 Okay, good morning, everyone. Welcome to another session on lifestyle evangelism Shall we just begin with the word of prayer? Could one of us please lead us in prayer? What sir? Can you read us in prayer, please? In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. What's all right? Let's just do a quick little review of what we did last week Last week we looked at you know chapter five on getting started How how we need to ask right questions ask leading questions? And it's very important to ask appropriate questions, right? Even during the process of evangelizing Secondly, we looked at you know getting to know the other person's belief systems For example, have they been to church? Have they visited? What do they know about Christianity? Or what do they think about God? So simple questions like that get to know about their belief system Then we looked at a few approaches also we looked at the prayer approach where you know during evangelizing or You know, you're trying to share the gospel with your friend or a workplace Your friend at your workplace prayer approach is a very important approach. So we talked about how Prayer is the foundation of our ministry, right? No matter what ministry we are in whether it is, you know pastoral ministry evangelistic ministry or You know a worship ministry whatever ministry that God has called us for Prayer is an integral part of that ministry, right? And so we looked at the importance of prayer, right in the book of Acts. We saw how the disciples Even though they were already, you know, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit They were baptized in the Holy Spirit yet. They spent time in prayer They didn't say, okay, I'm able to do this on my own. No prayer was the integral part So even as we get opportunities to evangelize the prayer approach I would say is the most powerful approach that you and I can use because remember We are just leading people to Christ but the conviction Comes from the Holy Spirit the the changing of heart is done by the Holy Spirit The breaking of hard hearts is done by the Holy Spirit. We are just you know bringing an invitation. We're saying this is what Jesus did for me and this is what he can do for your life. So prayer approach is very important. We also looked at how You know, many people around us will be going through problems And so you can just immediately ask them is it okay if I can pray for you nine out of ten times They would say yes, please pray for me. And so When we extend our hand in prayer, it's like basically we say, you know, the other person is allowing No, the Lord to minister into their hearts, right? They may not understand who Jesus is what he did But there's a small door that's already open. They're loving the work of the Holy Spirit to begin in their lives, right? Then we also looked at the two-minute Testimony approach, you know, this is what I was. This is what happened to me I was looking out for a job or I was I was praying for this healing and I Looked to God and the Lord Jesus healed me and so I believe he can do that even for your life So the two-minute approach and you can always close in prayer. Then we look at the Power and counter approach now. This was more of a you know hitting the nail on the head kind of approach where You know, Jesus did that many people were sick He would go and he would look at that problem and bring healing on that problem the blind man the leper's the Lazarus was dead. It was a power encounter approach Right, then there's the approach of word of knowledge, right? Where you're praying for somebody you ask God the Holy Spirit reveals something Into your lives into about his life to you Now how to get the word of knowledge how to receive a word of knowledge? You will learn a lot more on that on the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit But here's the thing the Holy Spirit Comes with all nine gifts and so, you know, Paul writes to Corinthians. He says a Eagerly desire each gift right eagerly desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit So we as believers can always say God, I'm gonna go minister to this person and I pray Lord that you will give me a word a Word in season for their lives to bless them to minister to them, right? and so we also looked at how you know as His sheep as God's sheep The words in the book of John says his sheep here my voice Right, so we as his sheep We must hear the shepherd's voice right You know, we may think how do I hear his voice? How do I? Know that it's God speaking to me. How do I know it's not my own emotional thoughts Or it's not my own thoughts that is ringing in my head now The Holy Spirit speaks to us directly through his word. He speaks to us who are prompting and leading So you learn a lot of that later as well, right? So and then the other approach is prophecies. This is a powerful approach, right? So you're you're prophesying over that person. Hey after, you know, you prayed for somebody you can say hey You know what I felt like this I felt that you know, right now you're in this season But God is taking you to this other season where you know, he's going to open doors for you a prophetic word At the right time will also Be able to touch people's lives and then we have miraculous interventions you know, just pray for a job or college admissions Financial breakthroughs, so you're praying directly for those means and and the Lord is faithful Right always remember this initially the mistake that I made was I used to think okay, God, how are you going to do this? He's been praying for this financial breakthrough for like 10 years Now just because I pray once is it going to happen is the breakthrough gonna happen. There were these thoughts now remember that We are not The saviours right meaning we are not the people who are going to Save that person or help that person, but it's the work of God, right? So you you can release yourself from every burden that we have, right? I had that burden I used to be okay, God, he's got he's having this marital problems for the past five years with just one prayer Is he gonna is things gonna be all right? So there were sometimes these doubts come in now remember that fear and doubt negate faith They they break faith at its path, right? So we need to bring it out of our minds. All we're doing is we're allowing the Holy Spirit We're loving God to work in that person's lives, right? So then we also to looked at Not taking appropriate steps. There are times when people will Accept Christ, right? And then you if you have brought them to Christ take appropriate steps, right? Give them book gospel of the book of John and let them read it ask them questions Right, they may not understand anything. I lead them get them connected to you know small groups Keep asking them. How is your walk with God? You know remember that the enemy is trying to you know deceive them or pull them back to To his fold so we need to follow up with them and then later on in this Whole course we will study about a little bit about discipleship and how discipleship is also important and also, you know pray for them continually Invite them to small groups Go ahead and ask them to feel free to ask questions From what they've studied. So these are practical things that you and I can do Then we also looked at rules of engagement Now show genuine love and care. Don't look at them as projects. Don't be judgmental That is a very very dangerous thing to do the moment. We say, okay You people are like this and you people are like that. We have lost them there itself They're not going to listen to us, right? Void arguments sometimes debates get into arguments. Just just stop it and walk out of those arguments There will be times people will Respond negatively to you and to the gospel But don't let it pull you down. Just go ahead continue what God has called you to do So today we'll get into chapter 6 before that any thoughts any questions anybody has Any of us want to share anything? Has has anyone been able to share the gospel to anyone over this past one week or Over the month or anybody who was able to Share I know covid's happening a lot of things are going online, but anybody was able to share the gospel Maybe with your friend Yes, go ahead Abu Kabir, right? I hope I got that right. Yeah Go ahead. Good morning. Good morning. I Have a question. I want to ask a question go ahead and My question is I have someone around me I've been praying For him to meet Jesus Christ That's because I want to preach About such Christ to him but The moment I started pray for him His attitude changed towards me We used to talk before we used to discuss before but me way I got ladies in my heart to pray for him pray for his source. I discover that That since that time anytime we We see each other Be hungry at me And even at times if I ask some question or if I greet him he may not answer me. How Am I going to handle that? Yes, I don't know what to do Yes, that's a good question brother, so Here's the thing firstly We need to understand that The moment we are sharing the gospel with a friend or somebody that we know it is a Spiritual battle Right. It's something. It's a spiritual thing now. You talk about For example, you're talking about music or you're talking about books and you know regular stuff Everything's fine right the moment you talk about the cross the moment you bring in the gospel It becomes a spiritual battle Now the Bible very clearly teaches us that the God of this age Has blinded the eyes of the people Right. So what happens is when sometimes the enemy Is oppressing people in different ways, right? So there could be sickness There could be oppression in the mind oppression and the body oppression in in Physical ailments. So here's the thing when we share the gospel, right? It is The work of the Holy Spirit. So it is a spiritual battle Right, but we are just talking. Okay, you know what? Jesus came he died on the cross And he took all our sins simple two-minute gospel even thought that two minutes Is a spiritual battle, right? So we must understand that you know, even They may be a good friend of yours for many years But the moment we share the gospel there's a change in their attitudes now. Remember it's not them right, it is The work of the enemy trying to Deviate their mind trying to bring their Minds into a place where you know to blind them From this gospel, right to blind their minds to blind their eyes from seeing the truth of the gospel, right? So it's very common where people will You know You're sharing the gospel and they would you know, just they'd be good friends. They'll be all right But the moment you share gospel, uh, they you know, get upset. They get angry. They treat you differently So it's a common thing. Uh, abu bhakri, but Uh, here's the thing that we should do we are to go back and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to you know, uh Ask God to break that hardness of heart to stop the work of the enemy That is you know, it's a work of the enemy. So never look at the person and say, okay He was like this now that I'm sharing the gospel. He's like this. So it's better. I just walk away or better I just you know, don't talk to him like how I was before but we are to there's this whole part of Sacrifice that we have to do we have to go back to God and say God as I minister to this person Give me the grace Uh, and as I share the gospel with him, give me opportunities Give me, uh, you know, you can try the power encounter approach Give me a word of knowledge. Give me a prophetic word that he will listen to me and open an opportunity that he will listen to me and Almost every time God will open some door for each of us Right, uh, there will come a time abu bhakri as you keep praying keep praying for him Keep praying that the enemy will not uh, you know Blind him, but there will come a time when he will come and ask you Uh to pray He will come and ask you, you know, this is what's happening. What do I do? Then you can, you know, very freely give him the gospel But the back, you know, the background work Of praying has to be done by you. You need to pray and you can just say god I command every work of the enemy to be broken off into that person's life Every oppression to be broken off every chain to be broken off at the anointing of the holy spirit break Every yoke in his life and even as I pray give me wisdom So these are things that you can pray abu bhakri. So don't be discouraged that, you know, uh, you know At times they may if they are continually, you know, against what you're saying Give it some time Right, don't talk about it because it's better to be his friend than to than for him to just shut you off And then you wouldn't get any opportunity. So Look at right opportunities Right at the right time, uh, and bring in the gospel. So That's what I would like to share with you. I hope that helps you abu bhakri Thank you very much. I'm here. I appreciate sir God bless. God bless Right any other thoughts any other questions you have Can move ahead to chapter six By the way, did anyone Was anyone able to share the gospel? Maybe even if it was on the phone Or on through message meeting people anyone No Okay Okay, I'll share just what happened during the week just to help us all I was at the supermarket and Buying some things And the moment I went in I saw this Young man He was it's you know, just looking around walking around Uh And you know many of them come to the supermarket side. It starts nothing to so I bought the stuff that was going on I felt the Holy Spirit say speak to him right now it was raining And you know, I had an umbrella and I had things in my hand and Said oh man, how am I going to wait for this guy to come out and it's going to look so funny Standing outside the supermarket with all the things and I don't even have the invites with me And I was standing there saying god, can I just go home now? But I actually went to the to my vehicle and I thought I'll start the vehicle but somewhere in my heart is Let me just try to talk to him And so I stood out in the rain. It was really weird to stand there and anyways, he stood there and After about 10 15 minutes this guy comes out and I said I don't know how to start the conversation. I just said Uh, hey, are you from Mangalore? He said no, I'm from a different town from Mumbai Uh, and I said hey, can I just talk to you for a moment? He said no, no, I gotta go I said god, you made me wait here for 15 minutes With all this stuff in the rain and now this guy's not willing to so he just started walking off I but then he took a turn back and he said, uh, what do you want to talk to me about? Uh, what is it? Well, can I know what your name is and all that? So he just asked me those guys. I said, okay, my name's Paul and this is what I just want to talk to you about what god did in my life You know, no, I don't want to know about god and all of that he started So, uh, I said no, I just want to share, you know, uh, as I was talking to him I I could get, you know smell of alcohol and so I asked him directly. Um, I use I would into drugs or anything. He said yes Um, and then I said, see, this is what happened in my life, you know, where god was able to change my life and for the better and Um, and right there I began to share about what jesus was doing, uh, did in our and did in my life personally and, uh, Uh, I didn't have an invite nothing I had but I I shared with him the whole gospel I said, this is what jesus can do. He can change your life. He can turn your life around and during the conversation I got to know that he Ran away from mumbai, uh, because of his, uh, drug addiction his his parents threw him out of the house And then he couldn't get anything in mumbai. So he's come here And he's doing some small job here and uh, and so I was able to just bring in the gospel He didn't say oh hallelujah and kneel down there. No All right. He just said okay Uh, uh, and then I said took down his number. I said, let's send you some You know words that can help you that can encourage you And so that happened. I took down his phone number. So over the week. I'm just you know sending him messages Uh, he hasn't responded to a few of them. Uh, but I'm praying for him So this is just one off that happened last week. Uh, so I want to encourage you. All right Even as you may step out. I know co-op is happening everywhere But if you get opportunities like this Go ahead Be bold be strong Trust god Trust god that he's with you the holy spirit is with you Uh, don't be afraid It may be a little bit embarrassing. I prayed for him on the street and he was you know With a cigarette in his mouth as I was praying for him and it looked really funny, but But I believe that god is going to do a work in his life, right? So uh, so I encourage you to also step out And minister to people. Okay. Let's go to chapter six John chapter one Was 35 to 51. Can one of us please read that john chapter one? Let's put that up john chapter one 35 to 51 Go ahead. Can somebody please read that? right John, uh, can you please read uh john chapter one? Is it 45 or 35? It's 35 35 to 51 Right. The next day john was there again with two of his disciples when he saw jesus passing by he said Look the lamb of god And the two disciples heard him say this they followed jesus Turning around jesus saw them following and asked what do you want? They said rabbi, which means teacher. What are you? Where are you staying? Come he replied and you will see So then so they went and saw Where he was staying and they spent the day that day with him It was about four in the afternoon andrew simon peter's brother was one of the other Two who heard that what g what john had said and who had followed jesus The first thing andrew did was to find his brother simon and tell him We have found the messiah that is the christ and he brought him to jesus Jesus took that him and said you are simon son of john You will be called seapus Which when translated is peter The next day jesus decided to leave for galilee finding phillip. He said to him follow me Philip like andrew and peter was from the town of betseida Philip found nathaniel and told him we have found the one moses wrote about the law And about whom the prophets also wrote jesus of nasirith the son of joseph Nasirith can any good come from there nathaniel asked come and see said philip When jesus or nathaniel approaching j said of him he truly is an israel Israelite in whom there is no deceit How do you know me nathaniel asked jesus answered i saw you while you were still under the fit tree before philip called you Then nathaniel declared rabbi You are the son of god You are the king of israel jesus said you believe because i told you i saw you under the fit tree You will see greater things than that he then added very truly i tell you you will see the heaven open An angel of god ascending and descending angels of god ascending and descending on the son of Right. Thank you john. Uh, so in this entire chapter, we're going to focus on something called as uh, you know pointing based on trust now before this uh, or later on also, uh, john the baptist points to jesus and says this is the the the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world and uh, you know andrew joins jesus, so it was simple words pointing based on trust in the sense that andrew and his disciple sorry john the baptist and his disciples his disciples trusted john the baptist That when he said behold the son of man, uh, who would take away the the lamb of god who will take away the sins of the world They did not go to john the baptist and say, uh, are you sure this is what are you sure about this statement? Are you sure did you read the scriptures? Did he go open the book of isiah? Did you? No, they didn't question him at all They hundred percent trusted in john the baptist right hundred percent trust But later on we see that methaniel did not have a hundred percent trust on Philip but But here there was there's so much of trust john the baptist said hold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world and follows him They did not question What john the baptist was saying now here is an important point As we are ministering to people We need to gain people's trust How do i how do i uh, how do we gain people's trust now? We're not gaining people's trust to please them but we need to honor You know friendships and and people around us In sense of for example If you've got a friend and he's maybe an unbeliever Uh, people person from another faith right and you make commitments. Hey, I'll come and pick you up at eight o'clock in the morning Right and you go there at nine o'clock and he's on the road there eight to nine waiting for you Right now what happens? You know that whole level of trust comes down Right, it's just a simple point that i'm giving right Or say for example, you've made certain commitments and and Very easily we break those commitments So what happens the relationship or the trust that we have on each other will tend to break down So here's an important point now there will be times many of us are in ministry there will be times we have to you know Change our schedules and make changes to what we are doing But here's the thing as much as possible keep your commitments Gain the trust of your friends Now, why do I say this? Now if i'm if if somebody trusts me completely and they say okay Hey, uh, paul said he'll come and pick me up at eight. So he should be here by 7558 I know that paul won't be late unless You know, there's something happened on the road and there's you know, the whole street was blocked and But otherwise he should be here now the same way if I tell that friend. Hey, why don't you come to this youth meeting? It's really good because I enjoyed myself. Maybe you will also like it Now he's not going to check with hundred other people Uh, what about this church? He's not going to go on google and check. Okay. How is this church? Is it a church? Uh, is it christian? You're gonna do all that Just based on trust That we have developed He will be willing to come Now it may not be that at the first time you say yes. Yes, I'll come But he's open to the idea. Why because he trusts me Right, you get what I'm saying, right? So it's very important As christians as believers to keep our appointments Right to keep our words the book of problems is filled with that Right. He's the book of problems teaches us about discipline And how it is very important to be disciplined in our life A lot of people think okay ministry is just okay. We can do whatever we want at whatever time however we like it No, uh, god expects us to be disciplined Right, uh, whether we are pastors evangelist prophets, whatever it is Uh, there's a discipline that we have to follow right get up read the word pray Stand time in his presence and do the other practical things. There are times when we seek god More than we do normally times of fasting times of Complete dedication to the word of god and so all of this is there. So here's what I say Here's what I want to leave us in this point. There are times that because of trust we have developed When we point people to Jesus They will be willing to You know, uh, listen to us. They'll be willing to listen to us. Now for example, if I'm somebody I'm a friend with someone and You know, he I'm friends with him for the past 10 years And over the past 10 years, I've always been, you know, uh Changing my commitments changing my words always being late always doing things that is, you know, whatever I say Uh, I don't do so. What happens is Uh, I don't have the trust. They may be friends with you, but I don't gain that trust Uh, that I really need from them. I didn't say hey paul. Okay Uh, if he doesn't come, it's all right because most of the times he always, uh, you know, cancels on us Or he most of the time he doesn't come on time. So it's all right. We can discontinue But that's the attitude that people will have right. So here's the thing When we are You know, respectful to other people's time and and and you know, their availability and their commitments and the and things that they have to do When we gain their trust, it is very important To do that because when we invite them to places They will be willing to come Right in 2012, uh, you know, I have a have a lot of muslim friends, right? So Uh, this muslim friend of mine, he's we're very good friends, right from the time we were in school Uh, very good friends very close to each other. Uh, he was an notorious boy And and so he would always get into trouble But one thing was from from a young age. I should tell him no need of hiding it Just go tell your parents it's going to become worse later on. So he would just go and you know, do it So he he really trusted me, right? Not that I was a very good person, but he really trusted in what I would say and And then I became a believer and you know, our relationship did not change And he's still in touch And I remember this one time I just told him, uh, hey Why don't you just come with me? He said where? Uh, see I'm going to this place the church. You just come with me. He said, okay paul, I'll come Uh, then I asked him if it's okay. No, your parents won't shout. No, no, they won't shout. He said no, they won't shout Are you going to tell your parents you're going said no now? I won't tell but Uh, maybe this if I've come the second or third time I'll tell them But if I tell them I'm going with paul, it's no problem. They won't say anything even now If I tell them I'm going with paul, they won't say anything If I tell them I'm going somewhere else, they will get worried Right, so so I I told this boy. He's a hardcore muslim I said, why don't you come because there are a lot of people uh, young people and you can get to meet people You're always at home and all your friends are not good friends, you know So you come to church He just came right. He never asked anything. He never asked me Are they going to talk about jesus? Are they going to talk about this nothing? Right. He came he sat with me in church He listened to the whole worship. He listened to the whole So then he asked me a lot of questions. I answered those questions. He trusted me Now it was not that he gave his life to christ immediately Right, uh, so after that I had to keep talking to him But the more I spoke to him the more he trusted me because it was not some relationship built on one year two years Right 10 years and in the 10 years I was able to keep commitments. I was able to keep my word in the smallest of things. So he completely trusts me right He trusts me with everything Even to the point that you know when he goes to other countries, he gives me his house key He says you only keep you. I don't want to give it to anybody. So he's got completely trust on me now Whenever I call him to church, I tell him about jesus. I tell him about the cross. I tell him see this is what happened in my life Right, I keep telling him that Uh, but somewhere He he because you know, he's heard it so many times. It's he's not yet able to you know Digest it But I know that one day he will you know accept christ. He loves the whole gospel. He reads a lot of the bible He reads it. He he knows a lot of songs. He listens to gospel songs Because I send it to him. He listens to it because he trusts me right, so here's the thing what I'm trying to bring when You and I have like how abo bakre was saying I have a he has a friend Gain their trust right Be caring loving to them honor your commitments And then you will be able to speak into their lives John the Baptist had his disciples And two of his disciples he just said Behold the lamb of god takes away the sins of the world They trusted him and they went to jesus later on they became disciples of jesus They did not question john the baptist at all Right, so that's a very important point. Secondly We see that in in that same chapter was 40 to 42. We see that you know Andrew goes and finds his brother simon peter right now Here is something very interesting. They you know Andrews Andrew spent time with jesus and he goes and he tells him we have found the messiah And brings him to where jesus is the lord ministers to peter And you know, we know what happens to peter. He went on to become the leader of the church leader of the You know the church in jerusalem and and we know the powerful work that uh, possible peter did All of this happened because andrew and told peter. We have found the messiah So it was a common interest both andrew and peter being brothers. They were jews. They were waiting for the messiah Right, they all know they were waiting for the messiah. And so They had something in common And that same that same Thing of the common aspect Was able to bring both of them to jesus Andrew was convinced That jesus was the messiah He goes out. He finds his brother brings peter and says You i am convinced you yourself meet him and you will see that you will also be convinced Common interest common search right, so there will be times when You know in ministry, there will be common things that people are searching for right, uh people may be looking for you know, uh a place of You know a place where they can be accepted A place where they can you know find loving friends So common interests so you get people in that way So if you for example, you know somebody who's uh, you know Always you know or wanting to you know, we are Have good friends around invite your church friends invite your good friends get them connected You never know, you know, they can Come to christ as well through that so Sharing based on common interest now Next thing that we can see is that what did andrew say he said come and see Andrew did not go and explain everything to Peter he didn't say okay Peter, you know what happened? I was going here and then I went here I met this man and then it was written in the book of isiah like this about him. He was like this He did this he did this And he's the messiah so just like that I met one person He also claimed to be the messiah when I spoke to him my heart was moved and I began to You know really believe him and now I believe him and then I took all no no explanation All that andrew said was peter Come and see what I saw Right come and see what I saw I'll give you this example Uh during the early days in mangler. We were about 20 odd people And one day uh, I was at a I think it was a juice shop or something and buying my little boy a juice and During that time I saw this young man, right? He was a northeast boy Uh, I felt in my heart to just share the gospel with him. And so I went to him and I said hey Uh, I just want to share The gospel with you. He said hey, I'm a christian. He said I've just come to mangler Just a month ago and I'm here. I study in a university which is about 15 20 kilometers away Um, I said hey, that's great. Why we have a church here if you're looking for a church I gave him an invite and sure enough. He was very excited. He came the next sunday Right as he came the next sunday. He said hey, you know what I have like 15 friends all from uh, nagaland and You know demapoor nagaland And from the northeast a few of our friends and we're all in one batch. So can I bring all of them and come? I said, yes, please bring all a christian, sir So he brought all of them about 10 15 of them all of a sudden from printy We were 35 people in the church Now here's the thing after the first time not many of them would come three four people would come And so I I met with this boy Uh, and I told him why aren't they coming said, uh, no they're like that, you know the the games they play video games They want to rest on sunday So then we then we were discussing we thought okay. What is a common interest among all of them? So he said we like movies And we like watching movies and all of that. So I said, okay Tell them so we made an invite. Okay movie night in church Right now we we have these movies called facing the giant Uh, you know, uh, so many movies right? Prayer room or something. I'm not good at those facing the giant flying wheel all these uh christian movies which have a lot of Meaning to them said, okay, we are going to have a movie evening So I made and we made an invite and uh, we sent it out to people. We did an e invite me so We sent it out. We said, okay saturday five p.m. Movie is going to start in church Right, so we got everything ready. We had our projectors everything set up the entire gang came 20 people and they Said hey, we've called our friends also that night That movie time we had about 45 people. I didn't expect 45 people. I ordered coffee for about 20 people 45 people turned up We sat they watched the entire movie facing the giants after the movie I went in front I just very simply I brought in the gospel. I said, uh, you know, there are giants that we face in in life and This is what god has given us God has given us the authority to overcome the giant just brought in a little bit of david in gullai Little bit of the things of the world just brought in a simple message five minutes gave it to them Did an altar call four people came forward gave their lives to christ and It was wonderful Right, it was all through a movie. I spoke for five minutes. That's it. But they entered the movie itself Ministered to them Right and then the next week onwards. They all started coming to church Like now most of them have graduated. They've gone back to their hometown. Some of them are here But they still remember they say, uh, you know after when when I when you're when are you opening church? We want to come And we want to be part of church. How did it happen? Just common interest Now if I had gone there saying, okay, you know, this is what open the book of john open, you know, isiah and all of it Nothing's going to happen. They know everything. They're all christians Right, uh, they know everything about jesus. They know the cross. They know everything but common interest right, uh, there's another time when You know, the few students here in the city They wanted to learn music. So they said I said, see, I'm not a very good teacher or anything What I know, I know a little bit of guitar. So whatever little I know I can teach you So, uh, so they said, okay, sure. So I said, okay, saturday you come So they came like two three of them and then five six of them would come and then while playing the guitar I would you know teaching them the simple stuff, uh, you know, I don't know the theory But whatever simple things that I know I would teach them but I would bring in the gospel I would say, you know what so many people don't have the ability to You know, don't have hands to have legs You have hands and you have a mind where you're able to remember all that you're learning now Don't you feel god is blessed here? Don't you feel you have to give praise to god and you know, press bring in the gospel in a simple way now It may sound radical But it's a very simple way common interest Bringing people to christ, right? So you can think of other things, right? You can look at your church. You look at your Youth leaders ask them Hey, well, what is happening in among the youth? What are the interests that are happening now with things in the You know gaming and these phones and technology and all of it See how you can bring in technology and help your church people Maybe you can have a meeting You know get somebody to talk about improvements of technology and how it's going to impact the church Right And so you can try all these things within your church now Some of you may be in a setting where it's more of a town or more of a village not a city But it's all right, you know, you know, when we look at surveys now, even the small smallest villages Have zoom prayers now, right? So everyone are aware of, you know, technology at some certain level at least At least 10 years back. They were not so you can use it. I don't feel that. Okay. They don't know Can teach them, right? Then as you do this Invite them and pray for them Don't forget to do that, right? It should not be a time only of enjoyment, right? Like for the movie Not just enjoyment, but the end invite them for prayer give them an opportunity to encounter And explore Jesus for themselves pray that the lord will reveal himself to their lives, right? Here's another important thing realize the power of a single invitation A single invitation is powerful Right. There are plenty of examples in church history Uh, where this one person Invited another person and they did exploits for kingdom of god Andrew invited peter peter did exploits to the kingdom of god single invitation Right. I invited this young boy one person. I never knew in my mind. He's going to bring 30 people. He said it And he brought the people I know is the single invitation one person And for me this one person if he comes it was enough, you know, but he brought in so many people So realize the power of a single invitation Never look down on one invitation also Right. They're able to do this. Let me give you this example of uh, Billy Graham Billy Graham was a young boy small boy Uh, and so his parents would tell him you need to go to sunday school. So during those times, uh, you know They had elderly men who would you know have handled sunday school Late 1800s and and so Billy Graham was going to his, uh, children's School children's church, I would say And there this old man was handling the sunday school very old man Right He would come he would sweep the place mock the place Put the chairs and there would be seven children coming For the seven children, you know people would ask him No So you're so old Right You're so advanced in age, but you are coming here. You're cleaning the whole place You're setting everything right and for seven people in the children's church. He said You never know what these children can do for the lord. So he was very very faithful Right. And so it was during one of those sunday school Servants this man. I forget his name, but he made an altar call. He said Uh, those who want to accept crisis their personal savior come in front Billy Graham came in front And in that hall He knelt down. He gave his life to christ Did he know that he would be touching millions of lives all across the world The power of a single invitation Right, remember that sometimes, you know, god can use you to raise up a Billy Graham. That's one one invitation right, so Think of various situations that people go through Give them an opportunity where you can invite them to explore jesus the challenges they face The point of interest they have being grateful being thankful Media You know so many things don't put pressure on people during the process of evangelizing Right, they say wow except christ could don't say okay next step get baptized What a baptism next step fast for 40 days now. They won't be able to do all of that Right, except for christ give them some time Right take it slow give them milk And then you slowly give them the meat of the word of god Right, don't put pressure on them Right. There's this one Lady who comes to our church She's a hindu uh, she's been coming Every sunday for three years three years every sunday i've done so many altar calls. She's never come in front She's still you know here and there, you know, sometimes she'll have Her god sometimes she'll say jesus and all of that here and there She knows the entire gospel. She knows what jesus did not the one day. I asked her why is it that You know, you're so faithful to church three years You know, even though you've not accepted jesus I I was curious as you haven't accepted him as your personal savior in the sense that you Still have these other things. I'm very open because she she's been with us for three years now and she said something This world has so much of trouble and pain for me in my mind I eagerly long for sundays Because when I come into this place, I feel the peace of god That's all the her answer was Right. I eagerly long for sundays. She is one of the first few people who comes into church She's a hindu still right. She's both here and there, right But he said this eagerly long and I can make out that she does eagerly long because she's there on time And she's there till the end. She talks to everyone eagerly long because when I come into this place I feel the peace of god. I forget about all my worries all my fears. I feel like staying here itself Right now it's wonderful that people feel that way Right, so don't put pressure on them Give them their time god is doing a work in their lives continue to give them the gospel Give them their time, right? uh Again just like before we looked at There are various events and various places that you can invite people to explore jesus your church church events life groups special movie home, uh, you know Yeah, there's this one time. I'll close with this last example that happened in church This one time we said, okay, let's have a potluck in church because All of a sudden the family started growing in church. I said, okay families I realized that families don't know other families. I would talk to one family and say, okay, this person They would be blank. So they didn't know who's that so I realized that They don't know each other in the church. I mean they know them by face But not by name and what they do. So I said, okay, let's have potluck I said, uh, you can invite your other people other friends as well if they want to come and a few of them invited Other families right now people from other faith And it was nothing. It was just potluck. It was some games. We had some games And then we had potluck Eat together go back home. That's all the plan was Uh, but on that event that they uh, two Two hindu couples came Uh, and so we had the games everything and While we were having the meal It's just very simple. I just tried to bring in the gospel while having me. I said see, uh, you know, uh, we all have A good health good strength, you know And here's what it is when God created us. He created us for a purpose and so just Try to connect with the food I don't know if that message even made sense because I was not even prepared, but I just tried to bring in the gospel and Um, sure enough after that, uh, these two couples started slowly coming to church And uh, they began to you know, attend church regularly But one couple did not turn up One couple turned up and it was through potluck, right? so The reason i'm giving these examples is so that god gives us wisdom Especially us who are leading a church pastors You know to To be wise in the way we lead the church God has called us not to be people who put down others Not to look down and mock and ridicule others I always say this and even at apc we always focus on this that is You shall know the truth And the truth will set you free Don't focus on what others are doing Oh, you're worshiping this god and that god. No They shall know the truth And the truth itself will set them free. So our focus As leaders as pastors as evangelists as ministers of god is to focus on the truth And let the truth set them free Not to focus on what is wrong and what wrong people are doing and then bring in the truth. No Yes, people are doing wrong But you bring in the truth the truth will set them free from that wrong Right. So I just want to leave us with that Focus on the truth At the truth that the word of god prevail in our hearts And god will be able to use each of us in greater ways known All right, so we'll wrap up today's class. Sorry. I've taken five minutes extra, but Right. Can any questions any thoughts? We just close in prayer Okay, let's let's close in prayer. Elisha Can you please close in prayer? Okay. Okay, pastor We are praying Our heavenly father we want to praise you and thank you For this wonderful moment That we thank you and appreciate you for the voice of encouragement and insight That pastor Paul has shared with us We continue to pray the Lord Let the let this truth of your word grip our heart That we will be encouraged father and inspired to share You Jesus Christ with our loved ones and our family Father the path of trust that he shared with us we pray That you continue to let your Holy Spirit work on us That we will shed off every attitude of indiscipline that will keep our Family and friends not trusting us in the mighty name of Jesus We pray that you continue to help us to keep to our ways in the name of Jesus You pray commit our unbelieving friends and family into your hands for God Continue to let your Holy Spirit work on them as we continue to pray and evangelize them That we touch their hearts and bring them to convection of sin judgment in the mighty name of Jesus We thank you and honor your holy name in Jesus name you pray amen Sorry, thank you Elisha Before we just close I just want to encourage us Maybe this week if you can get an opportunity to Share the gospel with somebody Go ahead and try it out. And if you do maybe next week we can spend some time Learning from that so that all of us can also learn to get so but I want to encourage you If you get an opportunity go ahead Share it whether it's on the phone or face to face go ahead with boldness All right. God bless you. Have a wonderful week. We'll catch up next Wednesday. God bless you