Take your Bible today, please, and go to the book of Acts, chapter number one, the book of the Acts and chapter number one. I'm here not only today and tonight, but also for the Joshua Camp. Brother Shetler's been so kind to invite me to partner with him for that. And I understand we have a large crowd that's coming in and we're excited about them. I trust God will do something this week in the Joshua Camps and you'll be praying for it. Let's stand, please, for the reading and teaching of the Word of God this morning. Acts chapter number one, three verses of Scripture starting down in verse number six. When they were therefore come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, without this time restore again the kingdom of Israel. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. I call your attention to the middle part of verse eight. It declares, ye shall be witnesses unto me. I'm preaching this morning this message entitled, The Biggest Business in All the World. Thank you very much. You may be seated and we'll pray together. Heavenly Father, we enter your gates with thanksgiving, your courts with praise. Thank you for who you are, all that you've done, for the founding of this ministry and how it's moving forward and capturing this city for Jesus Christ and sending missionaries and preachers around the world. Bless today, the chapels, wherever they are and refresh them and draw them close to yourself. Thank you for their faithfulness here. Thank you for what you're doing in my wife's life. Bless her this morning and continue her healing. I pray for anybody today that's come to church, but not to Christ. May this be the time and the place they're born again. And help us all to understand what this big business is and get actively involved in it. In Jesus' name, amen. If I walked up to you and I said, what's the biggest business in all the world? How would you respond? If your answer was Exxon, Chevron, Amazon, Microsoft, or Apple, you'd be wrong. Biggest business in all the world is not financial, legal, medical, or even educational. It's a spiritual business. It's called witnessing. And I know that from the words of my Savior. As a 12-year-old boy recorded in Luke chapter 10, verse 49, when he said, wished you not, that I must be about my father's business, occupied with the affairs of my father. Well, worthy, Luke 19 10, the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. L.R. Scarborough said, go after souls, it's the biggest business in all the world. John Wesley said, you have one business, brethren, the business of lost souls. Even the Reformed theologian Charlie Spurgeon said, our main business is to win souls. If that's true, and it is, why are so few people actively, regularly involved? Zonovan Research said recently 97% of people who profess faith in Christ have no evangelistic outreach at all. It's further estimated by the time the average Christian dies, 95% will have led no one to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Why does it appear that nobody's telling everybody about somebody that can save anybody? I think there are three reasons. One, fear. Some of you I know, some of you I do not know, but we all have fears. Part of it is the fear of other people. What will they think? How will they respond? Will they be upset? There's the fear of the presentation. Will I do it right? Will I miss a verse? There's fear. Second, there's a mentality of failure. Some believe if you witness and that person you witnessed to does not get saved, you're a failure. Please listen this morning. It is our responsibility to witness. It is God's responsibility to save. And then there's just flags. Somehow you think what you're doing here is more important than the reason God sent you here. All three of those are addressed in Acts chapter one. The setting is this. Jesus is on the Mount of Olives. He's already been raised from the dead and seen by over 500 people at one time. Now he assembles his disciples. He assigns them, answers them, will ascend before them. One of them says, now Lord, Will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? Jesus in essence says that is irrelevant, my father will take care of that. Here's what's important, ye shall be witnesses unto me. I wanna ask and answer this morning this question, how can every believer get actively, regularly involved in this matter of evangelism? When God laid this message on my heart, I must confess, I do not argue with him often, but I said, Lord, I'm going to one of the foremost soul winning churches in the United States. It was like he said, right, and this is what I want you to preach. So I'm preaching this this morning to honor Jesus, to help you. I hope this morning for those of you that are involved, you will be encouraged and to move forward and continue it. I hope those of you that are not involved will get enlisted. And I trust that there's somebody in this service as there was in the last, not saying you will be evangelized this morning and understand the teaching of the wonderful word of God. How are we gonna be involved in the biggest business in all the world? Number one, you must have the convictions of a sole winner. Look down please at verse eight and notice what he says. Ye shall receive power. Would you say that word power with me please? Power, say it like you have some now, ready? Power, that word means ability. The first conviction, that inward drive that you need to keep you going day in and day out in the big business is you need to understand you have ability in Christ to be a witness. Listen very carefully, inside of you if you're saved lives the Holy Spirit, Almighty God. He's the same Holy Spirit who came in creating power in Genesis 1 and 1. Same Holy Spirit who anointed Jesus, Matthew 3, 16. Same one that raised Jesus from the dead, Romans 8 and verse 11. Inside you is Almighty God. How can you say I can't witness when the God of the universe lives inside you? You say, well, preacher, sometimes I get scared. That's not unusual. It happened in the early church. In Acts chapter four, the disciples had witnessed, now been threatened, they called a prayer meeting. When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spake the word of God with boldness. Cowards became conquerors by the power of the Holy Spirit. It may shock you, but the man who's preaching to you right now, when I was a teenage boy, I could not give an oral book report without getting scared out of my mind. Can you identify? How many of you ever had to give an oral book report? Raise your hand. You know why English teachers make you do that? They hate you, that's why. Either that or they hate what they had to hear. I got up, Brother Stensis, when I was 15 and stood in front of a class and forgot the title of the book. It's a great blessing you just stand there. You said, well, preacher, you're preaching at 90 miles an hour with gusts up to 120. What happened to you? You'll have to ask him because there's nothing natural about what I'm doing this morning. Ephesians 5, 18 says, be not drunk with wine where it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And if you have God inside of you, you have the power and ability to be a witness. But you say, preacher, I just don't think I can. Well, one of two things is true. You're either unsaved and don't have the Holy Spirit, or you're unsurrendered and not giving Him what He has already possessed. Now, if you're lost this morning, you don't have anything to say for Him until you first receive Him. I was preaching in Cambodia. We'd had a tremendous time of crusades. It's the last morning. I'm leaving for the airport. A missionary I had never met came to pick me up. He said, I'm going to take you to lunch, and then I'm going to put you on that plane. His name was Ron. And I said, Ron, I don't know you. Give me your testimony. When I ask for a testimony, I'm always wanting to know, when did you get saved? Where'd you get saved? Who led you to Christ? How do you know from the Bible you're going to heaven? Frame up your testimony. He looked at me and said, well, I was a assistant pastor in a Southern Baptist church, still in the United States military, but I was lost. And I said, well, tell me about it. He said, my pastor came and said, Ron, we're gonna go soul winning. He said, we went and got in the car. We got to the first house. He said, I figured he would do the talking. He rang the doorbell, a lady came and he said, good morning. My name is pastor so-and-so and this is my assistant pastor and he has something to tell you. He said, I just stood there with my face hanging out and I said, I got saved when I was a child. I got saved when I was a child. He said, I'd always been told when I was a child, I got saved, but I didn't know anything about it. He said, I had no testimony to give because I didn't know Jesus and I got in a conviction and two weeks later, I got saved. My friend, you've got to know him before you can speak for him. And if you don't, this is your time and the place. You, if you're saved, have ability in Christ. But look again at the text, for it says, he shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be. It doesn't say you might be, could you be, or would you be. It says ye shall be. That means we not only have ability in Christ, but we have authority from Christ. Here's the same Jesus who said in Matthew 419, follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. Let me say today, you may be saved and not fishing for men, but you don't follow Jesus until you start fishing for men. That's what he commanded us to do. Matthew chapter five and verse 13, you're the salt of the earth. 514, you're the light to the world. 516, let your light so shine before men, they may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. In Luke chapter 14 and verse 23, Jesus said, go out in the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be full. And when Jesus prayed what is known as his high priestly prayer in John 17, in verse 18, he said, Father, as thou has sent me in the world, so have I sent them in the world. Sent is a military term used 123 times in the King James version of the Bible. He was saying, Father, as I left headquarters under your orders, so now I'm commanding my disciples in every generation to be a witness. In the state of California, what's a witness? You're summoned to court. You're supposed to tell what you've seen, heard, and know. You're to testify. To fail to do that, you can be arrested and incarcerated. That's called contempt of court. My friend, if you fail to witness, that's called contempt of Christ. What is a witness? Our English term martyr comes from that. A martyr is someone who believes so much in something, he's willing to sacrifice anything and everything for what he believes. You have ability in Christ. You have authority from Christ and you have accountability to Christ. The angels on this event said, you men of Galilee, why stands he gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go into heaven. May I announce to you what's been announced many times from this pulpit, Jesus is coming again. Not only are you going to see him, but my friend, he's going to see you. The judgment seat of Christ is a time when you'll have to give an account. Romans 14, 12, So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. You're going to tell him why you did or did not witness. 2 Corinthians 5, 10, We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every man may receive the things done in his body according to his done, whether it be good, It's good to witness, or bad, it's bad if you do not. Are you fulfilling the command that God has given to every born again, blood-washed believer? May I encourage you today, some of you say, I pass out tracts, I witness. I'm not seeing a lot of people respond. You let God take care of that part of the business. He said in John 12 26, if any man will honor me, Him will my father honor. You honor him here and you will be honored over there. Never forget, internalize these personal convictions from the Bible. You have ability in Christ. You have authority from Christ. You have accountability to Christ. But not only do we see the convictions of the soul, in a second I want you to see the communication of scripture. I'm glad I don't have to think up the gospel. I'm glad I don't have to be creative because God has given it to us. Take your Bible, please, and go to John, chapter number three. John, chapter number three. Many years ago, when Brother Jerry Fairsoe was a 15-year-old boy, I found out when I first had time to fellowship with him that he heard me give this presentation of the gospel at the Wiles Christian Camp and Conference Center. Now, I'm going to tat a little bit on Brother Fairsoe, all right? He was seeing at that time a little girl that he eventually married. Her name was Bonnie. Now he did not come to my sowing class the first time. For me, he came for Bonnie. But thank God he came the second day for Jesus. Can I get an amen? And that's when he started going out and giving out the gospel. And it is a thrill today to partner with him in evangelism. I'm still doing it the way I did years ago. This is not the only way to give the gospel, but it is a way. D.L. Moody was approached by a man. He said, I don't like the way you preach the gospel. Moody said, I don't either. How do you do it? He said, well, I don't do it at all. Moody said, I believe I like my way better than your way. Amen. And so this may not be the best way, but it is a way. Would you do something today? Get out a pen. For some of you, this is going to be a first. Get out a pen, if you will. Now, if you don't have a pen, sir, ask your wife. She has about 49 of them in that baggage she calls a purse, all right? And I'm going to give you a run-through on how to share your faith with somebody. The second thing I want to do while I'm doing this is I want to make sure that everybody in this building knows exactly how to be saved. So I'm gonna show you how to give the gospel, become a part of the biggest business in the world, and I'm gonna be involved in that business and show everybody how to make sure you're going to heaven. We start in John 3 and 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Now in this passage of scripture, you meet a very, very religious man. The word Pharisee means separated one. How religious were these men? They fasted two out of every seven days, do you? They gave 10% of everything they own to you. They had Bible verses in their clothing to you. Now, Jesus said, if your righteousness is not better than that, you have no chance of going to heaven. Let me tell you why I start here. If you say to somebody, are you saved? Are you sure you're going to heaven? If you died right now, would you spend eternity with Jesus? The normal response is, I'm Baptist, Catholic, Methodist. I'm confirmed, I've been baptized. What they're telling you is, I am religious. But there's nobody more religious than a fellow named Nicodemus. Religion will not save you. Repeat after me. Religion will not save you. So Jesus cuts to the chase. Look at verse number three. Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto thee, except a man be, don't miss these next two words, born again. Let's say them together. Born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Here's what Jesus said. Religious man, your religion will not work. You don't need religion. You need a relationship. You need to be born from above, born a second time, born of God. Look at the confusion in the life of Nicodemus. He says in verse four, how can a man be born? When he's old, can he enter a second time to his mother's womb and be born? He said, are you telling me I'm going back inside my mother and come out a second time? Jesus' loving response, verse five. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water, there's one birth, And of the spirit, there's the second birth, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Why? That which is born of flesh is flesh, that's the water birth. And that which is born of spirit is spirit, that's the supernatural spiritual birth. Marvel not that a citizen of you, You must be born again. Jesus said, it takes two births. Your first birth got you here. Your second birth will get you there. How many of you understand this morning, your first birth was a gift to you from God through your parents. You did not birth yourself. You did not show up one day and say, hi mom, guess who's here. Before you knew you were you, she knew you were coming and it was a gift of God through your parents. The second birth is not something you do, it's that which is given to you as an eternal gift. It does not come through your parents or the church. It comes through Jesus Christ. One birth will get you to earth. The second birth will take you to heaven and you must have that second birth. Now, transition. If you tell people and show people you must be born again, what's a transition phrase? Well, if I was unsaved, here's what I would ask. What's wrong with my first birth? Why do I have to have a second birth? Must be something wrong with my first birth. Let's find out. Take your Bible, go to the book of Romans. If you're not familiar with your Bible, hang a right, you'll go through Acts, and the next book is Romans, and go to chapter number three. If you have your pen, mark these verses. Romans chapter three, please, and verse nine. What then? Are we better than they? Knowing the wise, we before prove both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under, everybody say that last word together, ready? Sin. Would you look this way? I do this on planes, trains, wherever I am. How many people are under sin? Look at verse 10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. Ladies and gentlemen, how many good righteous people are there? Look at verse 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is three verses, I could give you 300. What's wrong with my first birth? It's called sin. The word sin literally means to miss the mark. Because my hands are normally always with me, they make good illustrations. This hand represents God. This hand represents man. We have all sinned and come short of the glory or the right opinion of God. God is perfect, righteous, and holy. We are unrighteous, imperfect, unholy. How is an imperfect person gonna give the right opinion of a perfect person? Impossible. But they will try. You say, I'll go to church. That will make you a sinner in church. You say, I'll join this church. That would make you a Baptist sinner. You say, I will get baptized. That will make you a wet Baptist sinner. You say, I'll study my Bible. That'll make you an intelligent, wet Baptist sinner. But you are no closer to giving the right opinion of God than when you started. What's wrong with my first birth? Sin. I had a man say to me, I keep the 10 commandments. I always say the same thing. When people say that, please name them. Nobody to date has been able to do that. He said, well, the Bible, do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. I said, sir, that's in the gospel of Matthew chapter five, and we're going to Exodus 20, try again. He said, God helps those who help themselves. I said, sir, that's not in the Bible anywhere. He said, well, I guess I don't know him. I said, no, sir. And if you knew him, you couldn't keep him. Let me give you three. The Bible says, thou shalt not covet. Would you like to say today, I've never wanted anything that wasn't mine. The Bible says, thou shalt not steal. Would you like to say today, I've never taken anything that wasn't mine. The Bible says, thou shalt not bear false witness. Would you like to say today, I've never lied in my life. That would be the first one you just hold. One, two, and three, you're struck out, and I didn't give you the other seven. Ecclesiastes 7.20, there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. 2 Chronicles 6.36, there's no man that sins not. What's wrong with my first birth? Sin. Now, second question, what if I don't get born again? What happens then? Take your Bible, go to Romans chapter six, please, and look at verse 23. Romans chapter six. Let your pen mark these verses. Look please at verse 23. The Bible says, for the wages, payment, result for sin is, let's say that word together, ready? Death. Would you look this way? Death in the Bible is not annihilation. Death in the Bible is separation. You're not technically a body with a soul. No, no, no. You're a soul with a body. When you die, the real you, which is going to live somewhere forever, will come out of your body. And your body will be buried, but the real you will live somewhere forever. In Luke chapter 16 and verse 23, the Bible says the rich man also died and was buried. There's his body. And in hell he. He, the real soul, lifted up his eyes, being in torment. He sees Abraham afar off Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented or tortured in this flame. Abraham said, Son, remember. Ladies and gentlemen, hell is a real place with real people experiencing real pain right now. They will be there for all eternity. Every person that goes to hell is alive, awake, and aware. And I want to say to you, my friend, do not go to hell. A number of years ago, I was traveling all night to a meeting, and for the first time in my life, I saw a man on fire. He was trapped inside of his 18-wheeler. billowing smoke coming, the rescue operators trying to get to him. And when I turned to look as they were mortioning us through on the other side of the highway, I could see his face, almost hear him scream as his body was incarcerated with flames. Did they get him out? I don't know. They wouldn't let us stop. But I want to say to you, if you die and go to hell, nobody's coming to your emergency. But the rest of this verse is the good news. It says, but the gift of God, God's gift, watch it, is eternal life. Oh, what a wonderful truth. God wants you saved for eternity. It comes through, please don't miss this, you'll miss heaven, Jesus Christ. It does not come through Mary, the sacraments, the Pope, the Baptists, the Pentecostals, the Charismatics. It comes through Jesus Christ and Him alone. Acts 4, 12, neither is there salvation in any other. There's none of the name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That's the name of Jesus. You see, six hours one Friday, my friend, Jesus Christ, God Almighty in a human body, did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He who knew no sin. became sin for us, that we sinners might be made the righteousness of God in Him." You can't attain the new birth. You can't achieve the new birth. You can only accept by faith what Jesus did on the cross. When He shed His blood, He was being given to pay for your sin debt that you couldn't pay if you were to live for all of eternity. Jesus alone paid the debt. Now, how, how do you get this gift? Look at Mark chapter one, please. The gospel of Mark chapter number one. One of the first messages that Jesus ever preached and he explained how this gift can be yours. He said in Mark 1 in verse 14, after John was put into prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the good news of the kingdom of God and saying, The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Hear the words of Jesus. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Jesus, I am a sinner. I realize I'm heading for hell. I realize you did what you said you did and you are who you say you are. Now I want to be saved. All right, Jesus says, repent. He did not say penance. He said repent. The word literally means to change your mind. You cannot change your life. God does that. But you can change your mind. Luke 13, three and five, except you repent, you'll perish. Friend, have you ever trusted baby baptism? No baby in the Bible, and nobody here was ever baptized as a baby to go to heaven. It is not taught. Change your mind. Have you ever trusted some work you have done? Titus 3, 5 said, it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. Have you ever trusted confirmation? There's not a word in the entire Bible about being confirmed to go to heaven. You change your mind and God will change your life. But he puts it with another phrase, repent and believe the gospel. Now the word believe is not just an intellectual, I believe in Jesus. It means that you transfer your trust. to the one who's trustworthy. You will no longer trust in anything you've done for Jesus. Now you will trust in what Jesus did for you. You will believe first that he is God. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're sitting here today and you say, I believe I'm going to heaven, but Jesus is not God, you're not going to heaven. For if he's not God, he's a liar. And if he's a liar, then he could not save himself, much less you and me. He declared, I and my father are one. Jesus Christ is God. And then you must believe what he did for you. There is a historical Jesus that people give mental assent to. Well, I believe that Jesus died and was buried and raised again. So does Satan. That's historical truth. That's not how you're saved. If you want to be saved, you must move from history to reality. I believe that Jesus Christ loves me, that he died for me, he shed his blood for me, he was buried for me, and he was raised again for me. Do you only have a historical Jesus? You'll never see Him in heaven. Or do you have a personal Christ who's entered your life and transformed you by His power? John 3, 16, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Have you come to Christ by faith? And then the Bible says in Romans 10 and 13, whosoever shall call, upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Have you come to Christ? Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt if you died today, you'd spend an eternity with Him? If you just answered no or I don't know, today is your day. And I'm going to help you receive Him before we close this message. What have we learned today? We've learned the convictions of the soul winner. We have ability, authority, and accountability. We've learned the communication of scripture, for by grace through faith are you saved and the word of God does it. And finally, I want you to see the compassion for the sinner. Close your Bible and look this way as I bring this message to a close. When Jesus is standing on that mount, he has those 11 men and he's saying to them now, I want you to go to Jerusalem. Who's in Jerusalem? People. And Judea, they're people. Samaria, people. The uttermost parts of the earth, people. And I want you to love them enough to tell them the truth that it is not what they do for me, but it's what I've done for them. In Matthew chapter nine and verse 36, when Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion because he saw them as sheep having no shepherd. In Jude verse 22, some having compassion, making a difference. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 2 in verse 8, we didn't give you the gospel of God only, but also our own souls because you were dear to us. I want to give you a compassion test. Somebody said, compassion is your pain in my heart. You'll never help the need until you hurt with a person who has the need. So today, Brother Rule and I are out to eat and he says, let's make a visit. We're in your neighborhood. As a matter of fact, we're at your next door neighbor's house. We've rung the doorbell, the people have come. I'm giving a little word of witness. You pull in the driveway, lower the window and say, looks like Pastor Ruhl and Dr. Farrell wonder what they're doing. And you hear me say, I just preached this morning at Lancaster Baptist Church. I talked about loving and giving the gospel. Have the people sitting in the driveway next to you who've lived there for some time ever come to this house and told you how much Jesus loves you? And what would they say? In the early 1900s in the Iroquois theater, it called on fire. If you'll study, you'll find that 600 people burned alive in that raging inferno. There was a 17 year old teenage girl who got out with her life. She pushed people out of the way, ran as hard as she could, got on a streetcar and sat down and was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. She smelled the smoke on her clothes. She looked down, saw her hands were singed, the hands that had pushed people out of her way, but helped nobody out of the building. She began to weep and say, oh, dear Lord. The dignified woman sitting on the streetcar rebuked her and said, I saw you come out of that building. You ought to thank your Lord that you're even alive. She looked humbly and said, yes, I am thankful that I'm alive. And then with tears, she looked up and said, but oh dear Lord, I didn't bring anybody with me. If Jesus met you at your car in the parking lot, he said, I'm taking you home today. Is there anybody going to come to heaven because of you? What would you say? Compassion makes the difference. Ladies and gentlemen, you need that internal driving conviction of ability and authority and accountability. You need to know every word in the word of God as far as the presentation of the gospel and be able to give it in a moment's notice. And then you need to remember that every day people are going to heaven or hell. While we've been sitting here, hundreds and hundreds of people have departed this life and go out into eternity, and they will meet God at the great white throne judgment, but they'll never be able to get into heaven. It's the responsibility of every born-again blood-washed believer to get in the biggest business in all the world. Are you actively regularly involved? Are you the kind of person that can demonstrate by your life that you're in the biggest business in this world? And then I ask you before I pray, my friend, Are you certain if you died today just like you are, you'd go to heaven? If you passed out in this building and they couldn't revive you and you stepped out into eternity, do you have a settled assurance based upon the Word of God that you'd spend an eternity with Jesus Christ? If you just said, no, I don't know, this is your moment, this is your time to be born again and God forgive every sin that you've ever committed and become your Lord and Savior. Let's bow our heads to pray.