Catch The Fire Church Raleigh
Bold Faith | Aaron Ninaber
This week, we continued our "We Will Go" series with a message on "Bold Faith." This sermon dives into the empowering work of the Holy Spirit, moving us from fear to fearless witness. Aaron unpacks how the early disciples, once gripped by fear, became bold proclaimers of the Gospel through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Learn how we, too, can be filled with more of Him to live out the Great Commission.
(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Catch the Fire Church podcast. We're so glad you're joining us, and we hope you're encouraged by this message. - All right, thank you. I was trying to get the mic on fast enough to tell you to stay standing so that we didn't have to sit, stand, sit, stand, sit, stand. So stand with me, if you will. Y'all already know if you've been here, what we're about to do. We're gonna pray and bless our ties and offerings. Amen, can I get an excited giver in the room? (audience cheering) So we believe here that we return our ties to the Lord. We say return because it's already His. So we're like, Lord, we're just giving back to you, what is yours, and we so are offering. We are sowing seed because we know that the Lord sees and returns to us when we sow seed. Amen. So let's just pray this morning and bless. If this is not your church home that you regularly attend, please fill under no compulsion to give. But if you want to sow an offering, you can. Lord, we thank you for you. We do. Come on, tell Him, Lord, I thank you for you. Lord, thank you for everything that you are in our life. Thank you for your incredible generosity to us, Lord. Thank you for the ways that you provide for us, Lord. Thank you for all that we have, everything that we have that we get to return to you. Lord, our children, our jobs, our promotions, our the good stuff, the hard stuff, our finances, all of it. We are so grateful, Lord, and we give it to you, we return it to you. Lord, as we give back to you what belongs to you, we ask that you would bless it this morning. Lord, I ask that you would return tenfold to everyone who sows this morning into your kingdom. That's your promise that we can test you in this. And so I just thank you this morning. I ask that you would fill every one of us abundantly with whatever we need today in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen, amen, amen. All right, you may be seated now. Well, good morning, it's good to be with you. How many had a good weekend? Sun is shining, beautiful. We celebrated our oldest daughter's sixth birthday, this weekend, I know, I know. You know, everybody tells you when you're entering parent phase that it goes by fast. And every time people told me that it just irked me a little, I didn't want to believe it. But it kind of seems to be true. I can't believe my oldest daughter's six years old, and she wanted to go horseback riding. So my dad, who is ever the evangelist, meet new people, making friends with everybody, as Jess was saying last week, was working for a client with horses. And before you knew it, we were there on Saturday morning, all of our kids ride on horses. So it was a lot of fun. And it's great to be with you this morning. In case you have missed any of the last few weeks, I want to let you know where we are. We are in this series, as Dave mentioned, called "We Will Go" on evangelism and missions. I hope you all have been enjoying it so far. Yeah, come on, all right, all right, days enjoying it. To kick it off, Justin preached an awesome message. It was kind of a kind and loving yet holy rebuke, I will call it, of just sometimes the duplicity of the church that we are not called to simply to curse those outside of the four walls, but we are called to pray and bless our cities, amen? I believe for the prosperity of our cities. And so we love Durham, we believe in Durham. There's a whole story there of why we called our outreach ministry here, Embrace. But it's in short because we are embracing our city. We love our city, we love Durham. Come on, can you just say that into this realm? We love you Durham. Come on, all right. And then Jess spoke an awesome mission message on the Great Commission, reminding us that we are all called to the Great Commission. How many of you know you're called to the Great Commission? Tell your neighbor you are called to the Great Commission. And she pointed out this reality that go and make disciples that would be accurately translated as you are going to make disciples. That as we go, we are all part of the priesthood of God. We are all ministers of the gospel. We are all called to fulfill the Great Commission. And as we go about our workplaces, our families, our neighborhoods, whatever it is, we get to be the light of the world. How beautiful is that? This isn't just reserved for the elite. This isn't reserved for the more spiritual or the spiritually radical, this is for all of us. All y'all, as we say in the South. Come on. Somebody want to give me an amen for all y'all? Well, this morning we're going to jump into the empowerment of a spirit in our witness, okay? And we're going to talk about our participation a little in that as well. If you have your Bible's turn to Acts chapter four, before we get there, I wanted to take a moment as you're turning. And I want to talk a little bit about the moments leading up to Acts chapter four. Starting in Acts chapter one, verse four, this is the precious final moment that Jesus has with his disciples, and it says this, verse four. It says, "In Jesus, being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait, say wait, for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or season which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power. Somebody say power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." How many know this is like a pay attention moment in scripture? Yes? There's a lot of these in scripture, but for me, as I read this, the final moments, the parting words that Jesus wants to leave his disciples before his ascension. And I want us to catch something here, understand that for the disciples, the Lord had already breathed, Jesus had already breathed on them, and said, receive the Holy Spirit. They'd already been sent out, and they were told to go to places and say that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. They'd already seen the miraculous take place before them, separate to Jesus. Like they had seen the miraculous, but Jesus in his final moments is letting them know that there is yet one more baptism to come. How many think this might be important? This might be something worth paying attention to, yeah. It's like there is something yet for you to experience and empowerment for you to be sent out as my witnesses, amen? And he describes it as this baptism, not with water, but with the Holy Spirit, and then he ascends to the Father. And the disciples are here, and they're waiting for 10 days for this promise. Waiting, waiting, waiting. One of the other notable things that happens here in Acts chapter one, this verse we just read, they ask Jesus, they say, when are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? It's like they still haven't quite gotten the plot, y'all with me. They're still saying, when are you going to take authority? When are you going to come and be the ruler? And he kind of lovingly says, that's for me to know in you to find out. Y'all ever said that to your siblings growing up? That's for me to know in you to find out. He's none of your business. No, but he says, basically it almost feels as if he's saying, he's kind of redirecting them and saying, you're asking the wrong question. That's for my Father to know. That's for him to know, not for you to know. Don't try as hard as you may. You can't figure that out. It's a mystery. But he's like, what I can tell you, what I can reinforce in you is that the Holy Spirit is going to fall, and you will be sent out as my witnesses. You'll be sent out. And I feel like this is a good reminder even for us. Because it's so easy to become focused on the, what seems like the hyper-spiritual things and forget about the world around us. And we want to sit around in comfy four walls and talk about Jesus' return without ever knowing our neighbor. And Jesus is kind of redirecting him and saying, it's almost as if he's saying as I'm thinking about it now, like, I'm not taking that place of authority, I'm actually sending you out in authority to go in and disciple the nations. Y'all with me? All right, shake your neighbor, tell them, are you awake? (congregation laughing) All right. And so they're waiting for 10 days for this moment that Jesus said would come, and it eventually happens. They're gathered in one place in the Upper Room in Jerusalem on Pentecost and the Holy Spirit falls. There came that sound from heaven, the rushing wind that filled the whole place, the tongues of fire sat upon them, and they began to give utterance to other languages. And this baptism in the Upper Room, this is a shifting moment for the disciples, how many would agree? This is a shifting moment, as Jesus was saying, in his final words, this is coming, pay attention, I'm sending you, but I'm empowering you also with my spirit. And this shifting moment takes these disciples who as I read this portion of scripture following Jesus' resurrection to the day of Pentecost, it almost feels like this lull period in scripture, just for me a little bit as I read it, as if these disciples are kinda like not knowing what they're supposed to do anymore. Peter's gone back to what he knows, he's fishing, the disciples are hiding, and they're praying, but they're also hiding, and they're afraid. But the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit, amen, how many are grateful for that? And this, the Holy Spirit comes, and it's like a shot of adrenaline, if you will, in the life of the disciples. And all of a sudden they go from being those afraid, not knowing what their purpose is, not knowing what they're doing, like, Jesus, I don't quite get it, what do you mean to like being fully empowered, and stepping out in boldness and in faith? Look, no, no further than Peter, the man who's full of fear, who denies Jesus, denies his Lord, denies his rabbi, and then on the day of Pentecost as the Spirit falls, and the multitudes, it's not just some happy cozy place, but the multitudes are seeing the way the Spirit is reacting on that disciples, and the people begin to mock them and say they must be drunk, and it's Peter who gets up and is the keynote speaker. How many want that? How many want that touch from heaven, from the Spirit that you would be empowered with the boldness and courage of Jesus, yes? Come on. And Peter goes, the stories of Peter are great. And this is why we felt so stirred as we were doing this sermon series on the Holy Spirit and the life of Jesus, and it all felt like it was leading because the Holy Spirit leads unto being sent in the Great Commission. This is all a part of the natural progression of Scripture. That, as Jesus is leaving, he says, "I am sending you my Spirit, "and I am sending you into the world "to be the light of the world." Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And it is the Holy Spirit who empowers us. He is our defining factor. He's the one who fills us with boldness and strength, who gives us the words to say, "Hey, how many know we are a lot more effective "in our witness when we are submitted "to the leading of Holy Spirit?" But if we do it in our own attempts, in our own strength, you might find yourself a little less effective. All right, Acts 4, I promise we'd read there, we're gonna read there. Starting in verse one, we're gonna read a significant portion of this passage. Are you ready? All right, it's just so good. Says verse one, "The priests and the captain "of the temple guard and the Sadducees "came up to Peter and John while they were speaking "to the people." Here we go, here's Peter again, boldly speaking to the people. And it says they were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believe, so the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000. I think we're a little behind the curve on our evangelism. Verse five, "The next day the rulers, the elders, "and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem." And as the high priest was there, and so was Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and the others of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them by what power or what name did you do this? Speaking of the layman that Peter said, "Get up and..." Silver and gold, I have not. But what I do have, I give to you, get up and walk in the name of Jesus. And then it says this, verse eight, it says, "Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, "said to them, rulers and elders of the people, "if we are being called to account today "for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame "and are being asked how he was healed, "then know this, you and all the people of Israel. "It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, "whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead "that this man stands before you healed." Like Peter had a glow up, the before and after of Peter, throw my youth pastor hat on for a second there. The before and after of Peter here is striking, right? I love it. Verse 11, he says, "Jesus is the stone "you builders rejected which has become the cornerstone. "Salvation is found in no one else, "for there is no other name under heaven "given to mankind by which we must be saved." When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, sounds like a lot like me, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. How many want that to be said of you while they clearly been with Jesus? I know I do. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together, what are we going to do with these men they asked? Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name. Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Which is right in God's eyes? "To listen to you or to him? "You be the judges. "As for us, we cannot help speaking "about what we have seen and heard." And after further threats, they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened. Imagine being more concerned with how to punish somebody than being celebrating the man who'd just been healed. Of lameness, wickedness, blindness. Says verse 22, "For the man who was miraculously healed "was over 40 years old. "On their release, Peter and John went back "to their own people and reported all that the chief priests "and the elders had said to them, "When they heard this, they raised their voices together "in prayer to God." We're going to jump down to verse 29 for time. But they just begin to pray and acknowledge the ways in which the Lord was persecuted. And then they say this, this is their prayer. They say, "Now Lord, consider their threats "and enable your servants to speak your words "with great boldness. "Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders "through the name of your holy servant, Jesus." And after they prayed, the place they were meeting was shaken, say shaken. - Shaken. - And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly. What a story. What a beautiful, transformative story that these disciples who were cowering in fear, who were denying Jesus, who were afraid, are the very same people now standing before those same religious leaders and high priests with a completely different countenance, with a completely different personality. I mean, like, everything, like, what has changed? I wanna ask you something. What do you think is one of the greatest hindrances to sharing the gospel? Fear. Fear, whether it's fear of rejection, we're afraid we're not gonna be liked anymore. We're afraid, man, somebody's just gonna be really rude to us or mean to us. Maybe it's fear of persecution, afraid that if you step out of line at work, you'll lose that promotion or maybe worse, you'll get a demotion or whatever it is, or you'll lose relationship with somebody, one of your neighbors, maybe you're afraid, the loss of reputation, your reputation being shattered or diminished, just enter it in, right, fear. And I wanna encourage us this morning that the disciples were no different. But they had an encounter that changed them. That's the difference. That they came to Holy Spirit and he hovered and he encountered them and he empowered them. First John 4, 18 says, "Perfect love casts out what?" What is perfect love? Y'all already knew where I was going to. The better question to ask is who is perfect love? It's Jesus, right? It's the Holy Spirit, it's the Father, it's God. He is perfect love and when you encounter that perfect love, there is this divine exchange of all of our stuff for all of his. What a beautiful, beautiful, unfair for him exchange. We definitely get the better deal. The truth is when we spend time with him, when we delight in him in his presence, he enables us, he empowers us, he emboldens us. And how many know it's easier to share about something you delight in? So I wanna ask you, when is the last time you delighted yourself and the Lord? 'Cause it's easy, we love to talk about the things we delight in. We love to talk about that book series we just discovered and we're reading and it's so good and I gotta tell you any book readers in the room, got a few. What about TV movies? We love finding a good movie, a good series and we gotta tell somebody, how about an undiscovered restaurant? Whole little hole in the wall, any foodies in the room? Come on. Shout out Wanna Hato, if you like authentic tacos. On Roxborough Street and Durham, my friend John Shunker showed me that. Whoo! Like we love to talk about the things we delight in. We are called to delight ourselves in the Lord. I promise it will make sharing your faith a lot easier. - Talk about it. - Talk about it, day said, if you missed that. That was just bad. Father's day is coming up. But the disciples, they waited on the Lord, they waited on the promise of the Holy Spirit and I'm sure there was a whole lot of delighting in His presence taking place and they were filled with that divine exchange and they were empowered to go and share their testimony, share the witness, share about Jesus. Encounter with Him is so important and then this is their response to being threatened now. Post-encounter, verse 20, Acts 4. As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. We cannot help it. For me, this thematically feels similar to when Jesus turns to His disciples and says, you know, in order to continue following me, you need to eat my flesh and drink my blood. And all these people leave. Jesus has left with His 12 and He says, are you gonna leave me also? And Peter says, where would we go? You alone have the words that give life. It's as if they're saying like, how could we not? How could we not share? We've tasted and seen, how could we not share the one we delight in? It's like you just come off spending time with Jesus and you're like, oh, do you know about Jesus? Y'all with me? Yes. It's why sometimes I think we should pray after we take a bite of food. But I've shared that before. Just pitching that again. 'Cause you have a bite and you're like, oh God, thank you for this meal. This is so good, God, I thank you for it. Thank you for this talk. Your spirit has tasted and now you can rejoice unto the Lord for it. I'm just saying. All right. It's beautiful. God hasn't made it some like hidden secret that we can never quite figure it out, but he's simply saying, come, my beloved, spend time with me and I will empower you. I will give you strength for all that I've called you to. It's a divine exchange where we offer up our fear for his boldness, where we offer up our worries for his peace, our pain for his comfort. Timothy put it like this, second Timothy one, seven through eight. He says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. All right, Antoine. And then he says, verse eight, therefore, this is the conclusion, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God. - Don't be ashamed. - Don't be ashamed. Are we going to be persuaded and motivated by fear? Or are we going to be persuaded and motivated by him? By Jesus, allow him to fill us with all that we need, and even rejoice with him in his sufferings. I love how Katia Adams put it one time, she was asked about the fear of the Lord versus the fear of man, and she explained it like a seesaw. I did confirm in first service, y'all call them seesaws in the south. And you have fear of God on the one end and you have fear of man on the other. And she described it as you grow in the fear of God, the fear of man just begins to diminish, y'all see that? So grow in that intimacy, grow in that relationship, fall in love again if you're not right now with Jesus. Come to that place where it's like, how could I not tell somebody about Jesus? Listen, I'm a work in progress too, okay? Not up here saying I'm an expert, but this I believe is the goal for us. When we spend time with him, we become more concerned with him than the opinions of man, with the opinions of God than the opinions of another. The other things I wanna draw from Acts chapter four that I believe they are illustrated here beautifully is one, they were planted in community, weren't they? In this moment, they're thrown in prison, then they come before the leaders and they're threatened and they're told, commanded it says to not share about Jesus in his resurrection, don't spread this nonsense. What do they do, they go back to their people, they go back to their community and they begin to share but all the things that have taken place and been said. And then that community surrounds them and they pray. It's what it says, verse 23, on their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all the chief priests and the elders had said to them, when they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. I wanna encourage you, you know, Jess, encourage us to have friends that don't know Jesus. But make sure you also have a core group of people who love you, who encourage you, who pray for you and with you and spur you on in your faith. And if you don't have that, why don't you start by being it for another and watch how the Lord develops through you and through your, yes, amen. Number two, they were committed to prayer. Like they actively, actively prayed. We see this in the earlier chapters of Acts and we see this even now as they come again from these threats and they begin to pray together with their community and then they say this, verse 29, this is their prayer. Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Do not look over, do not overlook the power of prayer in your witness in going. We see it modeled in the life of the apostles, the disciples, that they were committed to prayer. Paul submitted multiple letters to different churches asking them, Ephesians, Colossians, asking them, would you pray for me? Pray that the Lord keeps filling me with boldness. Pray that the Lord gives me opportunities to share my faith. Like he was asking for prayer. Pray for others, pray that they would have boldness. Pray for yourself that the Lord would give you boldness. Ask him to give you opportunity. Partner with him in that. I remember my faith grew when I was in high school and I joined this little, it was called like Iron Sharpens, Iron, Small Group. And 2000s Christians loved that stuff, you know. And it's this little small group, my brother-in-law was leading it. And this, it had this little brochure and it had this spot, this activation where we were to write down the names of a few unsaved friends and begin to pray for them. And so I wrote the name of two of my closest friends and I still remember with joy in my face today, the moment I saw both of my friends come to Jesus. As I simply began to pray, and I'm not gonna pretend to you that I prayed consistent, powerful, amazing prayers and I just had it all together in my teenage years. I love Jesus, but my prayers to me fell often weak and kind of spread out a little too far. But nonetheless, when I would think about it, when I would be challenged, when I would be reminded, I would pray for these friends and I still remember the joy of seeing them come to know Jesus. So pray, start there. I mean, it's low-hanging fruit, right? But just begin to pray and ask the Lord to give you moments to share your faith. Pray for those who don't know him. Number three, number three. The disciples were so reliant on the spirit of God. As I was reading this in thinking of this moment, verse 30, it says, "Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs." This is, again, they're still praying to the Lord. Would you stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your Holy servant, Jesus? And after they prayed, it says the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. We like to isolate Pentecost as this peak moment and in no doubt it was and deserves. But this is almost like another Pentecost as they're gathered together and they're praying, Lord, would you give us boldness? We've been threatened. We've had people say, like, don't share the gospel. And they're once again coming to the Spirit and saying, Lord, would you empower us? Would you give us strength? Would you give us boldness? It's not a one and done thing, right? But it's continually relying on the Holy Spirit and asking Him to come and fill you anew and again. And lastly, I want to say that sometimes I feel as though we can over-complicate things. I know myself. I've certainly done this at times. We can over-complicate things. We can psych ourselves out. We can get a little weird. And we do have those moments where the Lord is asking us to step out in a very dramatic way. And He's saying, I want you to go do this very thing right now. Go ask that person if you can pray for them. Go share your faith. Go whatever it is. There are certainly those moments, and the goal is let's be obedient to Christ. However, there's also just being unashamed of who you are as a believer. And not hiding any part of yourself. And being intentional with your witness when you're speaking to unsaved people. I've always adopted the principle that if you're gonna get to know me, you're gonna have to know about the Jesus part of me. Because how could I silence the part that is the greatest part? The largest, most substantial part of who I am. How could I silence and reserve that and be like, let me just find a way to navigate these conversations and pretend that I'm not a Christian. What's the spirit of stupid? (congregation laughing) It's just unashamed lifestyle evangelism where you're meeting with the unsaved. And they're like, you guys have four kids, you're crazy. And you're like, yeah, what's even crazier is the Lord told us to have a fourth kid. (congregation laughing) And they're like, what? (congregation laughing) Whatever it is, right? Or for us, it's a little easier because we always raise some eyebrows when our soccer parents and people are saying, what do you do for work? And what do you got going on this weekend? And we're like, well, we're at this church thing, or well, we're pastors, and we get this opportunity. But whatever it is, don't walk away that part of your witness. Be the light of the world. Be the salt of the earth. Don't hide it away. You don't need to be weird about it, either, okay? (congregation laughing) You don't need to be weird. But it's just be you. Don't feel the need to reserve a part of you to make that person more comfortable, all right? I've asked a friend of mine, who some of you, lots of you probably know, a wonderful man. He was a pastor in catch-the-fire movement for 16 years. He was a pastor here for many years until the Lord called him into the workplace. And I was sitting with him at lunch the other day, and we were just talking, and he was telling me a wonderful story, and I just said to him, careful, you tell a pastor a story, and I'm gonna ask you to share on Sunday. (congregation laughing) Couple days later, I texted him, and I said, "Allle well, so I know I said this thing, "but would you be willing to share?" And with a reason, and I'll get him up after this, the reason I want him to come share, John Chunker, is because I found myself so encouraged, we'll clap for him in a second, hold on, hold your horses. (congregation laughing) I felt really just inspired by just the practical ways in which John is listening to the voice of Holy Spirit, and moving in his workplace, how God has called him, and just really encouraged. And so, John, would you come? And could we just welcome John to the platform? (congregation applauding) - Thanks, Sarah. Thanks, everyone. Yeah, it was, lunch was great, we shared, we shared, I mean, I'm just not, yeah, I'm thinking about the food, and yes, yes, yes. So, about three years ago, I felt like the Lord started shifting, Andrea and I, you know, we were pastoring here, as some of you will know, and I felt like the Lord started saying, "Okay, it's now time to step into something else." And it's always funny when the Lord starts transitioning you, you know, sometimes he can start to feel uncomfortable. And you can either blame it on yourself, or you can blame it on your boss, or you can blame it on your coworkers, or your wife, or whatever, but sometimes it's actually the Lord who's doing that. And so, maybe if some of you are feeling uncomfortable, it's not your situation, maybe the Lord's transitioning you into something else. And so, I prayed about it, thought about it, considered it, had a few different opportunities available, and felt like the Lord said, "Okay, it's time to get into mortgages, "helping people get financing to purchase homes "and refinances." And I went, "All right, let's do it." So, jumped in in January 2022, and it was the most difficult year. Actually, it's been a difficult few years because I've come face-to-face with myself. I've come face-to-face with some of my own fears, my inadequacies, my failures, like what Aaron's saying, "You come face-to-face," and you're like, "I don't know if I got it. "I don't know if I can do this." Oh my gosh, so over and over and over again, and through the goodness of the Lord and some community, you know, like what Aaron's saying, we were planted in community. We had friends who would call us up and encourage us, friends who would have lunch with us, friends who would speak into us, and we needed that encouragement of the spirit to do what God's called us to do. And then I would take what I'm learning and I would pray about it, and I would think about it. And can I just say, it was completely different. You know, I've been trained theologically, and I've been trained with people. And the world of finance and real estate is just slightly different. And I'm going and I'm listening and I'm getting some training, I'm listening to like these world class experts and leaders. And I think the thing about fear is that if you're driven by fear, you'll listen to any voice that gives you a way out. And if you're driven by fear, you'll start taking it in without thinking about what's behind the voice. Is it kingdom or not? Is it of the kingdom or of this world? And as I took some of the training in and took in some of the things that we were going through, I would start praying about it. And as I was praying about it, I began to realize that some of the technical aspects, like it's just, you know, the nuts and bolts of doing a mortgage, great. But some of the greater philosophy, I had started to take in part of the world's philosophy. And the world's philosophy is this. It's your life for me. If I'm in a relationship, it's because of what I can get. If I'm in a relationship with you, it's because of how I'm gonna benefit. It's your life for me. And for over 16 years, I had trained myself to think about the ways of Jesus. And the way of Jesus is this, it's my life for you. How can I give to you? How can I serve to you? How can I bless you? How can I encourage you? How can I lay my life down for you? And what I began to do in that place of prayer was begin to undo some of the information and some of the teachings that I'd received. And so what started to happen is, I'm starting to synthesize what God has been doing in me. And I'm realizing that part of what He's called me to do is to approach mortgages in a unique way. So number one, what I do is I say, if Jesus needed a mortgage, how would I serve Him? Which is the silliest question asked, because if He's the creator and the Lord of the universe, He's made every, He doesn't need a mortgage. But if He did, how would I serve Him? And so that's led me to every morning when I pray, when I begin work as a Lord. Thank you for the people you're gonna bring into my path today. Help me to love them and help me to serve them as if I'm loving and serving you. It's totally recalibrated in my heart. The other thing, the other thing I've realized is that if I'm gonna live as if it's my life for them, then I want to provide far more in value than I ever receive in payment. So how do I begin to do that in our relationship? How do I begin to do that for people? How do I, how can I be intentional with the questions I ask and with the things that bring up to add value to them far outside when I get paid for? And the other thing I've realized is that if God's brought them into my life and me into their life, then my job is to come alongside of them and support them and see them fulfill the dreams that God's place in their life. And so what excites me is not, let's help you buy a house, but how is this house gonna affect you and change you and change the course of your life and change the course of your family? And can we stay in touch over the next five years and can I hear some of those stories? And so these are the things that are now starting to drive me. And it's absolutely changed how I approach people and how I approach the industry and how I approach clients and even partners. And so recently I made a switch. Now I have an office that's located inside of a brokerage, inside of a real estate brokerage, shout out to Costello. Costello real estate investments. So my office is in there and now I have coworkers who I see fairly frequently before I was more work remote or work from home. And I have been doing in February, I started doing a study on the book of Luke 12 specifically, Jesus talking about our finances. What does Jesus have to say about finances? And in that passage, he talks about therefore, I tell you, do not worry, do not be anxious, do not be afraid, do not worry about what you will eat or do not worry about what you will drink. Have any of you been feeling anxious or worried? Maybe if you have, it's because you're not in a right relationship with money like Jesus intended. And Jesus talks about how he says the Gentile, the pagan world runs after all these things. And I started to think, yeah, isn't that what anxiety is? Like you're just running all the time. You can never find peace, you can never find joy because your mind's always going, your heart's always going and maybe you need to reexamine your relationship with money. And so I was doing that. I'm walking through that. And I'm talking to one of my young co-workers and he starts sharing about how he's struggling with anxiety, he's struggling with worry, he's struggling with fear because he doesn't know where his next paycheck's coming from. And I went, you know, thanks for sharing that. I've just done a study about what Jesus has to say about money and he actually talks about anxiety. Would you wanna join me? Would you wanna look at the words of Jesus together? And he was like, yes. And I went, all right, three weeks, baby. And I gave him the outline 'cause, you know, this is what I've done. I've taught classes, I've done it. So I said, all right, here's what we're gonna do. And then I thought, wait, there's other people who I'm around who need to hear some of the words of Jesus about money. So I started inviting some of my co-workers. I said, hey, would you like to? And so we, a group of us who we met for three weeks and we looked at Luke 12. And I said, I don't care if you're a Christian, I don't care if you follow Jesus, I don't, yeah. Listen, I believe that Jesus is the most influential person who's ever lived. And I believe that we should look at what he has to say, especially if he's talking about money and he's talking about anxiety, which are two things that we are all struggling with. And so people were showing up, some who were a Christian, some who weren't some. And about a month later, I had one of my friends and co-workers come to me and say, John, before we did that, I was far from God. I wasn't reading my Bible, I wasn't praying. I just kind of, God and I were all right, but I just lived my life and he lived his life and we were fine. And since we looked at what Jesus has to say about finance, is Jesus has been chasing me. I've been reading my Bible, I've been praying, I've been hit by the goodness of the love of God. And it's just been absolutely, he's like, the sun is brighter, the grass is green. Like, he's like, oh my gosh. And through this time, I've had people who have come and sat in my office and just by hearing the Holy Spirit and asking some probing questions, people have broken down in tears, people are crying. And I've always had a chance to say, look, I don't know where you are in your faith journey, but I'm a person of faith, I'm a follower of Jesus, can I pray for you? I don't care where you are, but I know where I am and I know who I am and I know who's with me, can I pray for you? And so, I'm just realizing that I care a lot more, there's a lot of talk about gender orientation, sexual orientation in my world, sometimes it's financial orientation, but really, I don't care about that. What's your spiritual orientation? Are you turned to God and moving to Him, or are you turned away from Him? And if through our conversation and relationship, if I can just help you, turn a little bit and have the Holy Spirit come upon you and speak to you, then I will have done what God's called me to do. Right? (audience applauds) Yeah, so through this, God has brought people, I never thought He would bring into my life. I've had a chance to sit with some people who, you know, they're making $100,000 purchase and it's the biggest purchase they've ever made. It's phenomenal. I've had a chance to sit with people who are making like two or three million dollar purchases, and it's the biggest purchase they've ever made. But through it all, I've had a chance to encourage them and bless them and pray for them and point them to Jesus. And I just wanna leave you with this, that God is a missionary, God is a mission God. He is a God of mission, which means this. At the beginning in creation, the Father and the Son send the Spirit and the world is created. The Father sends the Word, right? The Father then sends the Son. The Son and the Father send the Spirit. And now the Spirit is sending the church into the world. And if you miss this, you miss the entire point of the Bible because the answer of God to the world's problems is not to have an angel come down and preach the gospel. The answer of God is to send you and me, filled with his Spirit, joined to him to bring about solutions to the problems that our friends and family are facing. And so therefore, my biggest gift to the world is the fact that I can solve problems supernaturally by the Spirit of God. And I'm gonna help people solve the problems of their lives, sometimes it's financial, sometimes it's emotional, sometimes it doesn't matter because I'm tapped into a wisdom that's not my own. I'm tapped into the wisdom of God. And so he is sending you and he is sending me as a spare comes upon us and when we say yes to him, the go of the gospel starts to send us into our workplaces, schools and families. (audience applauds) - Woo! I love that John, such a good, I love that man. He's a good man. Paul said this, we'll close in a minute here. He said this in 1 Corinthians 9.22. He said, "To the weak, I became weak, to win the weak. "I have become all things to all people "so that by all possible means I might save some." Which stands out for me here is how much Paul burned for the lost. And in a moment, we're gonna ask and invite the Lord to give us a heart for the lost, amen. John touched on something that I think is important and Paul kind of speaks about it here. To the weak, I became weak. That sometimes we want the unsaved to come to us when we are actually the ones who are being sent to them, that we are the light of the world. And sometimes when we want them to come to us once they've kind of dealt with their major issues. We don't mind if they have some minor issues, but if they're questioning their orientation, like all sorts of things, we're like, well, stay away from me. Do you know what I mean? When we're, y'all with me on that, I'm not saying put ourselves in any compromising character situations, model Christ, hear me out on this. But I am saying we are called to meet people where they are and be the light of the world. And it is the transformation of Jesus that will set them on the right path, just like he did for us, that's all I'm saying. Would you stand with me? We're gonna close real simple this morning just by placing a hand on our hearts, if you want to, and praying the dangerous prayer of asking Holy Spirit to transform our hearts. We're gonna ask him to give us boldness, we're gonna ask him to give us a heart for the lost. And if you wanna pray that, would you just pray with me this morning? Holy Spirit, give me a heart for the lost. Give me a heart for those who don't know you. Give me a heart for my neighbor who doesn't know you. Give me a heart for my co-worker who doesn't know you. And help me to love like you, Jesus. Help me to be like you, Jesus. To say the right thing at the right time. To speak the truth and love. Holy Spirit, would you fill me with boldness like you filled the disciples, time and time again? Fill me with courage, fill me with strength. Lord, would you work through us? Through the miraculous, through signs and wonders and miracles. Lord, I ask you to unlock that gift today in this room, in many in this room. And Lord, would you make us a people of prayer? Encourage me to pray for the lost. Help me to pray for those who don't know you. And help me to delight in you, Holy Spirit. I believe the Lord hears our prayers, as I'm sure you do. And so Lord, we do ask, we ask all these things in your name. Lord, we pray for your boldness to come on your people. That Raleigh and Durham and Chapel Hill and Kerry and enter your city, Wake Forest, shall be saved. Lord, we ask for divine impartation, for divine manifestations, for divine encounters. Lord, that you would bring us to the loss, bring those who don't know you. And Lord, let us do it in your strength and not our own. Because your strength is never ending, and it's so much better than ours. And we love you in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you so much for joining us. There are so many opportunities to grow, connect, and be encouraged. To learn more, visit TTFRally.com, and follow us on social media. Thank you so much for being part of the family. We are so thankful for you. [Music]