Video Transcript: Planning to Witness Vocally

Well, here we are, moving along. I really want to commend you for sticking with it so long. This is tough material, and we're coming close to our hearts here. And I'm grateful for the attention that you've paid. We're actually talking, now, about evangelaunch. And that means to spring into action. We've been talking a lot about background and ideas. But when it comes down to it, the whole purpose of this time that we spend together is to get us to talking with people to bring them to life in Christ.

We're talking now about planning to witness vocally. What is it that we have been doing so far? Exactly that. Now, it's getting crunch time. We're getting closer to action. We've just got to be out there doing it. You know people who are unsaved. And you want them brought across the line to Christ. Jesus does too. And if we're not doing it, what are we doing? What are we doing with our faith? Bring up those three again, right? About fear and about lack of urgency and about disobedience. And where does that find you? We've gone through all of that. 

Here's an interesting thing. Maybe we're at this point right now. When my children were little, I could teach them. But when they got to be teens, they could only learn. I found I couldn't teach them anymore. They had to be willing to learn. And that's where we are in this course. I've been teaching you things from the Bible. And I'd say from now on, until the end of the course, it's only what you're willing to learn. I've been teaching you what Jesus wants and teaching even a way to get people from here to there. But now, it's how much you want to learn. Does that sound harsh? I don't mean to be harsh, but it is the truth. How much time do we have? It's 2,000 years since Jesus said to go into the whole world and be his witnesses. And what's the alternative? Just gloss it over? Let us talk to each other the way we so often do and not really bringing anybody to Christ but sure enjoying our faith? 

I don't mean to be harsh, but I think we have to be firm with each other. You have to hold me accountable, and I have to hold you accountable. Let's pray.

Dear Jesus, sometimes it gets so comfortable to be a follower of you. We like that time when you took Peter and James and John who went up on the mountain and they had this Heavenly vision and it was a marvelous time. And they wanted to stay up there. You said, "No. We have to go back down because there's work to do."

We're so grateful that we're followers of you. We're so grateful that you have brought us across the line to new faith in you. We want to do the work too. Touch our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit as we work through this material together. Amen.

Well, what we're talking about now is planning to witness vocally. And I want to share some thoughts about a great passage in the Bible that teaches us so much. Remember the one on fishers of men? Here's another one that's written just for you and for me. Matthew 14:13-21. And by the way, do you know who's writing this? A man by the name of Matthew, a man who had not been a follower. And Jesus touched his heart. Don't you think his heart must be thumping when he writes this stuff? 

"Now, when Jesus heard this," - I'll explain that - "he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, 'This is a desolate place and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.'"

"But Jesus said, 'They need not go away. You give them something to eat.'"

"And they said to him, 'We have only five loaves here and two fish.'" 

"And he said, 'Bring them here to me.' Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up into Heaven and said a blessing. Then, he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples. And the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied, and they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about 5,000 men, besides women and children."

And this passage is enough to help us gain insights and confidence. I said I'd explain the passage a little bit and I want to do that. Here's the background. Do you have a cousin? Is that cousin close to you? Does that cousin share your viewpoint? Does that cousin do stuff for you to make you successful? 

Jesus had one of those. His name was John the Baptizer. He was just six months older than Jesus was. They probably played together when they were kids. And now, Jesus is going about preaching and teaching and healing. And all at once, he gets a message from some of those who were friends of John the Baptizer. And they told him this story. They said, "Do you know what, Jesus? John was arrested for talking about you. They put him in prison. And one night, they had a wild party and a lot of drinking. And they thought it would be fun, so they came and they cut off John's head. They put it on a platter and they carried it into the party. And so, we went and asked if we could have his body. It was a body without a head on it, Jesus. And we buried it."

That's why this passage starts, "When Jesus heard this, he went away by himself." Can you imagine? Think of that relative lying in a grave in the dirt somewhere, head cut off. Jesus just had to get away. Have you ever wanted a picture of Jesus being human? It's right here. 

And so, he goes away. He has to think that through. And do you know what? Those crowds were so needy, and they loved him so. They followed him. And they find him. How long is he there? Half an hour - to grieve? And there comes the crowd. And what is his reaction? "Look at this!" Does he get angry? Does he get disgusted? Does he move on? No. It says there, "He had compassion on them."

Compassion, in the Bible, is a word that means you don't feel on your sleeve. It's a word in Jesus' language that refers to the deepest parts, your inner parts, places where you can't scratch. When you feel it there, that's compassion. 

And the interesting thing in the Gospels is that compassion is only used about Jesus, and every time it's used, there is some action. Jesus just doesn't have compassion. Compassion always leads to action. So, there he is grieving, brokenhearted. The crowds come and he just open up his life to them. What a man.

And around him are the 12 disciples. And do you know what they say? "Jesus, send them away. Send these people away. Send the crowds away." How about us? Do we say that too?

When we know somebody who isn't saved and we don't walk them across the line to Jesus, we're sending them away to die. And do you know why? Because they looked at the crowds. Jesus saw people, one by one by one. And what does he say? "You give them something to eat." He wasn't putting them on. They had been with Jesus. Jesus had called them, it says in Mark, to be with him so he could send them out. 

And he sent them out. In Luke 10, he said, "Go out. Heal the sick. Cast out the demons." 

They came back, and they said, "Jesus, it really worked." So, they knew they had the power, and they said, "Just send them away."

He said, "No. You do it."

Do you know what they said? They looked around and there was a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish. 

Jesus said, "What do you have there?"

Here's a key word. It said, "We only have this." And that's what we say to Jesus. "Jesus, I'm only Ren." "Jesus, I'm only a seminary graduate." "Jesus, I'm only this age."

Isn't that something? We're talking to the Lord - the Lord of Heaven and earth. We and they had seen the miracles he had done. And we have that kind of doubt? We say, "Well, I probably can't do it. It's only me." Do you say this sometimes? "It's only me."

And what does Jesus say? "Bring it to me." Bring your "only" to Jesus.

You say, "Jesus, I've only been through the eighth grade."

"Bring it to me"

"Jesus, I only know 15 verses from the Bible."

"Bring it to me."

"Jesus, I've only been a Christian for two months."

"Bring it to me."

"Jesus, I only."

And he stops us and he says, "Whatever it is, bring it." And I'm wondering will you do that? Will you dare to bring yourself to Jesus just as you are? Think of the song that we sing. "Just as I am without one plea." Does that apply to this as well? 

I look back at-- maybe you wouldn't want to know the poor attempts that I made when I first wanted to start winning people for Jesus. I said dumb things. I missed opportunities. I'd go home discouraged. They'd ask me questions I couldn't answer. Here's the silliest one of all. I'd get mad at God like it was his fault that I hadn't prepared, that I didn't give my heart to him fully. Will you do that when you hear this, when Jesus says to you, "Bring your 'only' to me". Oh, man, how he can use that. 

I got a letter some time ago from a lady in another state. She said, I still remember the street corner where we were standing when you led me to accept Jesus. And that was 40 years ago. And I've done things so poorly. I got that letter, and I thought, do you know what? If you offered me a million dollars in one hand and that letter in another hand, guess what I'd take? God used this scared, timid, unprepared person, one by one, to lead others to him. That has been the key that I've dared to say, "Jesus, this is all I am."

I'm not a great reader, because I'm a slow reader. I wasn't a very good student. I never got any awards. I'm not the greatest preacher in the world. I forget things. I haven't been a good administrator. There's a whole long list of what I'm not when I compare myself with others and I see what others can do. And Jesus said, "Stop. Would you just bring who you are to me?" Would you do that?

We're planning to witness vocally here. And we're talking about gaining insights and confidence. That's been the idea all along in this course. We started by saying look at ordinary, everyday people who were testifying about Jesus. Is that because they had such great training? No. It says, "They took notice of them that they had been with Jesus." And if you love Jesus, it's going to show.

And then, we saw that he equips people. Then, we saw the reasons we don't do it and the joy in doing it - that it's not only for us. When you lead someone to faith in Jesus Christ, nothing else will ever satisfy you. You want one more and one more and one more. And stuff of this life starts to fall away. The joy for Jesus to see his people following him, the joy to the Father when those he has created now praise him.

We've worked through all of that material. And then, we saw how Jesus gives his powerful Holy Spirit into us. And through him, we win others. And then, we saw, he calls you as you. You don't have to be somebody else. And what we're trying to do here as we plan to witness vocally is gain confidence and insight. Because the devil, our enemy, the jerk, he's against us. And he's trying to take away your confidence. It says that in the Bible. Don't lose your confidence. And the devil doesn't want you to have the insights that you are having into yourself to find out why you and I are not out there every day being vocal witnesses for and having success. Not only be sowers but also reapers. 

One of the insights and the confidence that we gave is in our intentions. Do you think the disciples were planning to be so shortsighted? No way. Do you think they were planning to minister to the people when they said, "Send them away?" Now way. 

In each of these lessons that we study, there is an action step. Have you been working on that? What is your goal?

I played basketball in high school, and I remember when I was a senior, I set a goal of how many points and how many rebounds I wanted to have. And I met the goal, and then, I thought later, did I set it high enough? And do you know what they say? To fail to plan is to plan to fail. What are your plans to bring others across the line?

Another thing they say is, "If you don't have a target, you'll hit it every time." So, maybe you'll hit the pause button now and think about that. What is your plan? What are your intentions? And be careful of that word "intentions." Remember, we talked about the 10 frogs? Five said they would jump. How many are left? 10? Because to decide to jump is not to jump? To have the intention to do it is not to do it. 

The second lesson we learned is envisioning who and when and where clearly in your mind. Athletes do that. So, pause. Say the word, "who" to yourself. And hit pause and say, "This is the person it's going to be." And then, come back and say, "When am I going to do it?" Hit pause. Write it down. Who is it going to be? When am I going to do it? Don't just say, "Sometime." Because that's no time.

And then, come back and ask, "Where?" And hit pause again. "Where am I going to do this?" Picture the scene. Athletes who are successful spend time before the game. Golfers plan. They can see that shot going. When you watch professional basketball players, they've got their eyes closed, getting ready. 

So, do that. And if you haven't been doing that, you're planning to fail. Because you haven't planned at all. 

And the third insight - the confidence we get - is in transition steps to doing it, to being it. Pause for a minute. Who's the name? Pray. 

Here are some action steps. Have a specific name in mind. Pray over it, for that person, and for yourself. Work on that relationship. We've been talking about that. Absorb what we've talked about here. Absorb God's word. And have you practiced it? Going over it and said, "Here's how I'm going to approach him. Here's going to be my transition step. Here's the diagram I'm going to use. I didn't like those in the course, so this is the one that's going to speak for me." 

And then, remember the text above. Jesus says to you, "Just bring what you have to me."

If you feel guilty or defeated right now, then I haven't done a good job. I haven't meant to make you feel guilty or defeated. I wanted to show you that to be a witness for Jesus is like breathing. To be is to be free. You don't have to set aside a time. You don't have to become someone else. "Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me." We sing that about sin. We sing it about witnessing too. And then, think of the results.

Dear Jesus, we want to obey you so that the Father will be glorified. And we are trusting that your Holy Spirit is in us as we bring others across the line to full life in you. We love you. Amen.