemed by his grace Let the house of the Lord sing praise we were the beggars but now we're royalty we were the prisoners, now we're running free we are forgiven Accepted, redeemed by his grace Let the house of the Lord sing Prai there's joy in the house There is joy there's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet we shout out your praise there's joy in the house There's God is joy in this place and we won't be quiet we're going to shout out your praise there's joy in the house of the Lord there's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet we shout out your.
[00:03:12] Speaker C: Praise there's joy in the house There.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Is joy there's joy Joy in this place we won't be quiet, be quiet.
Shout out your praise.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Oh oh.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: We shout out your praise There is joy in this house Joy in this house today we shout out your pray we shout out your praise.
Amen.
[00:03:50] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: You can have a seat for just a few minutes.
Isn't that such a great promise that no matter what is going on in our lives, no matter what our circumstances look like, there is joy. Because he is Here he is here and where he is, there is joy. So I am so thankful for that. I am so thankful that you are all here this morning that you came out. I want to say welcome to those who are watching from the live stream. Maybe you are, you know, people cozy by the fire. Just, we just need an excuse sometimes, right, for a snow day, even if it's a Sunday. But I'm really glad that you all made it here today.
Hopefully on your way in, you were able to grab the sermon notes from the entrances or you know that those are also in your app. And if you are someone that has been coming for a little while, maybe you have not connected with us yet, I would encourage you to fill out the connect card in the pew in front of you and take that to guest services right out here. Our team would love to greet you, say hello, give you a little gift and share a little more with you about Westgate Chapel. You know, next Sunday we also have our new people party.
So if you are not signed up to come to that, I would recommend that you sign up, visit us, meet the pastors, hear a little bit more about our, about our church. You know, there's a lot of things that can divide us here. There's politics, there's sports. But you know what? I think that we can all agree on it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, right? Okay, maybe not here yet, but it's going to, you know, like for you, it's going to be like a blink. You're going to show up next week, there's going to be all the Christmas decorations. The church, we're going to be decking the halls this week. I think the sign up is still in the app. So if you want to be part of that, you can still sign up. You have got to be here next Sunday. You guys, Christmas launches tomorrow's December 1st.
The Advent season season has is starting and we want you to be part of it. Next week is our family service. It's going to be amazing. So I just want to encourage you all to come, if you have not signed up yet, to join us for Christmas at the Ribbon. That's another great opportunity for our family to gather.
Also for us to invite people who maybe don't have a church home, maybe people we've been starting gospel conversations with. What a great way to introduce them to this amazing body of believers.
I am so glad to be part of this church. Really looking forward to what we have in store this month.
So now that you've had a few minutes to relax. I'm going to ask you to stand up and why don't you greet the people around you? Say good morning, say hello.
[00:06:43] Speaker D: We serve a big God.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:06:46] Speaker D: There's nothing that's outside of his reach.
[00:06:56] Speaker C: With just one word you calm the storm that surrounds me.
With just one word the darkness has to retreat.
With just one touch I feel the presence of heaven.
With just one touch my eyes were open to see My heart can't help but believe.
There's nothing that I got can't do.
There's not a mountain that he can move.
Praise the name that makes a way.
There's nothing that our God can do.
With just one word you hear what's broken inside me.
Just one word and you revive every dream.
With just one touch I feel the power of heaven.
With just one touch my eyes are open to see My heart can't help but believe.
There's nothing that our God can't do.
There's not a mountain that he can move.
Oh, praise the name that makes a way.
There's nothing that our God can do no, there's nothing that I got can't do.
There's not a prison wall he can't break through.
Oh, praise the name that makes a way.
There's nothing that our God can't do.
I will believe for greater things.
There's no power like the power of Jesus so let faith arise Let all agree there's no power like the power of Jesus I will believe for greater things there's no power like the power of Jesus Let faith arise Let all agree there's no power like the power of Jesus I will believe for greater things but there's no power like the power of Jesus Let faith arise Let all agree there's no power like his power there's nothing that God can't do there's not a mountain that he can move.
Oh, praise the name that makes a way.
There's nothing that our God can do no, there's nothing that our God can't do.
There's not a prison Wally can't break through.
Praise the name that makes a way.
There's nothing that our God can do no, There's nothing that Jesus can do.
Ram.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: What gift of grace is Jesus, my redeemer?
There is no more for heaven now to give.
He is my joy, My righteousness and freedom My my steadfast love, My deep and boundless peace.
To this I hold My hope is only Jesus for my life is wholly bound to his.
Oh, how strange and divine. I can sing all Is mine yet not I But through Christ in me Me.
The night is dark but I am not forsaken for by my side the Savior he will stay I labor on in weakness and rejoicing for in my need his power is display to this I hold My shepherd will defend me through the deepest valley he will leave oh, the night has been won and I shall overcome yet night but through Christ in me.
No fate I dread I know I am forgiven the future sure the price it has been paid For Jesus bled and and suffered for my pardon and he was raised to overthrow the grave to this I hold My sin has been defeated Jesus now and ever is my plea all the chains are released I can sing I am free at night but through Christ in me.
Through Christ in me.
With every breath I long to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day I know oh, he will renew me Until I stand with joy before the throne to this I hold my hope is only Jesus all the glory evermore to him when the race is complete still my lips shall repeat yet not I But through Christ in me to this I hold My hope is only Jesus all the glory evermore to.
[00:15:57] Speaker C: Him.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: When the race is complete still my lips shall repeat yet not I.
[00:16:08] Speaker C: But through Christ in me when the.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: Race is complete still my lips shall repeat yet not I But through Christ in me yet not I But through Christ in me yet not I But.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: Through Christ in me.
Jesus, I thank you for your faithfulness.
I thank you that your holy spirit is faithful to do the work in us. God, I pray that our faith will rise as we see you for who you are, as we see you keep your promises.
Thank you, God, for your faithfulness. In your name we pray.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: You may be seated.
[00:17:10] Speaker E: Good morning, everybody. Thank you for braving the cold in the snow to come to church this morning. And hi, everybody from the livestream.
If you've not had the chance to meet me yet, my name is Josh Cook and I get to serve alongside my wife as the missions resident at Westgate Chapel.
And this morning, I just want to give you guys an update of everything that transpired last week at the international friends Thanksgiving dinner that we hosted.
I am happy to announce that we had 170 students coming from 20 different countries coming inside the walls of Westgate Chapel last week.
And one thing I got to do over the last week was look at all 20 countries represented and I was looking at the evangelical population of these countries and by the time I got through the 20th one I averaged it out and I saw that the average percentage of evangelicals in the countries of all these 20 countries is just 5%.
So what that told me was the Lord brought people coming from places that have little to no access to the gospel to hear the good news of Jesus at Westgate Chapel, both through Pastor Adam and everyone that served last week.
What I want to really encourage you guys to do is continue to pray for these students. West Blood has said time and time again that this season of life is opening people's hearts to Christ International's hearts to Christ more than ever before.
So I want to encourage you to be praying for that, engage in conversations with them. If you have met them.
You know, with that being said, this last week could not have happened without an army of volunteers from Westgate Chapel. So we had over 180 volunteers just last Sunday alone. And if you have participated in that, from setting up the church to cooking the meal, to transporting students or hosting them at your table, on behalf of the staff, we just want to say thank you. You none of it could have been possible. And because of your step of faith, internationals from hard to reach places got to hear the good news of Jesus and be welcomed with the love of Christ through your efforts. So for that, I really, really do want to say thank you from the staff. To me, if you did get to interact with internationals last week, what I want you to do, and I kind of already said this, I want you to keep, keep engaging in conversation with them, not just praying for them.
Because there's three things I've worked with internationals long enough to understand that they really love to experience. In America, it's the holiday of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.
Well, we just had Thanksgiving with them, but what's coming up in just a few weeks, as Julie said, is Christmas. So I want to encourage you to invite them to Westgate Chapel for Christmas Eve services. I want you to invite them into your homes so they can experience the holidays.
Whether that's just for cookie baking or whether that's for a White elephant party or something that your family does with your traditions, I would encourage you to please, please, please invite them and share the love of Christ with them continuously.
We are hearing countless conversations from you guys that were table hosts that you were having deep spiritual conversations with people. Pastor Adam had a deep conversation last Sunday after his Gospel presentation with a man where there's less than 1% Christians from his home country.
And if you were part of those spiritual conversations, something we want you to do is go to our 4000 meals wall after service and place your pin on that wall so the church can be celebrating what Christ is doing through your acts of faith and stepping forward and taking that next step.
Because there's one thing that we can continue to do which is just encourage one another. We have Westgate at the Ribbon coming up, so that's another opportunity that you can do to invite those students to in.
What I want to do for us is to pray for us and pray for this offering that we're going to be giving to the Lord. So let me pray for us.
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for this church. I thank you for every single person that continuously is taking steps of faith to serve you, to fill their part of Acts, chapter 1, verse 8. Lord, of welcoming internationals and their neighbors who are coming from all of the nations.
Lord, I pray for the hearts of the international students that came last week that you continuously will put Christians that can point them towards you in their lives. Lord, I pray for our servants at Westgate Chapel that are just serving you. Lord, with the love of you to students.
I pray as we receive this offering that we do it for your glory and not ours. Lord, pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.
So if you are in the middle aisles, you will see offering buckets. If you can pass them to your right or your left, you can do that there. If you're in the balconies, they will be on the corners and if you could pass them in, that would be great. Thank you very much.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: Sam.
[00:23:06] Speaker D: Good morning, Westgate Chapel.
Oh, nice.
Good to see you guys. My name is Dan. I'm the student ministries pastor here at Westgate Chapel.
And this is actually my first year doing high school ministry. I'm student ministry focused on high school. And last year I was doing middle school and high school. During that time, my wife and I had our son Reggie. He's eight months old now. And so. Thank you. We love Reggie. He's the best.
And so my life's been full of, like, lots of transition and things happening. And that's why I told Rob. I was like, rob, I can't preach on Sunday mornings. I got too much going on. And so life is kind of cooled out a little bit, but that's why I'm up here this morning. I'm excited to be here and just love. I love that life, man, when it gets busy and hard and lots of stuff going on, that's how the Lord stretches us. And this past year and a half was difficult, but it was beautiful at the same time. And that's just how God works and moves. And so just excited to be here with you guys this morning and getting to God's word. We are in a series called Life together the Church. Okay? So we're talking about what does it look like to be together the church, and do this life together, together. And we do lots of things together. Right? Like, we just talked about ifriends Thanksgiving. That's like our church doing life together and living on mission together. Right? We got our Christmas on Wilford. That's gonna be us living, being the church together, living on mission. And that's what we're talking about this morning is what does it look like for the church to live on mission. Okay? And we're gonna figure out what that mission is. All right? And so we're gonna be in Romans 10 today. So we're gonna get your Bibles out.
You can scooch over to Romans.
It's in the New Testament.
And we're in Romans 10, verses 13 through 15. And we're gonna be hunkered down there most of the time this morning. And so before we do that, as you guys are looking, I'm gonna take a moment to pray for us and just pray over this morning and myself.
Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today, Lord. Thank you for everyone that is here, everyone that's online that's coming to hear your word, and that's exactly what they came to hear. You, Jesus, not me.
And so, Lord God, help me to step to the side so you can come to the front.
And Holy Spirit, just give me the right things to say. And Holy Spirit, be working in this place.
Be working in the hearts and the minds of those who love you, and those who do not yet know you, be drawing them to yourself.
And so, Lord, I pray that you are just honored and glorified and lifted up with what we continue to do this morning. Praise in your name, Jesus. Amen.
Amen. All right, so we are in Romans 10, verses 13 through 15.
And so what you're gonna see here is verse 13 is a statement. Paul starts with a statement, he asks four questions, and then he ends with another statement. Kind of starts as a question, but ends with an exclamation point.
The fifth thing is kind of the statement, okay? And so we're gonna read it this morning, and then we're just gonna walk through what Paul's communicating to us in this.
And so Starting in verse 13, it says, for everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved.
How then can they call on the one they have not believed in.
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can they preach unless they are sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.
It's really cool statements from Paul there.
Really challenging statements from Paul there. So we're going to start with Romans 10:13, right? Start from the beginning.
It says, everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved.
And actually, if you've read the Old Testament, this is coming from a prophet named Joel.
Paul is quoting Joel here. It's from Joel 2, verse 32. And he's talking about right in there. It says, everyone who calls the name of the Lord will be saved. And what's happening in Joel, chapter two is he is explaining to the people that there is a locust army that is going to come forth.
Okay? Who's familiar with locusts?
A few people. Okay. I don't know a lot about locusts. All I do know is that they leave destruction behind them. Okay? Locusts will come through a field, wipe everything out, make it desolate, barren, nothing left gone, okay? And so Joel's saying, yo, this locust army, this thing that is going to leave nothing behind, everything's going to be barren. Like it's coming for you, okay? Kind of terrifying. And he's saying, you need to call on the name of the Lord, you need to repent, turn from your sins and call on the name of the Lord and you'll be saved.
In Acts 2:21, Peter's saying the same thing to the people. He's calling them to salvation, right? Call on the name of the Lord so you can be saved. So you can be saved from your destruction, so you don't have to live in this barren, like, you can be protected by Jesus, okay? And so this is what we see happening. Paul is saying, call on the name of the Lord, and that's our hope as believers. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you've called on the name of the Lord, right? You've called on the name of Jesus Christ and you now belong to him.
That's the gospel message.
And so Paul is setting up, like, this is what's most important is calling on the name of the Lord.
And then he hits us with four questions, a chain of questions, and showing us the process of calling on the name of the Lord. He's like, you need to do this. And then, guess what? This is kind of how it plays out in real life.
And so what we're gonna do today is we're gonna go through each four of those questions and we're gonna look at, like, man, what it looks like for the church to live on mission, to live on mission, to do these things, to answer these questions that Paul is asking. And so our first point is, the first question, it's how can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And so he's talking about lostness or lost people.
Paul begins by reminding us of the spiritual condition of the people that do not know Jesus. The spiritual condition of the world.
And if you need reminded, right, in the New Testament, we get a picture of what it looks like to not be connected Jesus, to be connected to Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:23 says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
And so even if you're a follower of Jesus, this verse still pertains to you. Because we are imperfect people that the Lord chooses to use. We have the Holy Spirit in us, so we do this imperfectly. So imagine not having the Holy Spirit, right? Even more so.
And so if you're separated from God, right, We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That was all us. At some point in Ephesians 2. One, you were dead in your transgressions and sins also all of us, right? The moment you were brought into this world, you were sinful, you were dead in your transgressions. You weren't sick, you weren't struggling, man. There was like, there's nothing.
We're stuck and dead in our sin.
And so he's setting up that, yeah, this world is lost.
That's why it's important that we have to do these next things, right? There are people that need to hear about a savior, but people cannot call for a savior that they don't believe in. People can't call on a savior that they don't know.
And a lot of times, right, we say people are searching for God. And I would agree with that. I think now more than ever, we're in a time where people are searching for truth. People are searching for something better than what they've had. Because this world, man, it's kind of showing its cards that it doesn't really have much to offer.
But Jesus has so much more. And so we're seeing it with high school students, we're seeing it with college kids. It's really cool to see, man, that these young people are catching Jesus.
Just in our community, we have high school students that are starting Bible studies by themselves. And it's just. It's incredible. I've never seen anything happen like that when I was in high school. And so I just praise God that there's something moving and something happening. But we also know that we're a broken world.
We're sinful people. Even as a believer in Jesus, right, there's this fight between flesh, what I want to do, and the Holy Spirit, what God wants me to do. And so imagine not having the Holy Spirit, man. That's a losing battle every time. Cause there's times I lose that battle, and I have the Holy Spirit living inside me.
There are people running from God. There are people that are spiritually lost in this world. So I want to give us an illustration this morning. If you notice, there's some life jackets up here. Who likes going to the lake?
Anybody? Only a few people. Okay. I love going to the lake. The lake's the best.
But if you go to the lake and you get on a boat, this one fits a little better than the other one. Kind of could barely get it on.
So when you go to the lake, right, and you go on a boat, you want to put on your life jacket.
There's only two cliffs, and there's three. We're okay. So you want to put your life jacket on, right when you go to the.
That's not the wrong one. That's fine. We're not in the water.
When you go on the boat, right? You want to make sure that you got this life jacket on to keep you safe, to keep you afloat in case anything bad happens, all right?
And so imagine you're on this boat, and you got your friends with you, and you go to the boat. You go to the lake. You're with people you like. You normally don't go to the lake with people you don't like. Okay? You enjoy yourself. Have a good time. Relax. And so you're on the boat, having a good time, and then, boom, you hit a rock. Okay? Boat flies. Everyone is out in the water. Okay? Everyone's out in the water. But you were smart enough. You were like, everyone's making fun of you. Oh, you're wearing a life jacket. Whatever. You know, you're weird now. You're the one that's safe in the water because you're just kind of bobbing and you're chilling. Cause you're in the middle of this lake.
Everyone else doesn't have a life jacket.
Everyone else is like, oh, man, I made a bad decision here. If you've ever tried to wade water, it's very difficult. After, like, a couple minutes, it gets hard, right? It's like, man, I don't know, like, how much longer I can go, how much more of this I can take.
And, right, this idea, right, is like, this is happening every day in our everyday life, right? We're in the water because I was gonna do it. Like, we're in a boat and we're looking at people, but really, we're no different than anyone else other than the fact that we got Jesus, we got this life jacket. And so we're not in a boat. Like, we're in the water just with everybody else. The only difference is.
And the hard things, the difficult stuff, losing a job, losing someone we love, all, like, the bad things in life. We have this thing that kind of keeps us afraid.
And even if a wave hits us, we can, right?
We're popping back up.
And the people next to us, right? Your friends that were on the boat with you, the people that you love and care about and have connection with, it changes when you're in the boat compared to being face to face with them, seeing them go up and down, struggling for air.
And so if you were in that water and your friends were struggling for air and you had an extra life jacket, what would you do?
[00:34:49] Speaker C: Do?
[00:34:51] Speaker D: No brainer, right? You throw it to them, like, hey, there you go. Take it. It's yours. I want you to have it. And if you didn't have a life jacket, you'd be like, yo, come to me. Everyone just grab me and hold onto me. Like, I'll keep us, right? You do anything. There's this urgency of, like, to make sure that they don't drown.
And there are people in our everyday life, man, that are drowning, that we're right next to you, rubbing shoulders with, that don't know Jesus that are lost.
They don't know they need a savior because they don't know him.
They cannot call on Jesus if they don't believe in him.
They're not gonna wear a life jacket because they don't believe in one, doesn't matter. Can't save me.
And they can't believe in. They can't believe in him, right? If we never tell them.
[00:35:42] Speaker C: Them.
[00:35:44] Speaker D: If you're never told you needed a life jacket, you would never wear a life jacket. And that brings us to our second point. Hearing, right? How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
Romans 10:14b.
They have to be able to.
To hear about who this Jesus is.
Romans 10:17.
A little later on in this passage, says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.
Belief doesn't grow in silence.
It grows when the gospel is shared.
Right. And I'm gonna get into it a little bit later on, but it is really important that we live our life in obedience to Christ.
[00:36:38] Speaker C: Right?
[00:36:38] Speaker D: That we actually live out and do. And our life looks like Jesus from this Bible.
That's super important. Our actions root in our faith. Right. That matters. Okay. Right. We can't just follow Jesus and then do whatever we want. You follow Jesus and live a life of obedience to him, and then you're gonna reflect Jesus. That is wildly important. We are called to do that as believers. And as we're gonna talk about in a little bit. Right. There has to be something next.
Okay.
What we're gonna look at really quick is that Paul's context is that there's a lot of people that he was surrounded with that probably never had heard about Jesus. Okay. Something that's really, like, we kind of like. I try to remember is a lot of times I'm like, people in the New Testament just. I'm gonna say silly, okay? It's like they don't get it. They don't understand, they miss it, whatever. But like, okay, we get all of them and so. And we still don't do it perfect. So they probably look back and call us silly.
But what we see is that a lot of people probably didn't hear about Jesus. So, like, they may have never heard about Jesus. They didn't know that the Messiah had come.
They hadn't heard the resurrection was real.
There's some. Like in Acts 19:2, it talks about some believers, like, they didn't even know about the Holy Spirit, right? And so these are believers, they're following Jesus and there's things that they're learning as they're growing.
And so imagine people that never heard about Jesus. There's just like this big gap, okay?
They had no knowledge, no message, no opportunity to believe. And that's why Paul, man, you read about Paul, he was fervent of going out and sharing Jesus with those around him, sharing Jesus with people that didn't know about him, going to hard places that looked exactly like the world, wanted nothing with God and was bringing Jesus there. Okay?
Our context today, and I wanna say this with a caveat as us being the Christian and Missionary alliance, we know very clearly that there are people that have not heard the name of Jesus yet, right? There's people in many different countries or tribes or groups that have not heard about Jesus. And so I'm kind of thinking of the context of me and you every single day here in America going to sell insurance or working on a construction site. Like, they probably have heard of a version of Jesus, right? The people kind of in and around our lives have probably heard about a version of Jesus.
Then the question is, okay, they've heard a version. Like, maybe dude's a prophet or he was a good teacher. He's this historical figure that they say was the Messiah. But I don't know, it sounds kind of crazy, kind of far fetched.
So they've heard this version of him, but have they heard the real gospel?
And where would they hear the real gospel?
Or have they heard who Jesus truly is? Have they heard the difference he has made in your life?
Okay. And that's a beautiful connection of like, your testimony as a believer in Jesus is powerful.
Many times people will not open a Bible, but what they see first is Jesus in you.
And you're. The first time they're seeing or experiencing the gospel is right about how you're living, how you're acting, right? They see that you have a life jacket on, that you're different, that you're kind of afloat, that your heart, life is your life kind of sucks, but you still have joy. Like, that doesn't make sense. Well, here, let me tell you about it, right?
Your testimony is powerful.
It shows the gospel at work in real life, but it's powerful when it's connected to sharing about the truth.
I want you to think about the life jacket really quick.
If I'm wearing this life jacket, right, it's very obvious that I have something that's keeping me afloat, right? This thing, whatever it is, like, if you didn't know what it was, you're like, okay, that thing is helping him stay above water, all right?
So a person sees it like, oh, wow, that's interesting.
Maybe I should get that. But also, if you have no idea where a life jacket is, okay, like, maybe that's one that's not a one size fits all, right? Maybe that's just like, that's kind of specific for him. It won't fit me. We all know Jesus is one size fits all though, right? So this lifejack could fit any single one of us, right? Opens wide, opens small, whatever you gotta do. This is for everybody. But you might need to tell them, right, that, yeah, this is for them, that you have to put this on.
You put it on and you buckle it, you put it together, you zip it up, you cinch it to what you need, right? It's not gonna, you know, give you like a little, like rough thing on your neck. It's not gonna hurt you, it's not gonna choke you. This is gonna be exactly what you need to stay afloat in that water.
And so they might see it, but then also you're gonna have to explain, it's like, why they will probably need in the next couple minutes, because if not, they're going to sink and drown.
And that's the opportunity we have as believers, right? To show them what Jesus looks like and then to explain to them who he is.
Vocalize how he has changed your life.
[00:41:55] Speaker C: Right?
[00:41:55] Speaker D: Bring up the Jesus that they see and that Jesus is alive and awake in you. And so Paul goes to the next question point three.
If you have to hear something, that means something needs to be spoken, right? And so speaking, how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And that's what I was just talking about. Like, all kind of comes into play, right? Like, we can wear the life jacket, we can be clear that we follow Jesus. But then, okay, you might need to explain to them what that is.
And so when you hear preaching, a lot of us are like, okay, like Sunday morning, most of the time it's Rob, this morning it's Dan preaching, right? There's a stage, there's a microphone, all that kind of stuff. There's life jackets on stage.
That's not what Paul is talking about, right? Back in those days, preaching meant to proclaim or to announce or to herald good news.
Back in those days, like someone was coming and what they were doing is they were heralding good news of like winning a battle. Okay? They're running, they're sprinting, they're going to tell everyone, hey, we won, we're victorious, we're good.
And that'd be incredible news for the people that, well, you're not fighting, but you're waiting to hear if your people that are fighting have won.
Cause either if they don't win, you're gonna be enslaved, gonna be in captivity, might be exiled, might be killed, right? So there's a lot of bad things that happen if you get conquered. So that dude comes back and is proclaiming this news that we are free, we are safe, we're still good, okay?
It's incredible news.
He's talking about everyday believers sharing Jesus doing this in real life. It's not an on stage preaching. It's a proclamation of Jesus in your everyday life.
Okay?
And so sub point A is, are you willing to speak, right? Are you willing to speak and there's times I've said this where I'm like, I'm gonna let my actions speak for themselves. I'm gonna be the best Christian you've ever seen or experienced.
I'm gonna let that do the work for me, right?
I'll be a good example.
I don't want to force my beliefs on somebody.
I don't know if this is right or not. But, like, I thought, like, forcing a life jacket on somebody, like, they probably appreciate at some point, but, right? We don't want to force our beliefs on people.
But Paul doesn't say, how will they hear unless someone behaves well?
How will they hear unless someone's a good example or does good things?
He says, how will they hear without someone preaching to them? How will they hear without someone proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ?
And again, right, what we do as Christians matter how we live our life, as disciples matter.
Doing that opens the doors, gets people to ask questions. We can earn trust.
It reflects Jesus. But actions alone can only go so far.
Our words need to explain the gospel.
At some point, they need to hear not a version of Jesus, but the Jesus that has changed your life.
The beautiful thing is these opportunities aren't hard to find, right? Jesus gives us opportunities on the daily.
On the daily, right? There are people in our everyday lives that need Jesus, that we come in contact with, right? People that are in crisis, hurting, lonely, questioning, searching, right? All these things, right? People. The person that you might sit next to at work, their life could be spiraling, right? They need Jesus.
The person whose car you're fixing, right? They might, right? There's people all around us every day that, man, they need the hope that we have. They need the life jacket that we got. Cause they're drowning without.
Makes me think about, man, like, there's many times in my life, like, when I'm following Jesus really well, I'm praying for opportunities to share about him to other people.
And it's like one of two things, right? Well, Jesus never fails to show me that opportunity.
You could pray that every single day and you'll go to bed that night, and I guarantee you that you won't go to bed like, oh, Lord, like, you kind of missed the opportunity. Give me an opportunity, right? I've never experienced that. And I think it's either, right? Jesus, when I pray, he's okay, like, boom, I'm bringing you these opportunities or two, because I'm prayerful and I'm thinking about it, man, I'm looking for opportunities, and I'm actually seeing the things that God has been putting right in front of me forever. Long he's been doing it, right?
He gives us opportunities every single day. In Matthew 9:37, Jesus says, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
[00:47:05] Speaker B: Right?
[00:47:05] Speaker D: There's a lot of people that need Jesus.
And are we as a church.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: Are.
[00:47:12] Speaker D: We going to speak the gospel?
Are we going to stay silent when the opportunity comes?
And there's an example in Isaiah, Cause this is kind of like an excuse we kind of make is like, oh, like they don't want to hear what I have to say, right? They don't want to hear about it.
I'm not going to waste my time like explaining to them because maybe they're like indifferent or whatever. Even though their life is terrible, like they still don't want it.
Paul quotes Isaiah 53:1 A little later on, and it says, who has believed our message?
And so if you know Isaiah, excuse me, you know that God called him to share what he wanted to share what God wanted for these people, right? To give them good news, to call them back into repentance to all these things. And God said, you're gonna do this for me, you're gonna share this message? And they're not gonna listen.
And so if I was Isaiah, I'd be like, well, then why?
That sounds like a terrible way to spend my life of like sharing things. And people not even like reciprocating or hearing or wanting to like, listen to me.
But what we see him do is that he said, okay, God, I'm gonna obey you.
It's not about me, it's about you. And so if you're calling me to share this message that nobody's gonna listen to, I'm still gonna do it. I'm gonna be faithful to what you've called me to. And then Paul, right, does this. Like when Paul is preaching, right, The Jews don't want to hear what he has to say. And he says, okay, well, I'm gonna go preach to the ones that'll listen. So he goes and starts preaching to the Gentiles.
But the thing is, it's not a reason to stay silent. If you think this world doesn't wanna hear the message of Jesus, well, too bad world, you're gonna have to hear it anyways, right?
It's cause God calls us to do it. He commands us to do it. And the beauty of it is, is that it doesn't all fall on our shoulders, right? Like we are called to be the planters, right? We're called to throw that seed left, right behind, forward, right between our legs, wherever. Like, just throw that seed, right? Spread Jesus, share it to people, tell it to them whenever you see the opportunity. And then, right. God takes it and he's gonna grow and mature it.
[00:49:25] Speaker B: Right?
[00:49:26] Speaker D: That's freeing.
And so then Paul asks his final question.
He says, how can anyone preach? How can anyone proclaim unless they are sent, unless they go? My last point was gonna be sentness, but the more I said I was, like, sounds weird. It's a weird word. Sentness, sentness.
The more I said I was, I can't do that. So going is the last fill in. How can anyone preach unless they are sent? Unless they go? And this is where Paul brings it home.
It's not. How can some Christians preach unless they're sent? How can pastors preach unless they're sent? How can missionaries preach unless they're sent? That's right. How can anyone preach unless they're sent? And so if you've made a decision to follow Jesus and you're a disciple of Jesus Christ, there's a lot of Christians in this world. But if you're a disciple of Jesus Christ, right?
[00:50:22] Speaker C: Right.
[00:50:23] Speaker D: You are radically following Jesus and you are going, and you are making disciples, right? Matthew 28:19, then Acts 1:8 says, if you're a disciple, you're going to be my witness. You're going to go and you're going to share about me. Like, that's what you're going to do. That is your mission.
That was the disciples mission.
If you call yourself a disciple of Christ, that is your mission. Now it's our mission as a church.
You are sent if you are saved, if you're a believer, if you're a disciple. You are sent, you are commissioned.
If you know the gospel, you not only have the privilege of bringing it to people, you have a responsibility of bringing it to people.
It's not like you get to choose.
It's very clear.
It is our mission and our duty to live this out in our life.
And if that's our mission, if that's what we're called to do.
[00:51:28] Speaker C: Are you.
[00:51:29] Speaker D: Prepared to do that?
Like, are you ready? Like, do you have what you need to be able to speak confidently and powerfully and courageously when that moment brings it up, when the moment comes when someone's like, hey, I see your life jacket. What's that about?
Like, oh, man, let me tell you about my life jacket. Let me tell you about how it's changed my life radically and how it can Change yours, too.
Are you ready to share the gospel?
Do you know the gospel well enough to articulate it? Do you know what salvation is? To be able to explain it simply, like I talked about earlier. Are you praying for opportunities to be able to bring this to the people that are in and around your life?
Because our mission, right, our goal in this life is to share Jesus.
To have the lost call in the name of the Lord. It's not to go sell insurance.
I don't know why it keeps coming to my head.
It's not to be a firefighter. It's not to be a police officer. It's not to be a pastor. It's not to be. Whatever it is, man. It's like, these are things that we do in our life. And we bring Jesus into it, all of it.
I'm going to work today, but I'm sharing Jesus today. I get to be like a firefighter. That's kind of cool.
But my goal here as a firefighter is not to put out fighters. Not to. It is. But this man, God's put me with these men, to love them and care for them and point them to Jesus, right?
That should be our mindset. Going to work every day.
Not I'm doing this job. It's like, I'm going to, like, live for Jesus. And then while I'm there, I'm gonna, you know, write some stuff.
And the beautiful thing is where we had to be prepared. And so are you prepared? Like, think about, man. Like, if someone asked me that, could I give an answer?
And then what I love about Westgate Chapel, and I think we do this well, is that we know we don't do this life by ourselves. Like, this life, this mission is.
It's weird. Cause it's like individual, but it's also, like congregational. It made me think about when I was.
I wrestled in high school and in middle school a little bit. And wrestling is very much so an individual sport, okay? Like, you go out there and it's just. You're in a circle and it's just you and somebody else for three minutes. You're getting after it, okay?
And then. Right. It takes discipline, dedication. Like, it takes a lot. The only reason you become a good wrestler, and it's a saying, my coach always said, is that you're only as good as your partner, right? So if you got a good wrestling partner, right, they're getting you ready, they're prepping you. They're preparing you for when you get out there. You can be dominant. You can dominate in the Mat.
And that's what we are as a church, right? Like, we are all individually going out into our lives. It'd be awesome if we all could go together, right?
Like, let me see here.
Dale's going to work, and then we all just are walking behind Dale, like, hey, let's go, Dale, share about Jesus today. That'd be awesome. That's not the reality of it, but it's like, we know that we are a part of this church. That is. I mean, I know that I'm going to work by myself, but I know that everyone else is going out, out and try and do the same thing that I'm doing today.
Like, when you're on a wrestling mat, like, I know I'm going out there, I'm wrestle. It's just going to be me and that guy. But I know I got my team behind me, and I know someone wrestled before me, someone's wrestling after me, and we're working towards this victory together, even though we're out there by ourselves.
That's why we come together on Sunday mornings and congregate and worship together and love and encourage each other.
Philippians 1:27 says, Striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.
And we're striving together. We're moving forward together.
Together we can reach more.
I was thinking about. I talked. I've shared this with my students a decent amount.
I was like, if you guys would all go out and, like, do what I just taught or, like, actually follow the Bible, like, your schools would be changed, right?
It'd be wild if you apply this stuff to your life.
And so I started thinking about, like, a life jacket, man, if we have, like, a big church, Westgate Chapel, we got, like, 900, almost a thousand. Like, there's a lot of people. I'm like, if all of us went out and threw one life jacket, that's like 900. That's like a thousand life jackets. Boom. Like that.
Then I'm like, well, if only a few of us are doing it, man, how long and how strenuous and how hard is it for, like, 20 people to throw out a thousand, like, jackets? It's a lot of work.
It's hard.
But, man, if we're doing this together as a church, it doesn't. It's not hard. It's exciting. It's encouraging. It's like, man, let's continue to do this together.
And then. And then Paul finishes, and the band can make their way up.
He finishes with, how beautiful.
How beautiful are the feet of Those who bring good news.
Amen. What a blessing it is to bring the good news.
And I was thinking about this.
This is again, Paul is talking about. He's quoting something from the Old Testament. He's quoting Isaiah. It's Isaiah 52. 7, where he's saying, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger bringing good news and proclaim salvation and say to Zion, your God reigns.
Okay?
And so in this part of the Bible, Isaiah's prophesying that the exile is ending, that this person bringing the message, they're telling them that you get to go home.
They've been in exile for a long time. They've been in captivity for a long time. So you can imagine how beautiful it would be to hear that message. You get to come home.
And I also thought, like, how weird. Like, he said, how beautiful are the feet. I was like, how nasty would the feet have been back then? How fat, nasty are feet now, right? People, like, talk about feet, they get uncomfortable.
I thought about doing this, like, barefoot. I was like, man, people would be, like, so distracted. They couldn't. They wouldn't know what to do. But feet are stinky. Sometimes they take my shoe, they're a little wet. Like, it's nasty. But back then, right? Feet, even nastier year. And I'm thinking about this guy bringing the message over the mountain and how he would be sprinting and running to be like, man, I gotta tell him we get to go home. And just. His feet would be just torn up and dirty and nasty and bloody, and maybe there's some dirt under his toenails and some lint in his toes, you know, Nasty.
And he says, man, how beautiful are these feet that bring the good news?
It takes your feet getting dirty, right, to bring this message. And so my question to end, right, is like, man, how are your feet looking this morning, man? Are you running? Are you moving? Right? That guy that was bringing that message to the Israelites, he was saying, like, he was moving with intention and purpose. Like, I need to get to them. Like, I don't want them to have to wait a second longer to hear this.
Is that our perspective as the church? I don't want my lost friends and family and people I work, like, they need to hear as soon as possible.
Like, is that where we're at every morning?
And I confess, right, that that's not me every morning, all the time.
And so as I'm preaching this right, I'm convicted in my own life of man. Is that where I'm at? Is that how I start my morning.
Is that how I see people?
They need Jesus.
And so church.
I want us to live on mission together.
Not because, I mean, it'd be really fun, right? I just imagine a church that is on fire for Christ.
And like, that just pumps me up.
But we're also commanded to do it.
I want to be a church that notices the lost right church that is pumped and excited to give a testament to how Jesus changed our life. Right. Share our testimony, speak it confidently and boldly and right. And as we go out in our lives, as we are, sent as we go, and may we be focused on.
I'm not a sous chef. I'm not a, you know, electrician.
I'm a disciple of Christ. And I get to go in these places and share Jesus. This is where God is sending me, because the gifts he has given me and the brand, like, this is where he put me. And this is where I'm gonna speak.
Let's pray.
Dear jesus, Thank you for this morning.
Thank you for getting us here safely. Lord, thank you for Westgate Church Chapel and that it is cold outside, but it's warm in here and we got pews to sit in.
We've got a large group of people that come together to hear your word and to celebrate and to worship together. And that is special.
I know there's times I take it for granted. I'm like, oh, this is what I do. So I get every Sunday how sweet it is that we get to be together.
And Jesus, I just pray as we go out this week, help us to live on mission.
Help us to take what we know and the hope that we have and the changed life that we've experienced and want to and be excited to share it, to be looking for those opportunities. Not like, oh, man, here's an opportunity.
Yikes.
But be like, this is it. Let's go.
Help me to be like that, Jesus.
So Holy Spirit, help us do it.
Can't do it without you.
Give us what we need.
And I just pray that through this week, you are honored and glorified with how we share your message in your name, Jesus. Amen.
[01:01:55] Speaker C: Sa.
Testified.
All things shall be made right.
Amen.
The lost shall be restored.
The grave shall be no more.
And all the church will roar.
Amen.
Prepare the way. The king is coming.
Enthroned on praise the king is coming.
[01:03:06] Speaker B: The last, the first, the living one in glory shall return.
[01:03:15] Speaker C: We prepare the way with hearts like lamps that burn has light upon the earth.
We wait for his return.
Amen.
Your fear, fear of what's to come?
Our hope set in the one who said that it is done.
Amen.
[01:03:56] Speaker B: We prepare the way the King is coming.
On Praise the King is coming.
[01:04:14] Speaker C: The.
[01:04:14] Speaker B: Last, the first the living word in.
[01:04:18] Speaker C: Glory shall return we prepare the way.
[01:04:30] Speaker B: Jesus we We prepare the way.
[01:04:45] Speaker C: The trumpet soon shall sound he will ride upon the ground and every knee will bow Amen.
[01:05:02] Speaker B: The honor and the.
[01:05:04] Speaker C: Fame the glory power and praise be unto Jesus name Amen and amen Amen.
Prepare the way the King is coming he's enthroned I'll praise the King is coming yes, he is he's the last the first the living word in glory shall return the great I am the Son of man the lion and the lamb the cornerstone who stands alone in line will lead us on so we prepare the way Jesus we prepare the way Jesus we prepare the way Jesus we We prepare the way.
Prepare the way the King is coming Sing it out he's in the I'll.
[01:07:11] Speaker B: Praise the King.
[01:07:15] Speaker C: Yes he is he's.
[01:07:18] Speaker B: The last of first the living word in glory shall return.
[01:07:26] Speaker C: So we prepare the way all for you Lord Jesus Jesus we prepare the way with all that we are Jesus we prepare the.
One more time, Jesus we prepare the way Amen.
[01:08:06] Speaker D: We prepare the way we just proclaimed it, man. We're gonna go that. We're gonna prepare this way, right for Jesus, for those that come and know and experience him.
So I want to leave you guys with an action step.
I want you to read these verses this week, these questions, and I want you to internalize, internalize them, right? Make them real for your own life.
A lot of times it's easy to read the Bible and then just go do whatever like bring them into your everyday life and right? Allow those first two questions, right?
How can they call on one they don't believe in? How can they hear faith? It's not that, right?
Allow those two questions to break your heart.
Allow those two questions to spur to mind, man, those people in your life that you know that are far from him, that need him.
And those last two questions, right, the call to go preach and then to be sent and to go just spur you into action. Be like, I know there's people that need Jesus and he's called me to share about him.
That's why I encourage you church, church to do this week as you go out and hopefully the rest of your life to do that. And so if you need prayer this morning, we have our prayer team up here. If there's anything in your life going on that man you want to bring to the Lord or have someone intercede for you, or if you're like, man, I got someone in my mind that I want to pray for that I want them to come to know Jesus, come up and pray for them this morning as well.
Church, I love you. So thankful to be a part of this group of people.
May we love Jesus well this week and may we step up when the opportunity comes comes to share Christ. I'm right there with you. Let's do it. Amen, Jesus.
