What On Earth Am I Here For? Part 6 - Share Jesus

By Pastor Greg Byman
May 27, 2018
​St Joe Community Church

What on earth are you here for? What person are you to marry? Children to raise? Vocation to occupy? Mission to join? Whatever God may have in store for you, that calling will fall within the parameters that his word provides for all believers in Christ.

​This week, Pastor Greg Byman takes a look at Matthew 5:14-16 and Revelations 2:1-5 to consider Jesus’ mandate to introduce him to a world that desperately needs him. Pastor Byman delivered “What On Earth Am I Here For? Part 6: Share Jesus on May 27, 2018 at St. Joe Community Church. 

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​We are on the final serious message of what on earth am I here for and today I want to talk about the fifth purpose that God has given us the fifth main reason that we are created we are created we are made for a mission we are made to share Jesus with other people around us where they're here not to be a reservoir or of everything we see but to be a river. That we flow through whatever we have and we give to others what has been given to us as some people say one beggar showing another beggar where the source of bread is for life. We're not here just to soak up and sour we're here to stand and to share and to soar. And so this purpose that we have really dubbed tales into all of the things that we do and that God has called us for to live out on our Earth on this earth. Let's review our first purpose is to worship God we were created and loved by God God created us in order to love us. He decided in his who he was that he wasn't diminished in any way he did not have any loss in his life but he had a desire to love a creation that would love him back voluntarily and he created us for that relationship and when we do not have that relationship with Him everything else in our life is at a joint everything on our life is is out of whack we're not calibrated properly until we began a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ that is the beginning of our purpose we've we discover that our second purpose is to have fellowship with one another to take to get together and to hang out with and be with other believers in our life i was formed for a family I told somebody last week that a Christian without a church home is an orphan that you need to be along somewhere get along with people rub shoulders with people sometimes you need to be encouraged to move in a direction you may not want to go every single self-help book every single Get back on track plan for people's lives whether it be a business plan whether it be a physical fitness plan whether it be an eating habit plan whether it's to quit smoking whatever it is there's always something called the buddy system you need a body you need somebody in your life and when I was a kid there was a carpet guy down south I think he's still there he says you just get out of those darkest hours because you got a buddy in the carpet business and Buddy would sell. Carpet I mean you buddy he could sell it too but anyway he was he was it was saying all the time and just in my head we need buddies you got a buddy in the Christian business and they belong in a church and you belong in a church and we belong in here together Church isn't a formal religious place it's a place for relationship building building our relationship with God even as we're building relationships with one another in order to build a residue that helps us build a relationship is one of the in my getting this right it's a both a and it's vertical and horizontal conversations. Conversation vertically with God conversations horizontally with one another. We need to have that in our lives since the third thing we talked about is we need to grow spiritually every single business every single place that you go you know that you grow in fact physically at some point in your life your cells stop reproducing as fast as they used to reproduce and you start a gene Oh no instead of maturing you've matured. And now you're not maturing anymore I hope you're maturing mentally but anyway you personality wise but you know I'm saying and we start to diminish and we know that at some point we're going to go home to the Lord. Well in a Christian life that we never we never want to diminish we always want to keep growing and becoming I want to be stronger on the day of my death than I am today I want to be better than I was. I want to get stronger. I want some sin of my life but I just continue to gnaw at me things that I just say why am i still tempted to do those stupid things I want that to eventually go away then I'll find new things that I didn't realize that I struggled with but I mean but it continues on but I want to grow out of some things and get better and stronger Charles Stanley used to say you're not going to be civilized but you will as you grow send less. It will grow you will begin to be more because when you take care of the big answers of right and wrong a lot of the smaller answers start taking care of themselves. Because you're on a path to keep you away from the other decisions that you don't want to make and should make and we need to grow I was created to become like Christ and then serve others. Last week we talked about service I was shaped to serve I have a purpose to help others experience the love and the grace of God by loving them in practical ways caring for them caring for needs taking care of people sometimes serving people is just making a phone call and saying hey we care about you maybe it's just sitting alongside somebody in their time of need sometimes when you come to church they just need a hug I don't know maybe you're not the how you type fist bump OK whatever it is somehow some way you just need to be there somehow find out we talk about there's a book called The Five Love Languages and it talks about how different people can receive love in different ways well figure out what the love languages of someone who needs loved and meet them at their point of need with that kind of relationship of love service in their lives some people like little tiny gifts and knickknacks other people go about clutter my house. Some people like their lawn mowed the other one says I like knowing it myself thank you by the way I don't mind somebody else moment address. Anyway. But seriously that's not my love language I just brought that up anyway but but we have this need to receive love in the way that we understand that love and you need to if you love somebody enough you can figure out that isn't love them in that way we serve people today I want to talk about that we are we are purpose our fifth purpose in Matthew chapter twenty eight it says Go and make disciples as you are going make disciples and we'll look at Matthew chapter five. To talk about that so if you can turn your Bible. Now I heard someone say don't say Turn in your Bible that's like saying and turn and yeah so don't do them flip the pages I don't know why I told you that so. Don't be so don't don't take me literally OK to get your Bible out and do this and then will and you're going to get your phone whatever you do and we're going to look at Matthew chapter five this morning. And it was the last song we sang live in the world all our hope is in you Lord you're the light of the world. Jesus is the light of the world. First John John chapter one talks about Jesus being the light of the world he is the light of the world but were a fraction of that light and Jesus said You are the light of the world you followers of me you followers of Jesus Christ or the light of the world and in Matthew chapter five verses fourteen and following There's one other place in Luke where it's brought up he brings up this same phrase again a little bit later in Luke I want to focus on Matthew chapter five this morning break it down a little bit and then I'm going to turn over to the last book of the Bible don't go there yet we're going to go to Revelation and see about the light of the church. So let's stand one more time if you would. And you know some say why do you stand when you read the Bible is just to honor the word of the Lord and you don't have to stand to read the Bible but occasionally I think it's a good idea to just revere what God has given us from eternity past to eternity to come and and just honor him as we read it together so I'm going to read from the Christian Standard Bible chapter five starting with verse thirteen or fourteen you are the light of the world a city situated on a hill cannot be hidden no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket but rather on a lamp stand and gives it light for all who are in the house in the same way let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven may be seated. What is Jesus saying there. He says You're the light of the world what is he saying this. First of all we were made to reflect the light of Christ that's our goal that's our purpose a light is made to shine. You were made to shine. If you don't hide that no one takes a lamp. And puts it under a bed or under a bushel hide it under a bushel No I'm gonna let it shine This Little Light of Mine. We used to sing that Sunday school when I was a kid. Jesus is the solution to every problem in our world. Do you believe that really. See there are trends of thought to say that we compartmentalize our faith and what happens on Sunday morning should never affect what happens on Monday through Friday. Business is business Church is church church is the business of every part of life period end of discussion go home now OK Thanks Craig now. Don't take me literally guys I'm wrecked over what sheep how cheap life has become for people in our country it just it bugs me. It doesn't bug me it bothers me and it hurts me. To think that in our city every single week somebody is being cut down by gunfire and you may or may not live in the neighborhood and where that's happening but if it's happening in our city it's happening to all of us. I don't even live in the city limits happening to me. We're all affected by this we're all affected. By wherever a shooting is taking place. In a school building. Life is cheap. Last week I shared the poem. Our country. Is turning people into cheap property we started when we decided that it was legal to kill babies in the womb. We've continued as we talk about euthanasia and how people are allowed to just snuff out their own lives and how as a senior adult we ought to just go ahead and snuff them out with lack of care I always wonder why the most valuable people in our country are cared for by the sum of the least paid individuals I watched my mother was a nursing home nurse for many many many years and could have made triple what she made in the nursing home as a nurse anywhere else maybe not a private doctor's office but a hospital places like that and yet she was caring for some of the most valuable people day in and day out who would never get to leave that place who had just as many needs as anybody else and had such critical care our country needs a reawakening of the value of life. We need to find out that instead of just being mad at each other and being violent we need to actually talk it out and we need to start learning how to talk to one another and when you start learning how to love one another instead of hating one another all the time just because you're different than I am Jesus is the light of the world and if we don't shine that light in our church. Then heaven help us to be judged by God by being part of the problem not the solution in Fort Wayne Indiana and Indiana in the United States. Change hearts is going to change America. You know that it has been said by many historians even secular historians. Reluctantly agree and we go back in history the moment here in the eighteenth century there were some revolutions taking place the monarchy was being replaced by democracy. Dictatorships were being overruled and suddenly the people realized that God gave us these and the ailing of all rights correct I mean we had our own revolution here only on the side of the of the pond but England and France were dealing with a monarchy. And it is said that a Christian revival among the churches in England probably is what saved England from a bloodbath during their careful peaceful revolution in one easy. Whereas France had completely rejected God at this point science was ultimately there was it was more important to talk about intellect and Higher Power thoughts in your own mind that man was in control and that God was diminished and in France you see that has continued even further on to this day and their lack of any moral compas that was guided by God himself led to a bloodbath that led to thousands and hundreds of thousands of people dying through this revolution the place that overthrew the monarchy in a bloody way in France is just one example to say that while the church wasn't trying to get somebody elected and they weren't trying to create laws and they were trying to to go in there and fix things with some sort of a political agenda the underpinnings of that nation were changed dramatically because the church got right with God and when the church got right with so goes the church as so as goes the church so goes the country. Judgement The Bible says begins at the house of God we've got to figure out we've got people in our church on all sides of the coins politically and I'm thankful for that we've got people on all sides of the coins when it comes to gun rights and gun laws we have all kinds of people in our church we're not here to advocate what we're going to agree on whether the red or blue we are Christian and we were bought with the blood of Jesus Christ and we come together to work together to say I want to live out my faith in Jesus Christ in a way that shows people how to love one another how to care for one another how to live the right way in the workplace so that we actually get along with one another and when we don't get along with one another we figure out how to reconcile carefully and we ask forgiveness or we can as said as far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone please do that. And live the life that Krod called us to live shine on a hill. We light up the city by living on a hillside with our Faith in Action Day in and day out among the people and we were positive board to somebody when they start to go violent or crazy we say maybe maybe we shouldn't do it that way and they may not even be a Christian but you can see you can show them in your careful way I remember and I'm not perfect at this but I remember one particular time I got it right and something fell and it broke and then I got bruised in the process it was a bad situation trying to fix something and it was just didn't work and I just went on. Instead of words. And my friend looked at me and said Wow. I would have been so quiet I said well I can you can thank the Lord for that. He's done a work on my tongue and eyes it's just a little examples of a changed life in front of somebody that shows them a different way to live. We are the solution to this city we're the solution to your neighborhood we are the solution to grieving families that need to find the way out of the bitterness and the anger of violent death in their families we are the solution to our schools where we go and we start loving on that school and we start volunteering and helping them help those students that aren't getting the kind of support they needed home that will lead them to have a support system so that they don't decide to do something stupid and violent and wrong I get off my high horse. But do we believe that Jesus is the solution and the hope. And let's start doing that star showing that you are the light of the world we were made to reflect Jesus and we were made to reflect together. Not just as individuals but as a group you plural you individually but you plural we are the light of the world. I always say that was a smart idea you guys came up with I said well to dim bulbs makes the room brighter. Sometimes I don't have the brightest ideas but I get around somebody else with a little bit too low Watts makes a higher WATT OK. We got to do it together. Very sad story to illustrate this there was a farmer whose little boy wandered into the wheat field in the wheat field was tall enough that that little boy couldn't see his way out and nobody could see the little boy and in acres and acres of wheat field the father just went frantically looking where he thought maybe the boy had gone into the field the mother went out looking and they frantically looked around and spotty checked the field around the house where they lived could not find the child soon a few others in the neighborhood in the community found out what was going on and they came out and they spotted Lee looked around but they could not find it next morning they decided they would all join hands and an entire row of people they swept that entire thing hand in hand and sadly it was too late they found the little boy that had not made it through the cold night. But they found the little boy because they had held hands and the father said oh if only we had joined hands soon or two story church we need to join hands. We need to show a unified front not a false front that says I like Beth but I really don't. Know I do like Beth by the way but one that says Beth and I may not see eye on everything but we love each other in the Lord and we're going to get along anyway. And we're hand in hand in Christ because Jesus is the hope of the world and we're gonna walk together hand in hand in our city showing this city what it means to be hand in hand with divine providence Baptist Church that we hand in hand with and we're going to do a wedding here. Wonderful couple that's going to get married in their church and we use our facility for the new Redeemer Baptist Church is going to meet down the street from us I don't know where they're going to be down the street they're hoping to meet it down on Lake Avenue but for now they're using our worship center as a place of worship and gathering their small group of people and you say man another church in town what's out all about there's how many how many there are going to get people we get on me ask you a question if ever you're on a fishing dock another guy comes a fishing pole and he comes and says puts his pole down over there and you're over here you argue about the fish he's going to catch that you can't. You don't want to cross lines I mean that's kind of you know we're going to work out to get along. No plenty of fish in the pond plenty of people that are going to church on Sundays playing people who are connected to a church family plenty of people don't know Jesus. All hands on deck we got to join hands. We got join hands with neighbors I found out there's a pastor that lives in this community that passage a church up one hundred down so we wave at each other now. I have fair what his car looks like I'll wave to him. We're just doing this thing together hand in hand showing the world that we together play are all unified are the light of the world. We reflect his light together and when we do that our reflection glorifies God. How in the world can two Christians that don't agree at the ballot box get along it's in Jesus how can you Christians who have two different opposite ideas on Facebook they love Jesus how can two people that have different brands of faith and it's the same Bible the same Jesus the same blood the same cross the same live for Jesus attitude but you have two different churches two to first we love Jesus it's about him it's not about my style it's not about your style it's about Jesus it's about his style getting into my life so that my style changes to look like him reflecting out and showing people I hope that this world seems to have not found yet because you cannot manufacture this hope it is a spiritual hope that only God gives us and he's decided by the way that he's going to use the church to do it little us. Well that's the church that up in Madison Wisconsin it's a little town outside of Wisconsin that they've decided that that's against the law for them to to to practice their faith without being accosted they passed a hate ordinance that said that if you believe something in the Bible that's differently than what we believe about lifestyle you can no longer talk about that and you're going to have to you're going to be censured and you going to have fines. In San Francisco are I mean in California they are passing a law that basically says the church that if you are a counsellor and someone comes to you and says I'm in a lifestyle I want to get out of you're not allowed to let them get out of it you have to affirm them and help support them in their lifestyle even if that lifestyle is against the Bible. So essentially they possibly might actually be saying they're going to censure the Bible as a hate language or hate literature and it will not be allowed to be used now that's against the Constitution and you all are going what in the world and and but but that is the In conclusion of those particular laws that are being and acted we're not talking about something that that the society really wants us to do we're talking about doing what our Lord Jesus Christ told us to do. Because their laws or the laws of a system of government that is not following God is not the hope of the world Jesus is the hope of the world you believe that OK OK we said that earlier. I'm not. Just trying to say that God has a plan he's change and the like you know what this light is this light is that he's changed us. He's changed us he's made us into the Bible says there were all these people that were bad people in first Corinthians Paul was talking to them he says but and such were some of you some of you were thieves some of you were liars some of you were idolaters some of you were odd dollars Some of you were doing things that you would have wanted by talk about in this room that used to do and by the grace of God you're not doing them anymore. God changed you it was the Jesus step plan you came in and got ahold of you and start cleaning up and he gave you a family to clean yourself up in that love you even when you weren't lovely and he brought you to a place where you could start growing. Gave you a platform to serve where nobody else in the world will maybe let you serve because who are you. And now you've got something to tell the world about how your life has changed. You're the light of the world. So I want to challenge of this morning live out your story Sherritt tell other people about your story. Share the story that God gave you I had a preacher when I was in college actually came to my church right after I went to college and I came back every summer and he was actually as much of my pastor and encouragement my life as anybody else and he had a whole phrase and new Lebanon Ohio was I don't know it was maybe the size of New New Haven. And he used to say let's make Jesus the talk of the town only he said it with about six foot four and a southern accent. With his cowboy boots we were the only Yankees in our church and they were also the nurse from. Everywhere else but Ohio can work for General Motors in my town. And he said let's make Jesus the talk of the town. And that became the catchphrase for our church for two or three four years in a row and you know what we had board members from our church members that were elected to the board of the school board we had people that were stuck the mayor started to listen to what the church had to say instead of the church listen to what the mayor had to say. We started being the main sponsors of big community festivals and we would bring free food and we would support and encourage the things that were going on in the town and that church became a hub of activity that influenced and infiltrated that and Jesus became the talk of the town let's make Jesus the talk of the town. It starts by living out your story in front of people day by day not being prideful look at me know not being boastful or some sort of pompous jerk just living out your story and then when they ask you why are you in the it's so that they don't know they can so they don't know why you're living the way you're living share your story tell the good news of how it's changed you you know why I don't laugh about those dirty jokes anymore because I love my wife and I don't want to disrespect or I was part of the me too movement before the need to movement was cool seriously Jesus the hope of the world we wouldn't have this problem if we treated women the way we're supposed to treat them long before people were hiding it and getting away with it. Period we don't need hashtags to get right in our country we need Jesus Jesus needs to be our hash tag. So I told him hey I can tell you this and we'll hit all hot topics today because Jesus the hope of the world. Now thank you and as we share our story it's really about his story. And you need to have some kind of even if you knew one verse in the Bible so go to you know what the Bible says For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord that's that's that's my story and I'm stickin to it the wages of sin is death I was dying and going to hell without Jesus I earned a paycheck called death because I sinned but you know what the gift of God is eternal life God wants to give me something I could have never paid for I can never earn I can never pay him back for it's eternal life and it's his to give he gave it to me and all I have to do is receive it through what my faith in Jesus Christ in a relationship with him. I need to put my trust in Jesus and what he did on the cross for me to bridge the gap between me and God and when he died on that cross he died for me and died a month place and his sins is blood covered my sins and I'm washed white as snow and I'm good now the verses will stay back to the same one where you sin is death with the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus my Lord Lord means boss means he's in charge of my life then it may not always look like in fact I'll ask your forgiveness if I don't let him be in charge of my life today because if I do something I've had I said this before and people weren't even Christians I said you know I'm a Christian you know I'm a believer you know I'm a fat pastor in this church and this in this town and if you see me doing something I shouldn't do you have the right to call me out on it. Period you have the right and I will ask forgiveness and if I don't you hit me I don't like being hit so I usually don't tell people that but. I do say Lord help me I need accountability I need help getting better because Jesus is my Lord I want to reflect and if I mess up I want to fess up that's how I get to know God and it's his story not my story his story changed me to make my story more of the way it was supposed to be before I was ever born he made a plan for me I've messed it up but he cleaned it up. That's the story I want to live so that Jesus shines out in me. Let's watch this video you've seen a couple years ago I want to show it again as kind of a poignant point of how you and I gave my day make a difference in someone's life let's see if this works. Live. Live live. Live live. On the. Live. Live. Live live. You know why that we. Are don't live out and shine out in our city. On T.V. two reasons why we struggle to share Jesus why people don't see the light. One is our silence we really know in our heart the Jesus is the hope of the world Jesus is the hope of our city Jesus is the hope of our neighborhood of our workplace but we're too silent were afraid to tell people the truth and I don't mean being a bible thumper I just mean sharing a word of encouragement that's truthful in love to somebody around you were too silent about the hope that we found in our life and we will be judged for not being loud enough about who Jesus is and how important he is to our lives you know I tell everybody all the time my mom and dad they still live on forty nine zero one Quaker trace road even Ohio and I love them. Love my mama love my dad they love me. We see I dial it on course not I'm a grown adult now so are they. And I got the right way to do it. And so today. But I love them. And I would never tell anybody I was related to them. Because I'm buying them and they gave me my last name. And they gave me Pratt pride in my last name of who I am. And where I came from matters. You know what I'm more proud of rock came from in Christ. He changed me I'm thankful to my parents introduced me to Jesus early on in my life. But they didn't change this cold heart of mine Jesus did. They gave me an incubator to grow it in but Jesus was the one that started the life inside of me and I can't help but tell people why I am who I am today. Why do I not fly off the handle. Often. Because Jesus. Why do I have a better attitude more often when I'm not Jesus. Why do I try not to prejudge people because you and I do more often I can see through the cultural prejudices because not me Jesus. He's the one is changing me and I'm going to tell people that and I'll be judged in front of God If someday I get to heaven you know this is the loneliest place will be Jesus wipes every tear from our eye in heaven but I just wonder if there's a moment just a split moment as we enter into that eternity. If we just wonder. As everybody brings their gifts to the Lord of how they live for him and they lay him at the feet of Jesus said this is what I did with what you gave me if some of those gifts if all of those gifts are going to be people that we've impacted in the name of Jesus Christ how many lives will be at the cross bowing to Jesus voluntarily through faith in him because you are not silent about your faith. And the other thing that keeps us from shining a light is sin on repentance sin we're just doing things we shouldn't do and we don't care he said Well I care or you don't care enough to change it. And you keep doing the things you shouldn't do over and over again expecting a different result. And you're drowning out the silence the sin you're drowning out the light the God is trying to shine through you. In the second reference in chapter in Luke and he talks about this let your light shine before men but if your eyes dark the dark is what lets the light into prism out the light that he wants to reflect in you but if you keep letting dark things in your life you're going to dim the bald that he started in you. The water just still there but it can't get out because you're blocking it with your sin. And people can't see Jesus when they see your sinfulness they can't and when you keep doing the things you're doing in front of unbelievers they're going to say that's the reason I don't go to church and we've got to stop it. It's sin stop it the Church Lady nip it in the bud Well church I want to finally finish with one last fan per passage in chapter two or revelation the very last book of the Bible just for you get to the maps. There's a book called Revelations something called the scariest books I think that siding book but there are letters that Jesus dictated to John through an angel. Brought to us. For Eternity letters that all these letters were to all the churches but they were to particular churches when they were written but all the churches were to benefit from them and every church today benefits from them but after says there was a church that had done some wonderful things. They had done some I mean they had stood up to some really bad situations. And Jesus commanded them for that but in chapter two verse four Jesus lowers the boom and he says but I have this against you you have abandon the love you had at first. The love for Christ had waned they had become cold in their faith been more religion than relationship and been more rudimentary just kind of humdrum make it happen as it goes it wasn't really what it ought to have been. And he says remember then how far you have fallen remit repent and do the work you did it first otherwise I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent. Church if we don't st joe Community Church if we don't for Wayne churches if we don't communities of churches all over our nation rise up and light out this world with the light of Jesus Christ he's going to remove our ability to do so in his name and I would say that there are churches dotting our land that a long time ago Jesus remove the lamp stand but they don't even notice it because it's not about being a part of the font family of God It's about a social movement that has a religious flavor to it. Not throwing a rock at any particular church I just know that I've seen a few and I've been in a few up around a few and I've been a few ministers that I'm wondering if they should be called ministers and it hurts my heart to think. That that church at one point was a stablished in the name of Jesus Christ and it is hardly even close to a reflection of that any longer. Heaven help us if we ever got to that point at St Joe Community Church. You see this happens slowly over time first of all we lose our personal joy we don't we just we just don't really feel it anymore. I heard someone say Well I'd I just don't get fed like I used to get fed. Really I don't need a prior mouth open I am so I mean it maybe get a little cold to the Word of God We just don't get as excited about it like we used to I don't mean goose bumps and they motional ism I mean we just don't get solid thoughts about living the way we ought to live and wanting to do what God wants us to do we lose our personal joy we lose our ability to love others the way we ought to we just stop tolerating silliness around us and we're all silly at some point or another and we just stops tolerating it we just we just we just we lose our ability to love one another the right way in the world says well that's what we're doing about it we're killing each other get that get our point across and then and then we just we lose our healthy so self perspective we just forget how much Jesus changed our lives and we start to become a little prideful Well people saw the world the way I saw it they'd be better off and I'd be better off and I'd be less upset. And we start thinking that it's us it's everybody else that needs to be changed not us. Well that church will just get on the program with the way I think it ought to be I get along better with everybody in this place and some churches have a monthly business meeting where it's all about everybody's rights instead of talking about their responsibilities. I say around here we don't pass out titles we pass out towels somebody has a bright idea about how to live Christ better in our community it's a great find through three people we're going to support you in that ministry you just started Whoa. Where to empower you to live for Jesus the way God created you to live for Jesus. And I'll do the same How about that sound. Went to one church and they said your wife done play the piano I said yep and she's not taking lessons that's what she told them actually I did have to tell she told him that. So you know that's not her thing. While some pastor his wife's a public speaker and she has a women's ministry my wife loves to work with children and she has to stand in front of adults. It's not her thing that she's not hearing talk about a right no you're going to tell her I know you always do but but but seriously she knows where she fits in the body of Christ and she will serve the body of Christ as she's always done and if she doesn't shame on her but if you put her in a box the way she ought to serve the way you think she ought to serve because she's the wife of a pastor Shame on you right Barbara. Because every one of us lives out our life the way we're supposed to live it and that happens when churches and when individuals start to thinking that they are in charge of what God's doing instead of what God's doing and he's in charge of all of us together we lose our Healthy SELF perspective we start getting we're the ones that are hard to live around. But we just don't see it because we think everybody else is the problem not us we've lost our first love we've lost the fact that Jesus changed our lives and how do we do this how do we get keep shining how do we get right how do we move forward well the Bible says here in Revelations Chapter two he says remember how far you've fallen from remember where you came from Remember what Jesus did for you never forget the day that you were saved never forget the sins that God forgave you I'm not saying that you wallow around him and you say Oh Aunt look how horrible I used to be you just remember with gratitude how much he changed your life period how much he restored your relationships how much you're able to love people now when you were unable to love people the same way before. How he got you through an addiction and now he brought you by the grace of God to where you are today. How he made you from being a bum to be a contributor and society. It was in the program it was Jesus that changed your life. And anybody remember where he where you came from and then you need to turn around Repent repent just means turn around and went down the street to try to get into a parking lot to go see my daughter play ball yesterday and I got illness country grow out of this and how to get there and I had to repent I had to turn around the car and I did I call a Texas trooper turn around. That way. In my minivan. It's just turn around you go in the wrong way turn around. Stop it. And start living the way God told you to live and then. Begin again. And start over whatever got you out of it the first time is probably going to be the same kind of way it's going to get you out of it the next time well I need to get back with my connection group yeah you need to get back to your connection group I need get back to regular worship with God's people Yep you need to do that I need to start serving the way I need to start giving to the Lord the way I used to get Yep you need to start doing that those basic habits and you start reading God's word on a regular basis Yep To me start doing that I know you start talking to God in the morning instead of talking to my phone Yep you need start doing that you need to start doing the things that helped you get to where you were in the first place when you found Jesus you need to start doing them again. Start step one again in Jesus the Jesus steps that gets you on the track you see worship as wonderful we can come here and here and I saw all those funny Jacob's well the whole band was here today so they get the band back together they hug and this morning when they came in for practice of the yeah we might even practice few of our own songs for a minute I don't know if they said that or not but worship is wonderful and they can bring us to a time of honest just reflection of God's glory and greatness fellowship is fun I enjoy being around God's people I enjoy knowing I'm going to be around people that want to go in the same direction I'm going and growth is gratifying Oh look at me I've gotten better in my life and when I serve that's satisfying I can be satisfied and cited about serving and helping people but you know what all of that is something that God's done for me I need to give that because sharing Jesus helps others have that same experience I'm experiencing day in and day out as a Christian. And it would be a crime for us to not share the thing that changed our life Jesus you've heard this illustration my final one this morning for I close. The idea of the person that found the cure to cancer and then refused to tell everybody about it. They go to jail would try to create some law because that would be morally reprehensible. Or to be going down a road illustrations are given one more and you notice you get down and you should realize that the bridge is out. And you make a Texas turn around. You turn your car and you go up the hill and you see another car coming but you are too embarrassed and the you may not think you're silly and they might think you know stranger danger you don't want to flag them down and tell them there's no such and they're driving fast so you really don't want to slow their on their progress and they go careening off into the abyss. And they're destroyed because they didn't know the bridge was out we all know that every world system has a bridge out and there's death and destruction and we're watching it sitting on our hands holding our mouths as that also and not doing what we're supposed to be doing to shining a light to Jesus we've got to tell people that Jesus is the hope of the world. Making him the talk of the town shining out hoping and praying that will never come to a day when Jesus says. Church you not get it done step aside for somebody else so how are you going to do this morning you need to share Jesus. There's a good website you can go to called declare the Gospel dot com We had a training in our church in March that same training is online videos there's a workbook there's all kinds of ways you can do that. As we stand our feet our team comes to sing one last song I want to ask you the question Who's on your voice who's on your mind. Let's stand together. But I want you to think about who is it that needs to see Jesus shining out in you. Who is it that needs you to go and say Please forgive me I've not been living out my faith the way I'm supposed to. And I've been offending you you don't even know it but actually I've been changed by Jesus I've just not been reflecting it lately I've been feeling guilty as anything because I haven't told you about him because he's more important to me than anything else he's even more important to me than what you think of me in this work place he's the one that makes me who I am today and he's my hope he's the reason why I'm on this earth. When the world am I here for I'm here to shine out Jesus. I'm wondering who it is in your life that might see the glimmer the light the hope the flood light of Jesus Christ through you in the days to come because this morning you're going to write that name down on a card you're going to put it in a bulletin somewhere you going to take it home and your start praying that you will be the light of Jesus to those individuals to that person that they might see Jesus and find the same hope that's changed your life by the God This morning we bring these names to you maybe it's someone that we need to come to the altar and just visibly come down and bring them to you in a in a symbol of obedience to the call that you put in our life to share your name maybe it's to put a name down on a card somewhere Lord whatever it is you want to do May we truly shine out Jesus not just saying we're going to do it but actually put action to our commitment in the days months and years to come and I pray this in Jesus' name.