This message is not going to be a pep rally, but I do want to leave here and want you to leave here ready to experience victory. It's not about the power of positive thinking, but I want you to think positively about what God can do through you because you can be an effective witness. and to help plow up any fallow ground, any hardened soil, any lack of good seed sowing, with the Proclaimed Course right around the corner on the Great Commission, and coincidentally not, Providentially, with a host of our missionary families present here today, which was not scheduled, I didn't know, didn't plan this accordingly, it's good for them to be reminded that they too can be an effective witness. You say, Pastor, these are missionaries. Don't they know that? Aren't they fully adequate and prepared Brother Cesar, do you ever need a shot in the arm for evangelism, going after the lost? You're not always hot for the gospel, are you? Probably not. I'm putting him on the spot here. I probably know him best, at least the longest, so he can hate me later. I know I need that. And I need to be reminded, I really can be an effective witness. Acts chapter 14. If you would, my guess is, if you are a child of God, you need, I need this reminder today. Acts 14 verses 1 through 7. And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke, that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren. a long time, therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, who gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided, and part held with the Jews, and part held with the apostles. And when there was an assault made, both of the Gentiles and also the Jews, with their rulers, to use them despitefully, that is to persecute them, and to stone them, They were made aware of it and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about. And there they preached the gospel." Child of God, you can be an effective witness. That is right. You can be, you are saved. You don't have to be a brilliant theologian. You don't have to be a seminary graduate. You don't have to be called into the ministry as a vocation, and you don't have to be on a mission trip. Right where you are, if you are saved as a child of God, he has perfectly equipped you already to be involved in great commission work within your sphere of influence, you. You can. You really can. It's not left and ought not be left for someone else. It should never be, I wish I could, I sure would like to be more effective. I really should obey the Lord. No, no, you can fulfill his word. You can be very much in the spirit and in the functionality of this very text in Acts 14, verses one through seven, where you also share the truth of the gospel with a lost and dying world. You can, if you're saved, if you know Christ, you can be wonderfully used of the Lord. You can be. You see, it's not an issue of doing. When my kids were growing up, a couple of them are here right now, and you could ask them, Dad would often say to us, the issue is not doing, the issue is being. Being because if I will be who God has designed me to be and has commissioned me to be the doing will take care of itself if I am designed and ordained and equipped and called to Share the message of the gospel to be involved in Great Commission work, and I have a heart toward that Then the then the doing of it is going to take care of itself You can be and effective witness. That is, you yourself individually. Don't worry about what others are doing. Don't worry about how many people are gonna be involved and proclaim. Don't worry about how many others are sharing the gospel. You touch lives within your sphere of influence. Yes, we have corporate Great Commission work. As I've indicated a couple of times, a number of our missionary, Redbridge missionary families, hold your hands up if you would. Hold your hands up right now. Let us see where you are. the Kiros, and they're in Haiti, the Campbells, and the Kopas, and Kokunok Penny are right back here from Togo, and the Williamson's are here with Bible translators, and so four or five missionary families right here are But they have their own sphere of influence and ministry field and folks with whom they minister. But you do as well. You have your own unique personal family, an extended family, and neighborhood, and classmates, and co-workers, and the like that are not part of my sphere. So you can be an effective That's right. God does not want you just floundering around. He has equipped you to be effective. And you say, well, Yes, but I'm not real sure how to do it. Well, the church is here to equip the believers for the work of the ministry. We're gonna be having the Proclaim course for four Sundays in June. You say, well, that's gonna take care of it? No, that's going to be a reminder for you, or maybe that's gonna be a first-time training in personal evangelism, but it's not an issue of, you know, you not being able to do it. The issue is, will I avail myself? And I don't mean that to sound like pastoral manipulation, for I don't mean for it to be, and I don't like that at all. What I'm saying is, the table is gonna be prepared. You're gonna be served a meal. No, will you come to the banquet table and receive what the Lord has in and through this training? You can be not just some type of a witness for him, you can be effective. You can actually be involved in the great commission work of depositing the gospel in the hearts and lives of the lost. You can be an effective witness, Kathy and I, in South Africa. a month ago, didn't know a soul. And we providentially got put in a particular van. And I happened to sit right next to a young guy, 20, 22, 24 years old, Muslim from Istanbul, Turkey, who spoke English. Thankfully, I didn't speak Turkish. Is that the language called in Turkey? Is it Turkish? I think it is. And we struck up a conversation. And he said, are you retired? And I said, no, do I look that old? I think I said, I'm not retired, I'm just tired. I don't think he got that. He was 22. What does he know about being tired? What do you do in America? I said, well, I'm glad you asked. I said, I'm one of those old school Bible-believing preachers in a church in middle America. And he says, oh, well, that's interesting, tell me about it. Okay, I'd be happy. You see, the Lord will open, if you have a heart for great commission work, God is gonna take care of opening the doors. I have set before you an open door, which no man opens and no man can shut, just go through that door. he opens it up for you in sharing the Lord with the lost you can be an effective witness so that was all beginning that was all introduction to be an effective witness I have to be courageous. Here's your outline. To be an effective witness, I have to be courageous. We see that in this text. Notice the apostles, the group traveling with them, Luke and others. went into unfriendly, hostile territory, and it came to pass in Iconium, that they went together, and there were those who opposed them. It was filled with persecution. They were gonna go after them. But folks, they preached the gospel to Jews and Gentiles, and there were those who believed. There was actual fruit. And when you bring the message of life to a dead soul and the Lord pricks that heart and sparks that spirit to wake up, to hear, to receive the sown seed of the word of God of the gospel, the results are up to him, amen? I don't have to produce, I can't produce. I don't manipulate, I don't strategize, I just simply say what great things God has done. And they did that and lo and behold, church was a budding church was planted there. 2nd Timothy 3 12 says I have to be courageous because all who will live in godly in Christ Jesus will suffer we shall suffer persecution in fact first Peter 2 21 says we are called to suffer and so I need to go into it recognizing that I am going behind enemy lines to rescue the perishing, to care for the dying, and there's an enemy on the other side of that line. It's spiritual warfare, because the enemy doesn't want that soul rescued, and you have a commission from the captain of your salvation to storm the gates of hell and seek to liberate those prisoners who are behind enemy lines. Verse two, you'll notice in our text. that the Lord's enemies sought to poison those who heard the word so that their hearts would sour on the message or on the messengers. Paul told the Thessalonians at another time, he said in 1 Thessalonians 2, 2, but even after we had suffered before and were shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi, We were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention." Kathy and I were in Italy two and a half years ago, I think it was, and we went to the island of Sicily and to the town, city of Syracusa. And in Acts chapter 27, it says that Paul, en route to Rome, stopped in that very town, and this was 2,000 years ago. Well, 500 years earlier, a big building, as it were, structure was erected that was already 500 years old when Paul landed there. And it was the biggest, to this day, it's the biggest edifice in the city. And 2,500 years ago and 2,000 years ago, it was the only large edifice in the city. You following the imagery here? Where would Paul go whenever he went to a new city to preach? He would go to the Agora, to the meeting place of the people. And I am as sure as I'm an inch high that we went to the very place where the Apostle Paul preached the gospel. Now that's heady stuff for a Baptist pastor. I literally was in the very building where scripture says that Paul got to preach. And that invigorated my soul. That reminded me that I too can be an effective witness of the gospel. But I had to be courageous. So, the golden key. To be courageous, you must recognize your sufficiency is only in him. You can't change a heart. You can't do anything of an eternal value. He must do the work. So the issue is not success or failure, folks. The issue is faithfulness. He's required one thing of a steward. It says in 1 Corinthians 4.2. Young adults, there are cobwebs that are up here, and you gotta shoo them out of the way, and then you can grab that word. Anybody identify? That's what I was just now doing. I was shooing away all the cobwebs. 1 Corinthians 4.2, there's only one requirement, that a man be found faithful. And so, you can be fruitful and effective if you are courageous. You can be effective if you're communicative, that is, if you actually will tell the good news, and we see that in this text. In verse one, and in verse three, a long time ago they spoke, speaking boldly, and in verse seven, and they preached the gospel. You must actually be willing and prepared to share the content of the gospel that God became man and identified with fallen man though was sinless and he died vicariously as a substitute so that all who believe and call upon him will be saved and sins forgiven and heaven bound. You must actually share the truth of the gospel, the content of the gospel. You know, when Bill and Jennifer, raise your hand, Jennifer, would you, went to Haiti, to Pion, Haiti, in 2003, January, so 22, nearly 22 and a half years ago, we went to rescue orphans off the street. We didn't know we were also going to be the main provider of baby infant formula milk for mothers who die in the hut, and that happens all the time, maybe even more common than not, used to be anyway, and that we were going to have a family feeding center, and we were going to, we didn't know all of this has kind of just kind of evolved over time, but the one thing we did know is although we were involved in benevolent ministry, I've been talking to my brother-in-law about a benevolent ministry in the church, even though involved in caring for those with physical needs and the like, it must be gospel-driven, or all you are is a social outreach place. Y'all with me? Gospel-centered. We are here because Jesus died for sinners, and we can give you a full belly, but unless you have him in your heart, you won't have eternal life. And so it's gospel-driven. Daniel and Lydia, what you're doing in Hungary, gospel-centered. It's a great commission work. That's why we're giving them hundreds of dollars, I trust, every month. I don't know how much we're giving you, hundreds of dollars every month. We need to be doing that, and I'm sure we are. And we have been with our missionaries all these decades, supporting them, praying for them, encouraging them, and visiting them on the field. Will you accept a visitor from Redbridge sometime when you land on the field? Amen. Coco and Penny, has anybody visited you all with? We've been to your mission field. Susan went there, didn't she? And that's, we're involved together in great commission work. Sharing the Lord. You can be an effective witness if you will, in fact, communicate the gospel. The golden key then, develop your testimony. What happened to you? How did Christ save you? What were the circumstances? And then be on the lookout for those who are wanting to give an answer of the reason of the hope within you. That Proclaim course is gonna help you do that, by the way, as you spend those four weeks here in June. Thirdly, if you're gonna be an effective witness, you need to be creative. And I say creative, you never change the content, but you may change the approach of what you share and how you share it, because God did not make cookie cutter people. Jesus modeled this when he was with the hard-hearted, he shared in one particular way. When he was with the brokenhearted, he shared in another way. When he was with the religious astute, he would share this particular aspect of the law. And when he was with the down and outer, he would speak of mercy and forgiveness. It's kind of like, if I'm witnessing to three people, one's a 10 year old little girl, and one's a 40 year old businessman, and one's a 65 year old drug abuser. I'm not going to emphasize with the 10 year old third grader, fourth grader, what I would emphasize with the 65-year-old drug addict. Y'all appreciate what I'm saying? And so I need to understand the context without ever changing, compromising the message. And so, be creative. You must be aware of the lost person's perspective to the degree that you can be. Of course, you can't always know that. It doesn't mean that you've walked in the exact same shoes, but it does mean that you have to understand that your lost person with whom you're sharing also has a context of life. And you being able to enter into that context will help you understand what aspect needs to be emphasized. If it's a religious person, what needs to be emphasized? If you're a sinner, if it's a drug addict on the street, under the bridge, what needs to be emphasized? There is hope in Christ. He already knows that he's a down and outer. He already knows that he's violated the holiness of God. And so you offer grace to the hurting and you offer the law to the proud. Y'all following that? That is what is meant by creative, never changing the content, of course, of the gospel, no matter who you're encountering. Folks, we don't have a gospel for a straight person and a different one for a gay person. We don't have a gospel for a white person and a different one for a black person. We don't have a gospel for an American and a different one for a European, amen? It's the gospel and the only gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. that's what we share, recognizing that, folks, everyone is a different paradigm. If you're going to be effective, you have to be consistent. The text here says, God granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. Why? To authenticate The message, in other words, they needed something to authenticate their talk. For us, our walk authenticates our talk. Our behavior gives credibility to our belief and what we say that we believe. So we live in a pragmatic society. If Christ is in you and he has not made a difference, a visible difference in your life, then the lost person is saying, well, I live like you, I talk like you, I go where you go. How is there any difference in that? And so, I need to be consistent in how I live. And to this, folks, I am so committed to this, so convinced of this, don't always live it, but I want to and I believe it, that I've actually asked my kids, and my kids let me know if I'm wrong on this. When they were growing up at different ages, I would say, Adam, Susie, Betsy, Priscilla, whoever it was, is my life credible? Well, dad, what does that mean? What you hear me preach, do you see me live that? Do you believe that I believe what I say is true? Because if they don't see it, And if anybody would see it, those with whom you live, y'all following that? They will be able to verify the credibility of it, and if it's not evident there, I better repent and make a change or something. I could be a little bit narrow as a parent. When they were growing up, and I asked one of my kids one time, who was 12 years old, Why is there a frustration? Do you feel like dad's making a mountain out of a molehill about this situation? And the child looked at me and said, no, you're not making a mountain out of a molehill. You're making a mountain out of an anthill. I asked, and I wanted feedback. I wanted to know, is the message, is the walk matching the talk? And I find that to be wise pastoral counsel. And so to be consistent. Your life must match your lips. Your walk must correspond to your talk. It gives us the right formula in Ephesians 4 and verse 15. We're to be speaking the truth in love. Yes, giving the content of the gospel. but doing so without a holier-than-thou attitude, without a fearful disposition, but just simply giving the facts. I mean, I don't want a doctor who has the lab results and knows that it can only be one thing and comes into me and says, well, Vic, I'd like to tell you, but I'm afraid. You're so mean. and you're intimidating, you might be packing right now, and if I tell you, I might get hurt, so you go home and I'll send you in the mail when I go on vacation so I can get away. No, no, I don't want a fearful physician. Of course, absurd illustration, but you get the point. Nor do I want a doctor who would come in and say, I've been telling you for 20 years, You need to lose those five extra pounds. And now look what's happened to you. Shame on you. I ought to just turn you every which way but loose and snatch you bald, but it's too late. You don't want either of those. You just want the facts, just the content of what is going on. So be careful, be prudent, use wisdom when sharing with the lost. So you're the golden key. To be careful, you look for an opportunity without being an opportunist. You see, I didn't go into that van with those four Muslims from Turkey in my mind thinking, oh, I can't wait to corner somebody. Force-feed them the gospel like you give medicine to a dog. I'm gonna hold their nose closed and shove it down their throat and then shut the mouth and not let them breathe until you swallow it. No, no, no. I'm not gonna be an opportunist, gotcha. I'm not looking for notches in my saddle bag of how many I've knocked off. It's not an issue of performing. It's an issue of communicating, sharing the message of life in Christ. So Christian, you can be an effective witness. If you'll focus on these principles, these golden keys, the Lord will use it. He has in my life, he has in Kathy's life, and still continues to do so, so get busy. not as an event, but as a lifestyle, be prepared to proclaim the gospel as we share much more about it coming up in June. Lord, I'm so thankful for your word and this clear narrative of Paul and others, Luke writing about it, coming into Iconium, with the heart to want to proclaim the truth. So, they saw where the meeting place was, they went there, they were given opportunity for an audience, and they shared. Some believed, some didn't. Some were sympathetic, some were hostile. But they, each one of them, were effective evangelists. because they had the truth of the gospel, which is the power of God into salvation to all who believe. Have your will and way in our hearts in this time. And Lord, that you would transform this local church, the whole is made of the sum of the parts, and our members, our brothers and sisters, one with another, into those who will communicate the saving message of Christ. Bless our dear missionaries with us as well in that cooperative work, that partnership that we have with each family around the world. Use us in these days for your glory. Lord Jesus, in your name.