Hello and welcome to another episode of The Bible Doesn't Say That where our contestants have to determine whether a phrase is in the Bible or not. And here's your host, Jack Potts.

And welcome back to another episode of The Bible Doesn't Say That. Thank you so much, Rodney, for that introduction. And welcome back to the stage Stephen, who has five whole dollars in Savannah, who has 15 But what they don't know is that we need to wrap this up. So Each question is worth $100,000 this week. Wow. That's it. All right, Stephen. For $100,000 does the Bible say when God closes a door, he opens a window.

Jack I've heard this one a lot. I'm gonna say no, it is not in the Bible.

Stephen, you got it right. Savannah we're moving on here. There we go. Are you ready for your question? 

I reckon so Jack.

Does the Bible say love the sinner hate the sin?  

Jack, I know the Bible talks a lot about loving people, but I don't think it says that. 

Well Savannah, it looks like you're $100,000 richer because the Bible doesn't say that. Yeah. Wow, that just got a whole lot more exciting. Rodney, tell them what they won. 

Well, Savannah technically won, but both of our contestants are going home with over $100,000 each. Where does all this money come from for this game? 

Well, Rodney, I knew I'd be on a catamaran somewhere, probably eating some lobster tail. But anywho I'm here with you guys signing off. And the last episode of The Bible Doesn't Say That. I'm Jack Potts reminding you to read your Bible.

All things come to an end, you know? Well, hey, welcome this morning. Just need to say this if you are visiting with us today, and thank you for being here. We know that there's probably not another moment in the history of the church that it's weirder to visit a church than being told where to sit, how to sit and have to register. But thanks for being with us today, if you're online with us, thanks for being here. And also, if you are part of the normal kind of Burnt Hickory crew, we want you to know that we are excited that in a couple of weeks from now, the week after Labor Day, we're going to be bringing groups back onto campus in an extremely limited form. All right, extremely safe. But we're going to start bringing some groups back on the campus and there's going to be more children that are going to be meeting.  There's more students that are going to be meeting.  A lot of the adult groups are going to be back on campus and others,  some during these times and um, some during other times when we pumped out a video, that kind of gave you just a little taste of that this week. But here's one thing that we really did mention in the video, but I just thought this morning needed to take a minute and I just need to say this if you have been, um kind of this is your first experience to Burnt Hickory, we want you to be in a group, we want you to jump into a group and you can jump on the app, figure out on the next button how to kind of jump into one of those. But we know that hey, we love worship, but we know life change happens in groups. So please give that a shot. 

Well, just like the video just said, this is the last week in our series, called The Bible Doesn't Say That. And I have loved all of the topics that we've walked through because we've had kind of one major theme, one overarching kind of umbrella theme. And that's this idea that when we have the wrong impression or the wrong idea about someone or something, it really affects everything about us. It affects the time that we want to spend with that person. It affects how we approach that person, it affects the communication that we have with that person. And it really and truly just affects how much we love that person or we want to be with that person. And what we've said from the beginning of the series on, is that there's so many kind of colloquial or cultural phrases that have been kind of sifted down into who we are, that has become part of our theology, where it really doesn't  have a whole lot to do with God, or maybe just kind of there halfway in where God is. And so our series has been based on these ideas, not just a stupid video.  I mean, great videos that we've been doing. But our series have been based on this idea that when we do have the right view of God, it has shaped how we live in his presence. And we've looked at some really just heavy topics. We've looked at some heavy topics like God will never give us more than we can handle. And we've said no, He does all the time so that we quit looking to ourselves and we start looking to Him.  

And then we looked at this idea that it really doesn't matter what I believe as long as I'm sincere. And we said that sincerity is an incredibly important thing in our faith that we should have a sincerity of our faith, but only after the direction is set. Only after we begin to walk towards Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, because He's the way the truth and the life that no one gets to the Father except through Him. Week 3 was probably one of the more emotional weeks for a lot of us because it kind of freed us up from thinking that we've really messed our kids up, right? And we looked at this idea that a godly home this saying all the time that we've heard our whole life that a godly home always produces a godly kid and we said, no, it doesn't. The reality is, that's a Proverb, not a promise. And our goal as parents, we said, is to train our kids in godliness according to the bent and how God's created them, but their job is to live it with the hopes that even if they do kind of fall, they have something to come back to. That's the hope in that promise and then last week was my favorite out of all of these last week for some reason, it just spoke to my heart more than any and it was this phrase that a lot of us that are threes on the inia gram, does that make me kind of relevant if I say that?  A lot of us that are producers in the world, we struggle with this idea that God helps those who help themselves. And we looked at this last week, as we've heard this phrase over and over most of the time, it's when we're lazy. Most of the time is when we're just not pulling our weight, or we feel like somebody else is and we said that that's an incredibly rough spot to walk in. Because when we believe that it loads us into the sense that we don't need the power and presence of God in our process of walking with Jesus that we can just do it by our own power. Why?  Because we as Americans, we love a good rags to riches story. Don't we love a good I am a self made person. I mean, we've seen it all week, have we not?  That this is kind of, we love a good story.  

But we said though when we think this we're taking the power away from God and we're putting it on ourselves. And really all that does is it begins to push others away from us. It gives us this arrogant spirit. It gives us a critical heart and it leads us to quit being able to take care of others because we look at them and go, well, you should have done what I did,  right?  You should just work harder. And it's not because we saw and we walked out last week with this idea that God specializes in helpless situations. And He's called us honestly just to go God, I can't do this and walk on. Well that's brought us to today. Today's the last one in the series and in today's if I haven't kind of rattled you up in the series so far, today's is guaranteed to do it because today's saying is one that is probably one of the more generally accepted sayings in the church. It's actually one of the most kind of adopted sayings in the church. But here's the problem with today's sayings. It's probably one of the most dangerous sayings, that for some reason, we have allowed it to slip into our theology. We've even almost called it a Bible verse probably at a second opinions somewhere. And what it's done is it's actually collapsed our view of what the Great Commission looks like, as well as what God has called us to do. And here's the problem with this morning saying.  The problem is, that if you grew up in church, or if you've been in church, I don't know, let's pull a random number, right? If you've grown up in church, or have been in church more than a couple of years, you have heard today's saying because there is a level of truth in it. And we've said every week there's a little bit of level of truth, but it's dangerous. It's incredibly dangerous.  

Here's today saying that we're going to walk through and you've heard it if you've been in church or some kind of rendition of it.  Today's saying is this, you're gonna love it.   Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words. If necessary, use words.  You've heard this phrase before. If you've been in church for a long time, you might have even taught this phrase and you're about to be squirming in your seat. Because here's the problem, this phrase on the surface, when we say preach the gospel at all times, we're all like, yeah, it's great. Why? Because on the surface, Christians should hear that their lives should represent Jesus.  That everything that we do everything that we live in, that our  actions should represent what Jesus has done in us.  If you're a student of history, especially the history of the church, you would say that there's been a lot of Christians that needed to hear that it's not just about knowing who God is.  You should live it. We have seen incredibly dark stains on the church throughout history, not necessarily this church, but the big church of where they didn't represent God, where they didn't live a faith where they did things, so called in the name of God that had nothing to do with God. We've seen governments that have done things in the name of God that needed to hear this statement. They needed to hear that it's not only just having a knowledge in our head, but our lives should display who God is. Here's the thing. There's a massive need for us as believers, to show compassion, to show love to show mercy, to show grace, to show people how much we love them. There's a massive need for believers such as all of us to get off of our judgey attitude sometimes, and just show the love of Christ. So please hear me right when I say this. There's no where in the Bible that says that you should not live a life that points to what God has done for you. I'm not saying that this morning.  I'm not saying that you should not live a life of godly character, alright? I'm not saying that, in fact, even the half brother of Jesus, he said it in James chapter 2:14, he says, "What good is it my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds?  Can such faith save them?"  What does he say? What good is it if we just kind of think that we have something in our mind and we never show it. He goes on in verse 17 and says, "In that same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But some will say, you have faith;  I have deeds.  Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by deeds." James says, by my deeds.  What is he saying? 

He's saying that we should live our faith.  That we should, how we live and how we love and how we trust and how we meet other's needs is all that matters to the kingdom of God. All that matters and what God is calling us to do. James says that your life should be a micro example of what God wants everyone's life to look like in Him. We're saying that, all right?  I'm saying this.  So here's the question, though. If we're all in agreeance, that the Bible tells us that we should live a life that is godly character pointing in the way of God, what's the problem with the statement? What's the problem with this idea, or this thinking that I should share the gospel at all times? And if necessary, use words, what's the problem with it? What I can kind of see two obvious problems. The first kind of obvious problem is, it's not in the Bible. I know this is gonna come as a shock to some of you because it did some people that I was just talking to this week that this is not a Bible verse. It's not a Bible verse just because it's printed on a T shirt or just because you heard it in a mission pamphlet at some point in your life or just because a Sunday school teacher told you, this is not a Bible verse. Nowhere in the Bible will you find share the gospel and if necessary use words. But not only that, at a closer examination, here's where I take a step into the, okay, Matt, here's where we're going. It's not even the heartbeat of God. It's not the heartbeat of God. You say, Matt, you just started telling us that it was the heartbeat of God. It's not the heartbeat of God. So now that I got your attention, where did this phrase come from? Where did it come from other than your mom or your Sunday school teacher, right? Where did this phrase come from? 

Well, if you grew up like I did, I grew up in the church every day, almost every moment of my life. You are probably on the same page as I am. And you're going to remember where this phrase came from. I remember being taught word of this phrase came from a guy by the name of Saint Francis of Assisi. Now that's a name for you, right? It came from a guy named St. Francis. How many of you've ever heard that? Just show me how many of you have ever heard that's where this statement came from? Thank you for it. There's four of us. Great meeting you. We're gonna talk just for a minute. Here's the deal. We really don't know where this phrase came from. We don't know. St. Francis never said it. He never said it. Here's the deal. St. Francis, he's a real guy. And I think I need to show you who this guy is. He was born kind of late 1100s, early 1200s. He did most of his ministry and he was a follower of Jesus. He gave His life over to an incredible ministry. He actually started the order of the Franciscans if you want to look that up later. And he gave his life to a ministry of living with little and actually proclaiming the gospel for his entire life. He loved the Lord. He loved God. He loved actually his concern for all people. But here's the problem with it. He never said this statement. And we know that because it wasn't his heartbeat.  You begin to study this guy, St. Francis, I kind of went down the wormhole because I'm a little bit of a nerd this week, if you begin to study this guy, you'll see this guy not only started this organization, but he also spent so much of his life preaching and teaching and leading and speaking the gospel, and it doesn't show up this statement anywhere in his writings, the closest that he ever said anything like this, if you want to reference  is a writing that he wrote to his kind of regimen of guys that were following called the rules of the Franciscans and in rule 1221, if you just want to know he wrote this idea that your words and your deeds should always match. He wrote that idea. That was all it was. But history tells us he never said this, that you should just if necessary use words. He was an incredible preacher. 

The writers that kind of did his biographies and actually did some later writings on him and people that have studied him. So all these accounts about this guy named St. Francis, they preached up to five times a day traveling from villages, to villages he carried, some of them say his own bales of hay with him in his cart, so he could rise above the rural crowds and preach to them.  He would get on stairs of public buildings and begin to preach the gospel of Jesus. Many, many, many sources say that he preached up to 400 times a season that he could travel. And so we've attributed the statement to him in this idea that every now and then we should possibly use words if they're necessary to this guy that loved using words. One writer said this about him. I love it. "He preached it to anybody who would gather to hear the strange but fiery little preacher." I love that he was so animated. The Bible says he was so passionate in his delivery. He said this, his feet, "moved as if he was dancing." I love that image of this little friar guy, like just dancing and preaching the gospel, and just really and truly saying how much God meant to him, this guy was my kind of guy. He actually raised his voice and got excited about what he was talking about every now and then he preached the gospel and here's the deal. Poor St. Francis, think about it. Here's a guy who dedicated his life to speaking the gospel. And now all we've ever done and all we've ever heard about this guy is attributed to a phrase that wasn't even his.  He would roll over in his grave if he knew this was all that we knew about him. This poor guy. But here's the principle behind the morning that this statement and so many others miss.  I want you to catch this really strongly. Here's the principle.

It's impossible to preach the gospel without words. It's impossible. It's impossible to preach the gospel without words. Now I know I just busted some of your life bubbles right there. I know it. I know I just did. Why? Because so many of us just have decided so long ago, if I can just live a moral life, if I can just live a good life, if I can just kind of keep my head above it, and live like God is calling me to live then I'm living out what God has called me to live. But here's what I need you to hear this morning from this statement, it is impossible to preach the gospel with our words. Why? Because let me just define the gospel for you. I think it's important. Here's kind of one of the most succinct definitions of the gospel that I've got.  The gospel is the announcement. It's the announcement that Jesus's life, His death, and His resurrection has brought about salvation. Now, I need you to grab hold of that definition. Because what does that definition imply? It implies that the gospel at all points, at all times is an announcement. It is something that must be verbal as it is something that must be spoken of the Apostle Paul said it like this. He says that he sums up the gospel in the fact that it's the life, it's the death, it's the resurrection of Jesus and whom all sin can be atoned for, and that we can all be reconciled to God because of.  Here's what he says in Romans 1:16 and 17. Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.  For in the Gospel, the righteousness of God, is revealed." Now, I hope you're kind of starting to feel where this is going a little bit. The gospel is not a habit. It's not a habit. The gospel is a proclamation. The gospel is an announcement. The gospel is a declaration of something that actually happened in history that can give people freedom from their sin and from their shame. The gospel is something that is the saving work of Jesus, it's not something that we can do. It's not something that we can do. And I know this is sticky, because you've probably never heard of this angle before. But I want you to feel this because I think it's so easy for us to slip into this mindset that I can just live the gospel. Listen, you cannot just live the gospel. You can't. Every week I've made a point to tell you what I'm not saying. Alright, just to cut down on the on the emails, just to be honest, every week, I've made a point to tell you what I'm not saying.  Here's what I'm not saying. I am not saying that your life should not be fully lived out for the cause of Christ. I don't want you to hear that. I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is that living out a character and moral life that God has delivered you into is not enough. It's not enough. It's not enough.  Words, here's where the statement goes wrong, right? Words are always necessary. They're always necessary. Why? Because I got news for you, people are not going to flock to know Jesus just because you're living an upstanding life. They're just not. And I know that's heavy. I can feel that, because that's the way that we operate so much. We operate in this, like, if I could just kind of live how God has called me to live, people are gonna be drawn to my aura, they're gonna be drawn to my presence, and there's going to be a revival that breaks out just because I'm a moral person.  

To which the Gospel says no, that's not how it works. It's not the gospel implications. We have to use words. Let me give you three truths this morning about the gospel that can kind of help clarify this. There's a lot more truths about the gospel. This is just three that kind of goes with this phrase. Here's number one. The gospel is inherently verbal.  The gospel it is inherently verbal. What does that mean? Remember by definition, if we're saying the definition of the gospel, it's a proclamation, right? If what we're saying is the gospel is verbal. Listen to Romans 10:11-15.  It says this, "Anyone who believes in Him", speaking of Jesus, "will never be put to shame.  For there is no difference between the Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all who call on him. Everyone", I love this in verse 13, "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then can they call on the one who they haven't believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?" Goes farther, listen to the last statement, "And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?"  Now this debunks this whole moralistic evangelism theory that most of us have lived so much of our life's in. What am I not saying? I'm not saying that we don't live for the kingdom of God. I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is this, you do not hear the gospel just because Christians live a life that points to who Jesus is. You don't. It takes words.  Pulses, yes, your life and how you live it is incredibly important. But he says words matter. And he says speaking the gospel is not a last resort issue if it's necessary, because Paul says it is necessary because they're not going to believe, they're not going to hear unless somebody tells them. We see this all over the Bible, don't we? This is the theme of the Bible. We kind of miss this sometimes. 

But it's the theme of the Bible that God sends His people to share His words His gospel, we see it all through the Old Testament through the prophets, we see them proclaiming the Word of God. We see it all through the disciples and Jesus life. What are they doing? Are they living moral lives? Yes, they're living more or less, but what are they doing? They're proclaiming the gospel, we see it in the book of Acts probably more beautiful than anywhere else. In fact, let me just kind of run down the first six chapters of acts and hit some high points. I want you to read it this week, because you're going to see how incredibly clear it is.   That it wasn't enough for these guys just to walk around and be moral and be good and not eat certain things and not do certain events. Acts 2:14, Peter stands up it says in the Bible that he lifted his voice and when he lifted his voice, he presented the gospel and 3000 people at the day of Pentecost turn and trust Jesus as their Savior.  Acts chapter three what happened Peter and John they healed this lame guy, and as a result, his crowd gathers all around him and Peter, what does he do? He stands up on Solomon's porch on the temple on the out the outskirts of the temple, and Peter begins to speak the gospel.  Look at how they marry them together. He calls them to repent and many do in Acts chapter four, Peter and John they're arrested for doing what?  Speaking the gospel, sharing the gospel. And after they immediately were released from prison from this and they prayed this prayer in Acts 4:29 it says, "Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your words with great boldness." What do they say?  Your word with boldness and they were filled with the Spirit.   Acts chapter six, the church has grown too big, the disciples can't handle it anymore and what begins to suffer?  What began to suffer is they are not able to speak the gospel enough so they begin to call other people around them to do what?  So that they can speak it more.  Their primary concern while they were living their life don't hear me say don't live your life. Their primary concern was doing what?  Speaking the gospel over people sharing the gospel over people. You need to hear me, this is not an either or proposition. It's a both and they're both married together. And I want you to think on this this week. The gospel is not a moral lifestyle. The gospel is inherently verbal. It's verbal. And if we're not verbalizing the gospel, we're not sharing the gospel. Number two, his second truth, God's children, that's me, and that's you, right? God's children speaking the gospel is God's plan to reach the lost. God's children, that's me, that's you.   Us speaking the gospel. That is God's plan for reaching the lost. Now, here's why this is such a big deal. Because if we subscribe to the mindset of that, I'm going to preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words there is an inherent or a logical assumption in that there must be times that Christians should, and Christians often should live like Jesus without ever talking about Jesus.

But I never find that. I can't find it anywhere in the Bible. I can't find it in one place in the Bible, that post resurrection of Jesus, that God just goes, no, no, no, don't tell him. Just live, they'll be drawn to you like a magnet. Just live. The assumption that this quote gives us is that we can just live it and they're drawn.  We can live it and they'll know we can live it and somehow they'll get to it. And look, I get it. We would never say this out loud. We're way better Christians that we would never go, yeah Matt, that's where I'm at in my life. Let's have an invitation right now. We would never do that. Right? We wouldn't. But it's how we live isn't it? It's how so many of us live so much so, that do you know that the Christianity even in America is on such a rapid decline that we are in the top 10 missions and to be reached nations in the world now is America. It is God blessed America. And can I tell you why I feel like partly this is the reason?  Check out this quote it's because 80% of believers will never share their faith with one person throughout the course of their life. 80%, Wow! But Matt, I'm living it though, and they're drawn to me I can feel it. No 80%. In fact, if that's not good enough, look at this. It says that more than half 55% of those who attend church at least once a month, have not shared the gospel with someone or shared with someone how to become a Christian in the last six months. Do you know what that tells me? It tells me that God has given us a command and He's given us a call and He's given us a commission Matthew chapter 28 that we're just not living. You see, God is given us this.  He's called us to reach the nation's.  He's called us you know that we are God's plan A and there is no plan B.  We're God's plan A to share the gospel to the nation's. And I can promise you this, if we use this word, if necessary, we're never going to get there because it is necessary. You know, I was reading this week, and something hit me that I'd never seen or never really felt before when I was reading just through the gospels a little bit this week and I realized something about the Gospels. There's not one account in the Gospels that someone comes to know Jesus as the Messiah, or even in the book of Acts comes to know who Jesus is without a conversation that was had.

That's pretty scary, right? You know what that tells me?  That tells me that I need to speak the gospel because I'm God's plan which leads us to number three.  Here it is. Gospel conversation should be the end goal of all of our actions. It should be the end goal.  Now, here's where we're marrying the two together, right? It should be the end goal of all of our actions. Why does this matter? Because this is what distinguishes us from the Red Cross. This is what distinguishes us from every other relief organization on the planet. This is what distinguishes us from just moral people who love people. What distinguishes us is that our primary goal is not to feed people. Our primary goal is not to provide for people Our primary goal is to speak the gospel over people. And everything else in us is designed to get us to that point. What does that mean? That means that we live in ways to share the gospel, we love in ways to share the gospel. We serve people in ways that we can serve the gospel. Our family operates in ways that we can share the gospel. This means that my self fulfillment is not the key to life, my good living or the fact that I can check off that I did everything that God has called me is not the key.  The key to my life is, am I sharing the gospel in a way that my life is pointing to? And I love how Paul marries these two things. In Colossians 4:3, Paul says it like this, man, this is so good. He says this, he's in prison. He says this, "And pray for us,  too, that God may open a door for our message, so  that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains."  Verse 4, "Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should."  Look at verse 5, it changes a little bit.  "Be wise in the way you act."   Now, we hear that one right? Well, I'm acting it Matt. I'm doing it Matt. I'm not cussing. I'm not smoking. I'm not out just kind of getting plastered every night and I don't even hang out with the people that do. I'm there, Matt. I'm living the gospel. No. "Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders." Look at what he says. "Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Do you notice something here? Only one part of one verse has anything to do with our actions the rest of it has to do with proclaiming, clarifying, speaking, being full of grace, knowing the gospel, such an incredibly beautiful statement where Paul marries this idea that we are to combine a life that is living the godly principles with a life that is speaking the gospel over people at all times. And I want us to feel this. I just want us to feel it a little bit. I know it's heavy. I know it's a little bit awkward. But I need you to feel this idea because here's the thing.  When we believe this statement, share the gospel at all times and if necessary use words, it gives us an out not to live the life God has called us to live. It does,  doesn't it?  Because it lets us sleep at night going, man I lived through  today God, thank you. I lived through today God.  My life was above reproach today. Not saying that's a bad thing. I'm saying it's an incomplete thing. I'm saying it's an incomplete thing. Here's the deal. 

It gives us a justification, why not to spread the gospel. Not only that it gives a way for Satan, here's the more scary part, it gives a way for Satan to manage a whole bunch of good believers. Why? Because he has us trapped in this room, right? And the rest of the week, it doesn't really matter to us. We just live moral lives. We don't share what God has done in us. Look, if we think preaching the gospel is just living a right life, just living a moral life. If it's just feeding people just healing our neighbors, if it's just kind of meeting people living with character, the gospel is not being announced. It's not being announced. We're called to speak it, but I get it. This is incredibly intimidating. I'm not up here saying that I got this thing figured out. No I shower. I mean, I kind of I kind of shutter away from conversations all the time, that I probably should have.  I'll just self confess that.  I do. I mean, there are times that I know that I probably should be speaking into the life of a person to where I'm like, I just don't know if it's right. Can I tell you something? It's right. It's right, and it's necessary. Here's what I want to do just a few minutes before we just walk out of here today. Real quickly, I want to give you a quick game plan that can just begin to step out of this intimidation. It's real fast comes out of 1 verse,  out of First Peter 3.

We don't have time for a whole evangelism seminar. I just want to give you three things that you can think on this week. First, Peter 3:15 says this, "But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."  See, Peter gives us a way right here of how we can follow the example Paul, and we can marry this idea of how to live and how to share. And he gives us three things in this one verse he says, number one, be assured. Be assured.  What does it say?  But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord.  What does that mean? That means that we have to get to a point in our lives where we are sure that Christ is Lord.  That we are sure that He has redeemed us that we are sure that He has forgiven us that we are sure that He is who He said He is.  You know why this is so important? Because of this, we will never share something that we're not sure of. We won't or will share it under the guise of hey, I'm not really sure about this, but you should probably check this out. And there's no convincing in that. Here's the first challenge for the week. You have to get to a point in your life where you are sure of your salvation, and you're sure that God has stepped into your world. And that's the question that it leaves us with. Are you sure? Are you sure? Because you're not going to live the life that God's called you to live unless you're sure. Unless you're sure. Because number two, be prepared. Be prepared. It's pretty easy. He says right here, but in your hearts revere crisis, Lord, always be prepared. What does it say? Always Be prepared to give an answer. Always be prepared. Now, what does this mean? It means that there's discipline in this, you cannot live today off of yesterday's fate. That means that there is a working side of Christianity to where I have to study the Word, how to study how to deal with people, to study how to present the gospel, I have to be in a relationship with God that everyday I'm waking up, I'm seeking His guidance for my life. And I'm prepared even in this idea that I'm going to study it to know ahead of time, what to say.  Here's what happens when I answer the question, am I sure and when I begin to prepare myself, here's the third step and I love this one.  Be positioned. Be positioned. Matt where do you get that? Check it out, but in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15. 

What's the inference in the verse, right? We got to look at it. The inference is that people are going to ask you.  How are people going to ask you?  You are in the presence of people, you are positioned with people who need the gospel. You know, I just live in the high mighty moral life. You know, I live in the separatists Quaker lifestyle that we were taught to live.  We live in a life that is sure of what Christ has done for us. They're sure that  He reached down into the miry clay and He pulled us up and He redeemed us and now we have a story to proclaim the gospel. We're prepared. We've studied to show ourselves approved.  We have prepared ourselves to know the gospel to know the life giving, as Paul would put it, message of Jesus. And now what do we do? We begin to step into situations in our lives, where we are positioned to share the hope and the glory and the riches and the mercy and the love of who God is. That's the life. Here it is, the St. Francis of Assissi would want you to live.

I just sometimes think what he would think. If he could just reshape this phrase. I think he would just say this, please, share the gospel, always with words and live a life that strives to back it up.

I think that's the message. Here's what I know. If we can grab that message, we're going to begin to see revival not only in our hearts, but among so many people that need to know Jesus. Here's the question today. Are you living this life?

Second question, do you need to meet Jesus today to begin to live this life? Why? Because you can't proclaim something that you don't know.

Here's my encouragement during this next time of worship this morning. And I just want you to do some soul searching to see if you've subscribed to the thinking if necessary. Or are you ready to jump into the idea of it is necessary because it's the kingdom of Jesus.   Lord today,

Lord I just pray that we today can see that the gospel is verbal, that you have called us to live a life that supports us proclaiming it to people that we position ourselves in front of. Lord Jesus, I pray today if there are people that are listening to this message, and they need to know that they know that they know they need to be assured of their faith today, God, that they could just text the word next to the number that's on their screen today. That God, they could just text that today to find some assurance for somebody to talk to them about their faith for somebody to talk to them about salvation and what it means to give their life to Jesus. Lord, I pray for a lot of us that know Jesus today. The God this would be the day that we decide to share your gospel with words. Thank you, Lord Jesus, during this next moment of worship, let it be a dedication of our hearts to who you are and it's in your name we pray. 

Amen. 

Let's stand and sing for a minute.