Okay, okay, very good. All right, well, let's begin our time in a word of prayer and then we'll get started. Father, we're grateful. that in your perfect providence, you would allow us to gather together during this time to talk about evangelism this evening. I pray, Father, that you would give me first words that would be pleasing to your ears, that, Father, I would communicate in such a way as to bring you honor and praise and glory, that I would not turn the attention of these men towards me or other men, but towards our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who alone is worthy praise and adoration. I pray, Father, that you would allow me, Lord, to encourage these men, and if it would be your will, to maybe in some way further equip them in the area of evangelism, if not for themselves, for those they are either leading now or will one day lead as they shepherd flocks. We pray, Father, that you would be well-pleased with not only the teaching during this time, but the conversation that might ensue following. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well brothers, it's indeed an honor and a privilege to be with you this evening. I've talked to many of you. I don't think I've talked to all of you. My morning was particularly blessed as I sat down on the bench there in the cool of the shade and got to have some wonderful conversations with some of you and talk about life and ministry and evangelism and to hear testimony. I love hearing the stories of how God has saved other people. And so it was a really blessed time. And then I found out a little later in the morning that I would have the privilege of sitting before you today to talk about evangelism. And so that's what we're going to do. I'm going to speak just for a moment about myself, and then I'm going to stop talking about me. But for those of you who don't know who I am, again, my name is Tony Miano. I am an evangelist for Grace Fellowship Church in Davenport, Iowa. The Lord caused me to be born again to a living hope, saved me in September of 1988, and I have imperfectly, imperfectly served Him ever since. For the last 19 years of my life, I have served in one capacity or another as a full-time street evangelist, and the most blessed part of my ministry has been the last six years as a member of Grace Fellowship Church in Davenport, Iowa, being sent out by my pastors and by my church to do the work of evangelism in our community. Married to my lovely wife, Maria, going on 37 years here in July. Three adult daughters, three grandchildren. Hope for one more son-in-law in the future and more grandchildren after that. So that's enough about me. God the Father sent His Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, truly God, truly man, without sin. Unlike you and me who have sinned every day of our life in thought, word, or deed, Jesus Christ, God the Son, lived a life of perfection for some 33 years here on earth, and you and I can't live for 33 seconds. Yet even though we knew no sin, as God in the flesh, he voluntarily submitted himself to the torturous, bloody death of a Roman cross. He died a death he did not deserve to take upon himself the punishment you and I and every other human being rightly deserves for our sins against God. Three days later, he forever defeated sin and death when he rose from the grave. 40 days after that, he ascended back into heaven in bodily form, where he now sits at the right hand of power, soon to return at a time that no man knows. And when he returns, he will not return as a baby humble, meek, and mild in a manger. He will return as the Lion of the tribe of Judah to judge the living and the dead. And what God requires, not what He asks, not what He hopes, not what He begs, but what He requires of every human being is that they will repent of their sin and by faith believe the gospel you just heard. That they would turn from their sin and turn toward God and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and their Savior. And if God does that miraculous work, because salvation is the work of the Lord, it is not the work of man, the only thing we have brought to our own salvation is the sin to make it necessary, If God does that miraculous work, if He takes a heart of stone and turns that, and gives that person a heart of flesh, causing that person to be born again to a living hope, He will forgive their sin. He will remove it as far as the east is from the west, and He will remember it no more. And that person will be reconciled to God in that moment for all eternity, not because they're good, but because of the goodness of God that would allow His perfect and precious and priceless Son to die for sinners like you and me. That's the good news of the gospel. And that's why the church exists. bring glory to God, and to proclaim His gospel to a lost and dying world, to gather His elect, those whom He has decided to save before the foundation of the world. God, being a God of means, has determined that it will be through the proclamation of the gospel, whether from the pulpit, or on a street corner, or across the dining room table, or on your sofa in your living room. He has determined that it is through the proclamation of the gospel. by which people will come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and be saved. The church, the local church, does many things that are vitally important to the life of the church and in the life of every believer, and that is in part what you're here to study. to study how to shepherd a local church, what constitutes a local church, what qualifies a man to lead and to shepherd, and how he should go about doing that for the glory of God. There are many things in the life of the church that are vitally important. One of those things is evangelism. Evangelism is something that God requires of not only the local church, but of every individual Christian. There is no such thing as the gift of evangelism. You will not find it anywhere in the Bible. You will not find evangelism listed as a gift. You might want to run to Ephesians chapter 4 where it says, well, wait a minute. The Word of God says that God gifted the church with teachers and preachers and apostles and evangelists. Yes, those men were called to serve the church. Those were gifts from God to the church. Those weren't people who had some special gift of evangelism that no other Christian has. And the reason evangelism is not listed as a gift is because God makes it clear in His Word that it is a requirement. every Christian. It is a requirement of every Christian. The gospel alone is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. Romans 1 16 begins with these words, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel is the power of God for salvation. The gospel does not need the help of our personalities. The gospel does not need the help of a stage production. I was speaking with Pastor Eric earlier this morning and I was asking him, what in the lives of Kenyan Christians, what are some of the things that make Christians in Kenya either hesitant or fearful of engaging in evangelism? And one of the reasons of several that he gave me is that evangelism happens often on the streets in Kenya and oftentimes that could be a large production with a stage and very loud and expensive speakers and dancing and singing and maybe a very powerful speaker and the quote-unquote average Christian, I hate using that term because there really is no such thing as an average Christian, but The average Christian sees that and says, well, I can never do that. I can never do something like that. And so they don't think of doing any kind of evangelism at all. Well, brothers, evangelism doesn't need the help of a stage production. Evangelism doesn't need the help of loudspeakers. Evangelism doesn't need the help of dancing and singing. And evangelism doesn't need the help, or rather the gospel does not need the help of a very gifted orator. of a very powerful speaker with a loud and booming voice. The gospel doesn't need that help. The gospel doesn't need the help of, again, a well-orchestrated and loud outdoor meeting. The gospel doesn't need that help. The gospel does not need the help of our eloquence, our ability to answer every question, our ability to stump every one of our opponents. The gospel does not need the help of our friendship to the lost. It does not need the help of our service to the lost. The gospel only needs to be proclaimed. Now in saying all of that, am I saying that it's wrong to have a large outdoor meeting? Absolutely not. Am I saying it's wrong to strike up a friendship with an unbeliever or to serve unbelievers in need? Absolutely not. I'm not saying that at all. Am I saying that we should not utilize our own unique personalities and the context of the lives where we live and work and move and have our being? No, God has created each of us to serve as a unique part of the body of Christ. We are all different people. We have different strengths and different weaknesses. We have different experiences. We have different contexts of our lives, different types of work, different family structures. And God can use all of those different kinds of people, and he does, to further his gospel. What I'm saying is that the gospel doesn't need those things. The Word of God makes it clear that the Gospel and the Gospel alone is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The Gospel only needs to be proclaimed. Romans chapter 10, I know a passage very familiar I'm sure to you men. Beginning in verse 14, Romans 10 14 to 17. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. They have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. The gospel is a spoken message. The gospel requires words. Words must be communicated. Now, those could be communicated verbally, maybe loudly by a street preacher on a corner, maybe quietly across the table in a cafe. Maybe communicated in written form in a term paper, a college term paper. Maybe communicated in conversation during a break at work. Maybe communicated during family devotions to one's children, but it is always communicated with words. It is always communicated by words. The lost and dying people all around us cannot see Jesus in us. They can't because they're dead. The Bible makes it clear that they are spiritually dead. And it almost seems redundant, but the Bible also says that they're blind. They can't discern that which is spiritual because it is spiritually appraised. If we go out and we serve people, and we should. If we go out and help people, and we should. If we go out and befriend the lost, and we should do that. and we do not communicate the gospel to them, then we do not look any different than the friendly atheist, or the friendly Muslim, or the friendly Roman Catholic, or the friendly Mormon, or Jehovah's Witness, or the friendly Muslim. And if we do that, and many churches do that, I would hazard to guess many churches do this in Kenya, many churches do this in the United States. They go out into the highways and byways, and they think that their little light is going to shine, and they don't open up their mouths, they don't proclaim the gospel in some way, but they go about helping people. They never communicate the gospel to people, and all they're doing is helping them to be more comfortable on their way to hell. And that is not our mission. That is not our mission. The gospel is a spoken message. The gospel needs only to be communicated from the mouth of a Christian to the ears, heart, and mind of an unbeliever. The gospel message, not the methodology for how that priceless, beautiful message is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. That gospel message, not the methodology, is the power. The power of the proclamation of the gospel isn't based on how many people are standing in front of you, or how big your stage is, or how big your sound system is, or how much experience you have, or how eloquent you are, or how fancy your gospel tracks look. No, the power isn't in the methodology. The power is in the message of the gospel. most Christians these days, and I think it's fair to say that most professing Christians these days are ashamed of the gospel by their unwillingness to share it with others. They're ashamed of the gospel, and it shows by their unwillingness to share it. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands. I'm not looking to embarrass anybody. I'm not looking to call anybody out. But I would have you ask yourself, when was the last time you communicated the gospel to somebody? When was the last time you pressed upon an unbeliever that if they die and stand before God and are found guilty of their sin, and they will be found guilty, that they will spend eternity in hell? and that the only good news is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then communicate that gospel to them, when's the last time you did that? When is the last time you walked up to a stranger and put a gospel tract into their hand? When was the last time you struck up a conversation with a waiter or a waitress in a restaurant and asked them, how can we be praying for you today? and communicate the gospel to them. When was the last time, according to the lives that you men live, in the context of life where God has placed you, when was the last time you communicated the gospel? Now, if you could be quick about that and say, well, today, yesterday, three times this week, praise God. But is it for you a way of life? Is the proclamation of the gospel a way of life, or is it only an occasional event? You are a living part of the body of Christ. How many of you men are presently pastoring in churches right now? How many of you? Okay, several of you, several of you. And I would assume the rest of you, that is your hope, that's your plan, that's your aspiration, that you want to be called by the local church, called by God to serve as a pastor. We have a saying in the United States, speed of the leader, speed of the team. How did you put it to me, Pastor, this morning? Fish rots from the head. So a fish, I love to fish. Not only for men, but for fish. I love to fish. And as Pastor says, it's true, fish rot from the head. That's the first thing that starts to rot. And then that rot just works its way all through the body. As pastors, it is going to be your task and your privilege to lead your people in the proclamation of the gospel from your pulpits and how you live your day-to-day lives. you're going to be called by God to model evangelism for your people. And the way you model evangelism in your own life is going to be the way your people, by and large, are going to engage in evangelism. You might have a man or a woman or a couple men and women in the church who are zealous for the gospel, who truly love the lost, and they're out there communicating the gospel as best as they can, as they know how and as they are going. But by and large, The church is going to look to you men. The church is going to look to you men to see how much you really care about evangelism. How much you really love the lost. Because in the end, we do what we care about. We do what we care about. When my wife Maria, some 38 years ago, had the audacity to say, yes I will, when I asked her to marry me, and I put a ring on her finger, do you think I kept that a secret? Or do you think I ran and told all of my co-workers and told all of my friends, she actually said yes. I'm going to get married. Or did I keep it a secret? No, I told everybody. I told everybody because that was important to me. When our first daughter Michelle was born, And I took that first Polaroid picture with her. I don't even know, do you men even know what a Polaroid is these days? Everything is digital. I took that first picture. Did I hide it? Did I hide that picture in an envelope and lock it in a safe? Or did I run and tell all of my friends, this is my daughter! This is my daughter, this is my baby girl! You better smile when you look at that picture! I told everybody. I couldn't wait to tell people. When I got my first car as a teenager, did I hide it in the garage? Or did I scrape up pennies and nickels and dimes to buy a gallon of gas so I could pile my friends in the car and drive around town in my car? Of course, I showed it off. I wanted people to see my car. Don't tell me that you love Jesus. if you're not talking about him. Don't tell me you love Jesus if you're not doing what you can to tell the world, to tell Nairobi, to tell Kenya about Jesus because we do what we care about. Matthew chapter 22. Verses 34 to 40. This passage, among others, but certainly this passage, gives us all the motivation we need to go out and proclaim the gospel to lost people, whether in mass, to a large crowd, or that one person standing in line in front of you at the market. This passage. Matthew 22, beginning in verse 34. But when the Pharisees heard that he, Jesus, had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. The two greatest commandments according to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are simply put, love God, love people. Those are the two greatest commandments. And in my estimation, there is no greater way that we can tell people that we love God than to go tell people the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And there is no greater way we could communicate to lost people that we actually love them than to warn them about the wrath of God to come upon them because of their sin and with hope and with love in our heart for them, proclaim to them the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot think of a better way to show the world and to show my God that I love him than by telling others about it. There's no greater way I could tell that lost person in front of me, I love you, than by proclaiming the gospel to that person. Any Christian who refuses to communicate the gospel to lost people And again, we've talked about many different ways. There's not a way to do evangelism. There are many different ways to engage in evangelism. But any Christian who refuses to communicate the gospel to lost people according to the personality God has given them, and according to the context of life where He has placed them, should ask himself or herself this question, Do I really love God? Do I really love God? Do I really love people? It's a reasonable question one to ask himself or herself if that person isn't engaged in evangelism or if that person has no desire to be engaged in evangelism. Now, I am abundantly blessed to be called by my church to go out and proclaim the gospel as a ministry of the church. For lack of a better way of putting it, that's my job. That's what I do. That's my life, is proclaiming the gospel and coming alongside my pastors to equip and edify our church family to go and do likewise. Not exactly necessarily the same way I'm doing it. but to go proclaim the gospel as they are living their day-to-day lives where God has placed them. I am blessed to be in that role, to have that privilege and that responsibility. But again, each and every one of us has the responsibility to communicate the gospel. Look, as shepherds, you're gonna be very, very busy men. whether you have a large or a small conversation, you're going to have sheep to shepherd and sheep bite. Sheep bite and sheep are very needy creatures, are they not? And your task as an elder, as a pastor in the church, according to the word of God, is to pray and to study and to teach the word of God. That is your primary role. And in that primary role, you're going to be counseling and you're going to be shepherding in other ways. But don't lose sight of the fact that, again, you have a responsibility to lead your people in evangelism by testifying from the pulpit. Here's a gospel conversation I had this week. Here's how I communicated the gospel to this person at the grocery store or at the post office or when I was getting my car repaired. I handed out a gospel tract to this person and this is how I did it in the context of exhorting your people and as you're teaching the Word of God. And then if you don't have other men in your church equipped to lead your people out on the streets, as time and duties permit, you ought to be doing that as a way to bolster your church family, to help shepherd your sheep so that they're more evangelistic in their own lives. Now when you get to do that, you're often going to come up against objections from truly born again brothers and sisters in Christ. People who you have confidence because you're actually shepherding them. You have confidence that this brother or sister knows the Lord. You're going to receive a little pushback and you're going to hear about different reasons as to why they don't engage in evangelism. They're maybe going to give you a laundry list of different fears or apprehensions. Quite frankly, I don't want to be rejected. I don't want to go to jail. I'm afraid I'm going to get asked a question that I might not be able to answer. What if I mess up and I communicate the gospel wrong and so on and so on and so on? Well, the fear of man is not the root sin that keeps Christians from sharing the gospel with the lost. Fear of man is a fruit sin. The root sin, I believe, is a love of self. A love of self. If you were to make a list, if you have any apprehensions at all, and maybe none of you men do, But if any of you have any apprehensions at all about engaging friend, family member, or total stranger in gospel conversation, and you were to make a list of all of those, and maybe for you it's a really short list, or maybe you have a laundry list of reasons why you're apprehensive, what you're going to find in that list is not one item will have anything to do with the lost person. They'll all be about you. They'll all be about what it might cost you. if you actually engage in evangelism. But we are commanded by our Lord to count the cost, are we not? To deny ourselves, to take up our crosses and follow Him. Now that is to encompass every aspect of our life. Certainly one of those areas of our life is the area of evangelism. One of the objections that I often hear is, I'm really not sure what to say. I'm not sure what to say. Now, that could be a true statement. Maybe the person who's making that statement came to faith in Christ a week ago or a day ago, but because God has truly caused them to be born again, that the Spirit of God is indwelling them, they are compelled, I got to go tell somebody, but I'm not sure what to say. That could certainly be true. But among most Christians who make that excuse, certainly Christians who have been saved for a while, Christians who are sitting under the good teaching of a church like Trinity Baptist Church, who hear the authentic gospel on a regular basis, that excuse, I'm not sure what to say, really is invalid. Because a person cannot be saved by a gospel he or she doesn't know. A person cannot be saved by a gospel he or she doesn't know. If or since a person is born again, a born-again follower of Jesus Christ, that person knows the gospel. They know the gospel. They may not know the finer points of theology contained in that gospel. They may still be suckling on milk and not ready for the meat of the word, but they know how the Lord saved them. They know why the Lord saved them. They know why they needed to be saved. They know who it was who saved them. They know it wasn't by anything they did. They know it was by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Even if they can't articulate those great and deep theologies contained even in that one sentence, they know. They know the one in whom they believe. They know why they believed. They know why they needed to be saved. And they know who it was that saved them. They know the gospel. Why? Because they've believed it. Because they're born again. And a born-again follower of Jesus Christ is fully equipped to engage in evangelism ministry. Fully equipped. So how do you get better at it? Maybe this is a question you ask yourself. You're certainly going to be asked this question as a pastor. Pastor, I know I should be more evangelistic. I want to be more evangelistic. I know how the Lord saved me. I'm not sure how to go about it. I'm not a well-spoken person, maybe. I'm a little nervous talking to people. How do I go about getting better at this thing called evangelism? Number one, you do it. You go out and do evangelism. You go out and you engage in evangelism. You take that shaking hand and you put a gospel tract, a little piece of paper into a lost person's hand and said, here, I've got good news for you. We have a young man in our church, a young man named Matthew, very zealous for the Lord, aspires to one day be a pastor or a church planter. As regularly as his schedule allows, he's out on the streets with me, engaged in evangelism. And when he's going to hand out a gospel tract, he simply says this, I have good news for you. Can I give you some good news? I'd love to give you some good news. That's all he says. A few weeks ago we were on the campus of a university in the United States where a mass shooting took place. They've become a sport in our country. Michigan State University, three people killed, five people wounded. My niece was on the campus when that happened, cowering in a closet of her dorm room for four hours. And so our church, our pastors, sent me and Matthew to Michigan, a few states away, to proclaim the gospel on the campus. for a few days. And I was so blessed as I watched my younger brother walk up to total strangers and say, I've got good news for you. And I can't tell you how many times I heard a student, a young person on that campus, just stop and say, I could use some good news. Now they had no idea what they were about to receive. They had a general idea because I'm carrying a six foot cross that said stop and talk on the cross beam. So they knew why we were there. But still the response of so many was, I could use some good news. Yeah, I'll take some good news. I want some good news. There are millions of people in your country starving for good news. Most of them don't know they need it. Most of them think they don't want it. And in the end, in God's providence, most of them will never receive it. But God's elect is in Nairobi and throughout Kenya, waiting for someone to bring them good news. That's the responsibility of the local church. That is the responsibility of every Christian. So simply do it. I'm not real comfortable talking to people. Practice. take another brother, take a brother or sister, and have a gospel conversation with them. You be the Christian evangelist, they'll be the unbeliever, they'll throw some objections your way, you'll work together on answering those. Switch sides, okay, you gave me some tough questions, I'm gonna give you some tough questions now. And role play, go back and forth and have those conversations. Early on when I started doing public evangelism and I was out taking a walk around my neighborhood, I would have gospel conversations with myself. I would role play in my head. I mean, I probably looked funny as people were driving by seeing Tony talking to himself as he's walking down the street. But I would have those conversations. I would think of what objection the person might give. I would answer that objection. And so when I actually have the conversation on the street, I've already heard the conversation in my head dozens of times. Because I took the time to either practice with another Christian or I've had those conversations in my mind. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received regarding evangelism was to study the last question asked. One of the big fears of Christians is someone's going to ask me something I'm not going to have the answer and I'm going to look like a fool. Oh well. One of the best answers you can ever give someone, one of the most honest answers you can ever give an unbeliever to a question is, I don't know. I don't know. But hey, give me your phone number or give me your email address. Let's go find this together. Let's go sit down for coffee. I'll open up my Bible and we'll go look for the answer. We'll find the answer. You do that with someone, you're going to know pretty quickly how serious they are about wanting the answer or how much they're just trying to justify their unbelief at your expense. Look, I'm not the sharpest tack in the box. My pastor will verify that soundly. I'm not the smartest man in the room, in any room. I have to study. And what I have found is the most helpful way to study for evangelism is when someone does ask that question that I'm not sure about the answer, that's what I will make a point of study during the following week. because I'm bound to be asked that question again. Someone's going to ask me that question again because the unbeliever plays from a very thin playbook. The list of objections aren't that long. They're not that numerous and so I study the last question asked. So those are just a few ways to help improve in your own evangelism and a few ways to help equip your people, easy ways to help equip your people to engage in evangelism. Are you all familiar with the term apologetics? Have you talked about apologetics? Okay, all right. So something important about apologetics I want to share with you, and I'm throwing a lot at you quickly. We only have about an hour or so, and I want to save time to maybe have you ask, and I'll try to answer some questions to the best I can. Many Christians operate under this notion, this idea, that if I provide enough evidence to an unbeliever, if I can prove to them that the Red Sea was parted, if I can prove to them with archeological evidence that David was actually king in Israel, if I can give them enough evidence that the Bible's true, they're gonna drop to their knees and cry out, what must I do to be saved? It's not true. It's not true. Who do you give evidence to in a courtroom? The judge. Yeah, say it. The judge. Right? So when you're giving evidence to an unbeliever, who are you making the judge? The unbeliever. The unbeliever is not the judge. God is the judge. God alone sits on that bench. That's what we call it in the United States, the bench, where the judge sits in the courtroom. He's the only one who sits in that seat. No one else gets to sit in that seat. No one can tell the judge, order the judge to get out of the seat or take over the seat. There's only one judge in that courtroom. But when we try to prove God to an unbeliever with evidence, We're dethroning God. We're removing him from the bench. We're taking those black robes of authority off of God Almighty, and we're draping them over the shoulders of the man or woman who hates God. Does that sound like a good idea? No, no. In apologetics, in biblical apologetics, we should never argue to God. Meaning we should never argue to prove God. Because the Word of God says that there are no atheists. They don't exist. Romans chapter 1 makes it clear that everyone knows that God exists, but because of their unrighteousness, they suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. And professing to be wise, they render themselves fools. as they worship the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. So we should never make the unbeliever the judge. And you are not a defense attorney. You should never play God's defense attorney in the unbeliever's blasphemous courtroom. You're the prosecutor. You're the prosecuting attorney. You're on the side of the court. You're bringing a case against the unbeliever who is the defendant who has already been found guilty. They are only waiting for their death sentence to be carried out by Almighty God unless He chooses to pardon them by causing them to be born again. And so, when someone wants you to prove God, refuse. and explain to them that they already know that God exists. They simply suppress that truth by their unrighteousness. You know, the unbeliever doesn't argue against Santa Claus. The atheist doesn't hate Santa Claus. The atheist doesn't hate the Easter Bunny. The atheist doesn't hate the Tooth Fairy. Why? Because the atheists know none of those entities exist. The atheist knows they're all make-believe. Why does the atheist hate God? Because the atheist knows that God exists and he hates him. And so never Never play God's defense attorney in the unbeliever's blasphemous courtroom. Don't try to argue to God in the sense of trying to prove to someone the gospel, prove to someone that God exists. No. You're the prosecutor. You're making a case. You're arguing from God. God alone who is truth. From Jesus Christ who is the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but through him. You're arguing from the point of truth. You're not arguing to a truth that you're hoping the unbeliever will accept as a judge. That's very important. Evangelism, in the end, evangelism is the work of the local church. It's the work of the local church. And the purpose is not to fill the church. The purpose is to build the church. The purpose is not to fill seats. it is to build the church. And the church is to be built upon the rock of Jesus Christ and His gospel. The purpose is not to fill pastor's pockets with jingling change and coin, but to change hearts as God changes lives. The gospel boldly, lovingly, sacrificially proclaimed is the only hope for this world, for the United States, for Davenport, Iowa, for Kenya, for Nairobi, And hope is not found. It will never be found in legislation. You have some very interesting court decisions coming out of your courts now. Kenya is looking more and more like the United States every day as it turns its back further and harder and faster against God. Just like you're following the United States in that way. The United States is becoming more depraved, more wicked, more debased, more lost every single day. And we're seeing that in our courts. We're seeing that in our schools. We're seeing that in the medical profession and you're starting to see it now too. And it's probably alarming you. The answer isn't in your politicians. The answer isn't in enacting new laws. The answer isn't in your vote. The answer isn't in legislation. The answer isn't in education. The answer isn't in your universities or your colleges, which aren't places of education, they are places of indoctrination. The answer isn't in higher education. And the answer isn't in medication. A growing number of people around the world are taking medication for their sin instead of repenting for their sin. And what they're doing by taking those medications is putting themselves in a place where they feel that there's no need to repent. Everything's fine. I feel great now. They're just masking their sin. They're putting band-aids on mortal wounds. The answer for your community, the answer for the communities of your churches is not legislation, education, or medication. It is reconciliation. And it is reconciliation of man to God. And that is only going to happen through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then until man is reconciled to God through faith in Christ, he is utterly in able and has no desire to be truly reconciled to his fellow man. And in the end, our goal isn't to change the world. Our goal is to be ambassadors for our King who is not of this world. So that we can be used by Him to fill His kingdom, which will one day be in heaven. That's what we're supposed to do. And that's only going to happen, pastors, it's only going to happen in your churches. If as shepherds, you are also evangelists, you are also evangelists. raising up and equipping men in your church to call them to serve your church as evangelists, equipping your entire congregation to be able to go and do what God has commanded the entire church to do, to go make disciples of every nation, to go proclaim the gospel to every creature. What time is it, Pastor? Okay, so we're doing good. All right, good. Good. All right. So I'm hoping some of this was helpful. And again, I threw a lot of information at you in 45 minutes. We probably could have done four or five hours on what we put into 45 minutes, but that's the time we have at the moment, right? growing in what we know about God's Word and how we are to apply God's Word is a part of sanctification and we're going to be doing that the rest of our lives. Right? So this is just a moment in time that we're talking about evangelism. So I hope there's been some useful information to you. And I hope you've been encouraged. But I thought it would be useful, and Pastor agreed, we thought it would be useful to maybe spend some time with questions and answers. Questions about evangelism. maybe questions about objections that you've heard or questions that you've received from your church family or struggles maybe that you might be having getting your local congregation to engage in evangelism. So don't be shy because I don't want us to sit here for the next 45 minutes and just stare at each other while I watch you nod off. So, most times, people are sent to plant churches. You know, they start pretensing evangelism. And they do evangelism with the expectation that maybe someone will join them. But by God's providence, you have done evangelism for two years, and not one person has ever come to church. and say that I was evangelized by the new world. You know, I got saved. Oh, I just followed you. I saw the track and the terraces. And so, you feel there is that discouraging. Mm-hmm. Wondering if it's effective anymore? Because actually, people who are in church, most members, they are referrals. And they come from other mechanisms, not from others. Right. Just moving from one sheep pen to another? You can be motivated from going out, because you feel like it's not working, you've been doing it and not one foot can sit. Okay, good question. So hopefully you were able to hear all of that, but in a nutshell, to kind of compact what our brother just said, how do you defeat discouragement when you've been evangelizing in your community, you've gone out to plant a church, you're evangelizing in your community, you're trying to build the church and not just fill the church, you want to see people come to faith in Christ and after a year or two years, You haven't seen one person come into your church from all of the work you've done on the streets. That's legitimate. That's real, isn't it? That's real. Where in the Bible does it say God stops working? He doesn't. He doesn't. Scripture says that God is always at work. God is always at work in evangelism. So look, the primary purpose of evangelism is to gather God's church, to gather the elect, to see people come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Is it possible that your work in evangelism can be resulting in the salvation of souls that you never see? Would that not be a cause to rejoice? Do you have to see the fruit for there to be fruit? No, no. There are two other purposes of evangelism though that are often less talked about. One is the edification of the church. The edification of the church. I can't tell you how many times in our community in Davenport, much smaller than Nairobi, where people have come up to me to say that they're believers, they're attending another church, and after talking to them, they seem to be a brother or sister in Christ, and they stopped just to say, I'm encouraged to see you out here, and it has me thinking about doing evangelism. I haven't been doing evangelism, and I see you out here most days, and it has me thinking that not only should I be doing some, our church should be doing this. I see your church down at the farmer's market. Our church should be doing this. I can't tell you how many times I've been proclaiming the gospel and Christians have come up to me, some of them in tears saying, I needed to hear the gospel today. I needed to hear the gospel today. The primary purpose of evangelism is proclaiming the gospel to the lost. Another important purpose of evangelism is the edification of the church. And here's the one you're not going to like at all. The proclamation of the gospel is a form of judgment. The proclamation of the gospel is a form of judgment. The Word of God says that to some, the preaching of the cross, the preaching of the Word of God is going to be an aroma of life unto life to those who are being saved. In the next verse it says it's going to also be an aroma of death unto death to those who are perishing. To those who are perishing. We read about men like George Whitefield and we see an entire young nation coming to faith in Christ. 20,000 people able to hear his voice from a mile away. Oh, do we want that? Don't we want that? And we don't want that so that we can be famous like George Whitefield, at least I hope not. We want that because we want to be used by God to build Christ's church. But are we living in the same world that George Whitefield lived? Are we living in the same season that George Whitefield lived? We hear this talk of revival all the time. There was a quote-unquote revival that happened in the United States recently. It wasn't a revival because revival begins with the local church. Judgment begins with the household of God. And so brothers, your proclamation of the gospel from the pulpit and on the street corner is not only going to be used to bring the lost to repentance and faith, and that is our greatest hope, but it's also going to be used to edify the body of Christ. And it's also going to be used as a form of judgment by Almighty God to judge those whom He will condemn. Yes, Pastor. So how do we measure success in Good question. My pastor asked the question. This is a question that we we talk about and I'm grateful that he brought it up Oftentimes certainly in America maybe here in Kenya success is measured by how many people are in the seats And how big the bank account is And if I'm not seeing anybody coming to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, then it must not be effective. I must not be successful. Here are the three things by which we measure the effectiveness of evangelism. Faith, oh, you guys already know these, but write them down. Faith, obedience, love. Faith, obedience, love. Pastor, you've been struggling for two years and you've yet to see a convert. Do you go out there by faith? Do you go out there believing that God saves people? Do you? You do, don't you? You believe by faith that God is going to do exactly what God has said in his word. You believe by faith and you have your own testimony of the truth of that faith because He did it in your life. So you go out there faithfully proclaiming the gospel. You do it in obedience because God has commanded you to. You need no other reason, brothers, to proclaim the gospel regardless of whether or not you see 20,000 converts, two or none. You need no other reason to go out there and do it because God has commanded you to do it. And love. Love. Love for God and love for people, all people, all kinds of people. And so if you could take to that street corner and open your mouth and herald the gospel, or if you can go out and hand out one or a thousand gospel tracts, and you can go home saying, I was faithful, I was obedient, and I love God and I love people, you were effective. You were effective. regardless of what the results show. Who is sovereign in salvation? God or the evangelist? God. Look, I face it a lot from Christians who see me out on the streets doing ministry or somewhere proclaiming the gospel in the open air. This isn't effective. No one's listening to you. Get a job. I hear that a lot. And if I were to believe them, I'd never proclaim the gospel to anyone. But effectiveness, brothers, is not measured by the results. Effectiveness, brothers, is not measured by the results you see. Effectiveness is measured by faithfulness, obedience, and love. And if you can look in the mirror after a day of evangelism, and if you can look unto Christ after a day of evangelism and say, Lord, I believe I was faithful to be out there today. And Lord, your word commanded me to be out there today, and so I was out there today. And Lord, to the extent that I am able, as imperfect as I am, I sought to love you and love people today. You can rejoice and be glad and worship and thank God for every moment you spent doing evangelism because you were biblically effective. And don't forget this, brothers. Evangelism is an act of worship. Evangelism is an act of worship. Every time you communicate the gospel to someone, it is an act of worship from you to your God. Are we really gonna ask the question about effectiveness in the midst of worship? No. So don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged if it's been two years and you've not seen one convert come in your door. Don't be discouraged if all you hear from other Christians is, you don't preach good enough, your speaker's not big enough, your clothes aren't nice enough, your church isn't big enough. I assure you the person saying that to you is not effective because they're not operating by faith, obedience, or love. The only time, brothers, we fail in evangelism is when we fail to evangelize. The only time you fail in evangelism is when you fail to evangelize. When you make the conscious decision that that person you were thinking about talking to is now not worth your time. Or when you thought about handing that gospel tract to that police officer, but the last thing I want to do is have contact with a police officer. The only time you fail in evangelism is when you fail to evangelize. Does that help at all, brother? Yeah. Yes, sir. The honor's mine. Okay. Okay, so let's handle them one at a time. We'll do all three, or are they all three connected? Okay, all right, so the first one. Should we be inviting people to our churches? Yes. Yes. Yes. That's where the body of Christ is. Yes. Absolutely. Not to fill the seats. Not to fill the bank account, but to build the church. What you shouldn't be doing and what your people shouldn't be doing is inviting people to church so that the pastor will evangelize them. We shouldn't be doing that. We shouldn't be putting it upon our pastor to invite someone to church, hoping that on that particular day, Your pastor is going to proclaim the entirety of the gospel on that particular day because you invited your friend to church. Your responsibility is to communicate the gospel to lost people, and it's your pastor's. But absolutely invite people to church. Invite people to church, yes. Everybody I talk to, everybody with whom, well, everyone who receives a gospel tract from me receives information about my church. And everyone who receives a Bible from me receives information about our church. And anyone I have a conversation with, I am always asking them, are you part of a church right now? Do you go to church now? More often than not, they don't, right? Because I'm not in the quote unquote business of robbing from other sheep pens to fill our sheep pen, right? So now if they tell me, oh yeah, I go to the Roman Catholic Church down the street. Oh yeah, you gotta stop that. Because I want them to come to repentance and faith in Christ. I don't want them to join a cult. But yes, absolutely, we should be inviting people to church. And if we're not inviting people to church, boy, we should be asking some serious questions as to why. What is it that we don't love about our church? What are we embarrassed about about our church that would prevent us from inviting someone to our church? And the question, the way you framed it, was right in that, should we be inviting people to our church that preaches the biblical gospel? So if you're in a church where a biblical gospel isn't being preached, well, you're not in a church. You're in a country club for spiritual people. But you're not in a church. And if you're in a church where the gospel's not being proclaimed, you ought to be out of there finding a church that is actually a church. But if the church is proclaiming a biblical gospel, then absolutely you ought to be inviting people to your church. Number two. Yes. You find men out there, but they have no knowledge. They have a zeal without knowledge. But you find people who are sick, and you start asking them questions. Have you tried Jesus? I think in a nutshell, I noticed it could be a long thing, a long answer. In a nutshell, could you help us to see what should we preach the message of evangelism? So, the message of evangelism or the message of the gospel? Okay, alright. So, we should be preaching the whole counsel of God. Okay, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a message seen throughout the whole counsel of God's Word. And we must begin by showing people that they have sinned against the God who is. The message is not God has a wonderful plan for your life. The message is not, the message is not trust in Jesus and you too can have this suit. Trust in Jesus and you too can have this car. Trust in Jesus and you too can have these women. No, that's a lie. We have to be explaining to, we have to love people enough to tell them the truth that because they've sinned against the holy and just triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they are bound for hell. That you are one day going to stand before Almighty God, you are going to give an account for your life, and He's going to judge you not based on how you see yourself in the mirror, but against the mirror of His law. And He's going to find you guilty for every lie, for everything you've stolen, For every time you looked with lust. For every time you hated a human being because they were from the wrong tribe. For every time you coveted. For every time you took God's name in vain. And he's going to find you guilty and the punishment is eternity in hell. We need to explain to people that the God that we want to save them is the God they need to be saved from. One and the same. God is not all loving. God is not all anything. All of God's character is perfect. God is love and God is filled with wrath. God is just and God is merciful. God is gracious and kind and He is all of those things perfectly. And his wrath against the ungodly is fierce. And the people need to hear that. They need to hear that. But we can't leave them there. We can't leave them there. We have to bring them the good news of the gospel. And we have to explain to them who Jesus actually is. Look in Kenya, like in the United States, most people say they know Jesus. or they know who Jesus is. And if you actually give them the time to describe Jesus, they're not describing the Jesus of the Bible. They're describing a Jesus that they've created in their own imagination. They're describing the teller at the bank. They're describing the genie in the lamp. Just rub the lamp and get my three wishes from Jesus the genie. We have to explain to them who Jesus is. That He was with the Father in creation. That God is triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That God is eternal. That God the Father sent His Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Listen to this carefully. Which of these messages are accurate? Listen carefully. God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man and without sin. God the Father sent his Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man and without sin. Do you hear the difference? One is damnable heresy called modalism or oneness Pentecostalism and one is biblical. God the Father did not come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. God the Father didn't manifest himself into God the Son and then manifest himself into God the Holy Spirit. The God of the Bible is not one God in three manifestations. It's one God in three persons. God the Father sent his Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Truly God and truly man without sin. We have to make sure that when we say the name of Jesus, we should not assume that the person in front of us knows who we're talking about. We have to make that very, very clear. And we have to explain that He was and is in fact truly God and truly man and without sin. The Jesus of American evangelicalism is Jesus is just like you. And you're just like Jesus. That's a lie! Jesus is nothing like me because Jesus never sinned. Jesus is nothing like me because I've never been God. But yet, In America, American evangelicals want a squishy, touchy, feely Jesus who will be just like them. What they really want is a Jesus who will sin just like them. Is a Jesus who will applaud their sin. Is a Jesus who won't call them to repent of their sin. We have to explain to people why Jesus came to die. What his death on the cross meant. Why He had to shed His blood and why only His blood was and is acceptable to the Father. We have to explain the resurrection and why that mattered, why that was necessary. Not only to free us from the penalty of our sin, but to free us from the power that sin has in our lives. Look, in all likelihood, none of us are ever going to live a perfect day in our life this side of heaven. But in Christ, in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have been given by God absolutely everything we need to live a righteous life before God. That we sin day to day does not change that reality. It does not subvert that truth. Jesus Christ died on that cross, was buried and rose again on the third day so that we could be freed not only from the penalty of sin, eternity in hell, but the power of sin in our lives that keeps us from living the life that God calls us to live. You are to be holy as he is holy. We have to talk about the ascension of Jesus Christ. that he rose from the grave, but it didn't stop there. 40 days later, he ascended, not merely as a spirit, but in bodily form, he ascended into heaven, where he now sits at the right hand of power, where he rules and he reigns. Where he rules and he reigns. And we need to talk about his return, because he is coming back. Any man who says, I know when Jesus is coming back, does not know the Jesus who is coming back. Any man who says he knows when Jesus is coming back, does not know the Jesus who is coming back. But he is coming back. And when he returns, he is not going to return for a group hug. He's going to return as the lion of the tribe of Judah, to judge both the living and the dead. The hem of his robe will be drenched in the blood of his enemies. And man should fear God. And we should also be telling people to count the cost. The unholy, blasphemous prosperity gospel that is rife in your country, that has inundated my country too, is telling the world that there's no cost to following Jesus. You're just going to get stuff. Well, it may cost you your life. Jesus said that we are to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him. And whoever is unwilling to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Christ, is not worthy to be His disciple. It may cost you everything, my friend, to follow Jesus. It may cost you your job. It may cost you your marriage. It may cost you your relationship with your kids. It may cost you your freedom. It may cost you your life. And if you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not for me, then you want to go to hell so that you can enjoy your sin in this life because that's all you've got. We should be telling people to count the cost. I once knew a missionary to China. And the way he engaged in missions is he helped Chinese people develop small businesses, things like making toilet paper and soap, simple items like that. And then they would cross the border into North Korea. Chinese could freely cross into the border of North Korea, one of the darkest, most dangerous countries in the world, and they would go establish these businesses and help North Koreans establish these businesses. And as they're doing that, they're building the underground church. And when they communicated the gospel, I was told, in North Korea to people, they told them that they would likely be dead in a year. How many people in Kenya want to hear that message? How many people do you think in the United States wants to hear that message? But we should be telling people that following Jesus Christ, putting your faith and your trust in Christ alone is not going to be a bed of roses in this life. The Word of God says, Paul told Timothy, whoever seeks to live a godly life will be persecuted. That's not going to buy a Mercedes, is it? That message isn't going to buy a new suit, is it? But it's the truth. And those whom God saves will count the cost. Jesus said, those who endure to the end will be saved. He wasn't saying you have to endure to the end in order to be saved. He's saying those he saves will endure to the end. You will know them by their fruit. And part of that fruit will be that they will not necessarily go out on the street saying, persecute me! Bring it on! But they're not going to run from it either. They're not going to run from it either. because they love God and they love the very person in front of them who may want to kill them more than they love their own lives, more than they love their own physical life. They understand that the greatest thing that could ever happen to them in this life is that they will die and see their Savior for who He is, that they will see Him face to face, that they will be absent from the body and in the presence of the Lord. And with that biblical mindset, they can consider it all joy when they encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of their faith produces endurance. And none of that sells. But we're not salesmen. We're ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we should tell them the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That was question two. Uh huh. So when they go, what is it, ladies? Women. Oh, women, right. Right. Yes. Yes. You don't preach. So going out with them, you just escorting men. Okay, so I actually wrote a book on this subject. I have books for you here, I don't have that book, but I actually wrote a book on this subject titled, Should She Preach? Biblical Evangelism for Women. So the Bible is clear that to preach, the Greek word is keruso, to preach in that sense is to do so with a loud and authoritative voice in a public manner. And the only ones we see doing that in the Word of God are men sent by the local church. So not only should not women be doing that, but most men should not be doing that. Most of your open air preachers on the streets today, in your country, and certainly in mine, have no business being out there, Que Russo, heralding the gospel with a loud voice. Because they have not been sent out by the local church to do that. Yet women should be engaged in evangelism every day of their life as much as men. And they can do that in such a way that brings honor and glory to God without sacrificing a gentle and quiet spirit. A woman who stands on a stage with a microphone and is barking out to a crowd is not a woman with a gentle and quiet spirit. She's not acting like a Christian woman. She's pretending to be a Christian man and the Bible says, gives no warrant for that. The Bible makes no allowance for that at all. There should be no women in the pulpit and there should be no women on the stage with a microphone in their hand preaching the gospel. It's an offense to God and God does not bless it. But every born again woman should be engaged in evangelism, whether it's in a conversation with another person or distributing a gospel tract. Women can be appropriately and biblically engaged in public evangelism, and they should be doing that under the leadership and authority of their pastors and their husbands. So it's not a reasonable excuse. to say, well, you know, women shouldn't preach. Well, that's true. But that doesn't relieve a godly woman from the responsibility of engaging in biblical evangelism. All three? Praise God. How are we doing on time? Yes, sir. on the matter. If you look at Acts 8, 4, where we read that those who were scattered went about preaching, and then we read of Philip also preaching, and yet it's not the same word. It's not. That's right, Pastor. Those who were scattered went about witnessing. Yes. Really, the English kind of equivalent would be gossiping. But then Philip went out proclaiming preaching. Yes. And that's a distinction that needs to be made, and I think we might touch on it tomorrow. Praise God. Between the actual preaching, what we call preaching as the proclamation of the gospel, and witnessing. And we need to be using those words. And every instance, every instance where you see where evangelicals or charismatics or prosperity folks would go to justify a woman preacher, you're not seeing a woman preach. They'll go to the prophetesses. There's no indication they were preaching. They'll go to the woman at the well. There's nothing in that story that even says the woman at the well was saved. She simply went to the people in her town and said, he told me everything there was about me. Is that the gospel? He told me everything there was about me. That's not the gospel. Right. Some will argue, well, what about the women at the empty tomb? They went back and told the apostles. They weren't preaching to them. They were reporting. The tomb's empty. He's risen. The tomb's empty. He's risen. While that certainly is an aspect of the gospel, that's not a proclamation of the gospel. There's not one instance in the Word of God where a woman is heralding the Gospel with authority. Not one. Not one. I'm glad you're going to touch on that, Pastor. Praise God. Yes, sir. You talked about evangelism very well. Thank you so much. It's one of the sub-units. Of course, we are doing it. Actually, it's the end. And so, Yeah, it's interesting engagement we are doing. Praise God. So like, today we were discussing about one of the responsibilities of prayer is praying and ministering of the Lord. And one of the prayers we are referring to is prayer. I was just asked this recently by someone I was actually on the campus of Michigan State University. Can you tell me what the purpose of prayer is in evangelism? So the Word of God tells us that we have to be praying without ceasing, right? Which means that we should have an attitude of prayer every day of our lives. We should be ready to pray, and we should be praying as often as we can. And we shouldn't simply tell people, hey, I'll pray for you. We should actually pray for people. We should pray whenever the need arises. We should pray whenever the desire hits us. We should be praying all the time. And certainly when we're engaged in evangelism. And I'll answer your question by simply telling you what I do. So part of my, I do this with any time I go out to do evangelism, most of my evangelism these days is what I call crosswalking. I stand on a corner in my community, I have a six foot tall wooden cross, and on the cross beam it says, stop and talk. And throughout the day, sometimes one or two or a half a dozen people will stop to talk, I might go a day or two and no one will stop to talk. But over the years, Many hundreds, even thousands of people have stopped to have gospel conversations. That's not the way to do evangelism, that's a way. But that's how I spend a good deal of my time back home. The moment I get to that corner, I begin to pray. And I'm not praying for the, I don't begin by praying for conversations, or praying about how many gospel tracts I'll hand out, or praying how many Bibles I'll give away. I don't ask for numbers, because God hasn't revealed to me his secret will. I do my best to pray God's revealed will when I pray, okay? And where I begin is with repentance. Where I begin is with repentance. I want to make sure to the extent that I'm able that my heart is ready before God and made ready by God to communicate the gospel to lost people. I want to make sure that I'm not out there picking at splinters in people's eyes when I'm ignoring the logs in my own. And so I spend time repenting. And as I'm asking the Lord to reveal to my own heart and mind sin in my life, if there is sin that comes to mind, if there's something I need to deal with with another person, let's say my wife. Let's say that I had a cross word with my wife before I went out to carry the cross. And that comes to mind. I'm on the phone with my wife and I'm seeking her forgiveness and asking her to pray for me. before I presume to go and serve God as an evangelist. So I begin with repentance. And then I move to thankfulness. And this isn't a formula. And it doesn't mean it goes this way every time I pray. But these are the ways that I pray. I move to thankfulness. Philippians 4, 6, and 7 says, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I spend time on that corner worshiping the Lord by declaring to Him how thankful I am for Him, not just for being there on the corner, but for my church, and for my church family, and for a conversation previously. For everything and anything I can think of to be thankful for, I am thanking the Lord. I am engaged in worship while I am out there on the street, and it's worship in the form of thanksgiving. And then I pray and I ask God to keep me from sinning while I'm on this corner. Please, Lord, do not let me respond in kind. I used to be an angry evangelist. My pastor will well attest, I used to be an angry evangelist. And I would always say, oh, I'm fighting. I'm fighting for people. I'm not fighting with people. No, I was fighting with people. I was angry out there. And that is a sin that can creep up in me very easily. By God's grace, he has granted me repentance and he has helped me to grow in that in large part to the ministry of my church in my life. And so I asked the Lord to guard my heart and my mind from sin. I'm out there on a street corner, there are women driving by constantly. Lord, guard my heart and my mind from a lustful thought. Help me to keep my eyes and my mind focused on the cross of Christ. And so I begin to pray, asking the Lord to guard my heart from sin as I'm out there. And then I do ask the Lord for things I don't know. I never rub the lamp and ask for three wishes, but Lord, your word says that when the gospel is proclaimed, people will hear and people will repent and believe. I would love to see that today, Lord. I would love to see that today. So what is the power of that in the salvation game? according to the scriptures. What's the power of God on this salvation? The gospel. So we proclaim a gospel. Who must move that hearts would be quickened? Us, the spirit of God. So it's necessary that the spirit move. God work. So we proclaim and we pray the spirit will move. And we know that He will. And we trust that He will save. And by faith, we proclaim Him. By faith, as I pray for Brother Tony when he's out there, that the Spirit would move and he would be faithful to proclaim God. Amen. Well, brothers, I think we're about out of time. Is that correct, pastors? We're out of time? Okay. If they don't have enough of this today, they'll need to go prepare dinner. Would you like to close us in prayer, Pastor? Could we mention that we could pick it up on Saturday morning? Yes, God willing. Before evangelism on Saturday, we are trying to see how we can make arrangements for us to have some more time on Saturday morning. Father Tony, I've seen you with a microphone. Have you recorded this? Yes. Okay. It would be a privilege. Maybe I should have asked you privately, but now my foot is already in my mouth. Oh, what's mine is yours, Pastor. Absolutely. Yes. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time of thinking your thoughts after you. I'm reminded of those solemn words that if we are not with you, we are against you, you must not gather with you, scatters. And Lord, it's a terrible thing for us to participate in any form of scattering, even by our inaction. Oh Lord, we pray, help us. Help us to truly demonstrate of evangelism, we please pray, oh God, that we'll be able to know that joy of beautiful feet and go out as ambassadors taking up the gospel. We please pray that out of this one and a half or so hours we've had together, we'll be pleased to bring about fruit, fruit that will be inward fruit in our hearts, but also Go beyond our time. My dear brother has entrusted these faithful things to us. We pray that you will be found to be faithful, Stephen. So these wonderful truths, we kindly ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Brothers, I have a couple of books here for you. And as you're going out to dinner, please take one of each of them for yourselves. They're my gift to you.