Lord, we thank You that we can once again gather in Your name, just here in our midst. We want to give this time to You.
Lord, we pray that we will not be overcome by tiredness, but that we would be overcome by Your Holy Spirit; that we would be full of You and full of joy; and that You would bless this time richly.
We thank You for Your faithfulness to speak to us. Thank You that You have given us this time set apart to look to You. We pray that, once again, we can be still—really still—before You, and look unto You.
Lord, enlarge us and open us up, even in ways that we did not know we needed. Use the rest of this day and this afternoon to speak, and make us available to You. In Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Lord, thank You that we do not deserve what You have given to us, yet You invite us anyway. You see who we are and where we are, and You do not see us according to who we used to be or according to our flesh. Thank You for loving us.
Thank You that it is not about what we do. Thank You that we are a new creation and that You are making us like You. Give us faith to come into You and not to become overwhelmed when we look at ourselves and see only unworthiness and dirtiness.
Thank You that You have opened the way, Lord, and that we can go through it if we have faith. Give us that faith and courage, because we want to know You and be with You.
Lord, what a privilege it is to serve the King of kings, and for You to be inside us, living in us. We thank You. Praise You, Lord Jesus.
It is good to be awake in the afternoon.
We are handing out some invisible-ink paper. There is actually no invisible ink on the pieces of paper; they are just white paper. This is not a message time—it is a workshop time—so we are going to do an activity together.
I will briefly share some things and explain what we are going to do. Then we will do the activity with partners, come back together, share a little more, and finish our time.
I am going to read a Scripture in Acts—actually, I am going to begin in Acts 3. There is a story there that we want to look at and use as a picture for ourselves.
Lord, we are here together, huddled in this room, and we look to You for boldness and for the reality and life of Christ in us to shine forth.
We pray that You would speak to us—really speak to our personal needs and to what is going on with us. You know our frailties, our history, and our past. We bring it before You and say, “Here we are.” We trust this time to You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
In Acts 3, Peter and John go up to the temple at the hour of prayer. I am going to read part of this, and then I will explain the story.
Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
And a certain man that was lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.
Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked to receive an alms.
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, with John, said, “Look on us.”
And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
And he took him by the right hand, and raised him up: and immediately his feet and his ankle-bones received strength.
And leaping up, he stood, and began to walk; and he entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
—Acts 3:1-9
This was a beggar—a homeless beggar, really. Peter looked steadfastly upon him with John and said, “Look on us.” The man expected to receive something from them.
But Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, that give I thee.” Then, in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, he told him to rise up and walk. Peter took him by the hand and raised him up. Immediately, the man’s feet and ankle-bones were made strong. He entered the temple walking, leaping, and praising God.
The people recognized him as the man who had sat at the Beautiful Gate asking for alms. They were filled with wonder and amazement. A crowd gathered at Solomon’s Porch, and Peter shared a short but wonderful gospel message with them.
At the end of this, Acts 4:4 tells us:
But many of them that heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
—Acts 4:4
This accidental gospel meeting began with someone being healed. A crowd gathered because they recognized this jumping fellow, and then Peter gave a spontaneous message. Five thousand men were saved. It does not mention what happened with their households or how many others believed.
This happened after Pentecost, when thousands had already been saved and people were being saved daily. Now five thousand more had believed.
The rulers and elders brought Peter and John before them because no one could deny what had happened to the healed man.
In Acts 4:13, it says:
Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
—Acts 4:13
This is such a wonderful phrase: they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
The rulers talked about the evidence of the healed man and decided to threaten Peter and John so that they would no longer speak in the name of Jesus.
Peter and John answered:
Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye:
for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard.
—Acts 4:19-20
That is another phrase to notice: the things which we saw and heard.
The rulers threatened them again but could not find a way to punish them, so they let them go.
Having been released, Peter and John came to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
Notice that Peter and John had already been bold. Peter had spoken a word of healing, reached out his hand, and lifted up the lame man. I do not know how many of us would have done that. We might have been bold enough to say, “Rise up and walk,” and then watched to see what happened. But Peter’s faith went beyond that—he reached out and lifted the man up.
Then Peter preached a spontaneous message. Later, Peter and John stood boldly before people who were highly trained in the Scriptures—people who could probably out-Scripture them. Peter and John were unlearned men, yet their boldness was noticed.
After being threatened, they were bold again. These were bold men.
Yet they returned to the gathering of believers and prayed for boldness. They did not stay outside and say, “You all need to pray, but we are ready.” They joined the saints and prayed, “Lord, give us boldness.”
Every one of us needs to be filled again with boldness.
The believers prayed together in one accord:
Lord, thou that didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is:
who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David thy servant, didst say,
Why did the Gentiles rage,
And the peoples imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth set themselves in array,
And the rulers were gathered together,
Against the Lord, and against His Anointed.
—Acts 4:24-26
Then they prayed:
And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness,
while Thou stretchest forth Thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Thy holy Servant Jesus.
—Acts 4:29-30
And when they had prayed:
The place was shaken wherein they were gathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
—Acts 4:31
We are not trying to shake this house, per se, but I want to use this as a picture. If we could come to this experience, we would be in a good spot.
Some in this room may have led people to Christ. Some may have seen wonderful things and have stories to tell. Yet we still need to huddle together and be filled with boldness.
All of us are at the same place when it comes to proclaiming the Word of God in this world. We must be brought to the place of zero again and again. None of us really knows what we are doing—seriously.
In one sense, we do know something. We have what we have seen and heard. Peter and John had something to share when a crowd gathered. But if five thousand men suddenly stood in front of us, we would probably be shocked. Yet perhaps we would discover that we did have something to say.
It is not something we gain once for the rest of our lives. We need to be filled again. Some of these believers had been filled at Pentecost, but they needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit again for boldness.
This is what we are doing in this room: huddling together and hopefully coming to one accord. Whether there are Peters and Johns in the room, whether there is a Philip the evangelist in the room, whether some are gifted or simply part of the church—we are all called in this way. All of us need to pray to be filled with boldness.
The Lord freed me from something like this long ago when I moved to Memphis. I was twenty-one years old, and I moved to Memphis for about ten months.
Before I moved, I got rid of much of my stuff. I came with a backpack, a box of Watchman Nee books, and a Bible. But I did have four brown shirts. I bought them at an army-surplus store, and they all had holes in them when I bought them. They were three dollars each.
Many people thought I only had one shirt. They did not know I regularly took baths and things like that.
At twenty-one, I had seen some people come to Christ, but I had also had big failures and real neglect. I had been unlearning much of what I thought I knew about the Lord.
I knew Christ. I knew the essentials. But I did not always know whether He was speaking to me or whether I was correctly understanding what I saw in the Word of God. My time in Memphis was a time of trying to figure the Lord out for myself.
While there, I realized that I had no boldness. I was scared of everybody—not necessarily believers, but the world and unbelievers.
When I first got saved, I was saved during an evangelism-training time. They were teaching me how to witness as I was becoming a Christian. I learned one method that used John 3:16 and a picture. I used it immediately with a number of people, and some were saved.
But eventually the method stopped working.
People would say, “No, that is not part of my story.” I would try to show them the rest of the presentation, and they would say, “I do not care about that. I am way over here.”
I had only learned how to help someone who asked, “What must I do to be saved?” But many people were not even there yet.
Learning a method is not really the answer. I had to unlearn my method. It was not bad; it was just one small thing. Every time, I had to admit that I did not know what I was doing in order to know how to preach the Word with boldness.
One big lesson the Lord taught me was this: I do not know how to witness, and I am never going to fully know. I can always learn, and gradually the Lord can make us more useful and give us more material. But in the moment, it has to do with sharing Christ. Christ is the only One who can lead us through.
Think of Joshua entering the land of Canaan. Each battle had unique tactics. They had to be led step by step. How do you fight Jericho? They learned a strange way to fight Jericho.
It is the same with sharing Christ. It is also the same with fellowship. We share what we have seen and heard, but we cannot always share the same thing. Something may be wonderful to us, yet not help the person in front of us. In the moment, there is dialogue, listening, and being led.
The believers in Acts 4 began their prayer with praise. This is a secret to being filled with boldness and filled with the Holy Spirit.
They began with the facts and truths of where they stood. They did not begin by saying, “Our knees are shaking.” That came later. They began by declaring, “You created everything.”
That is not out of context. It is completely in context. Prayer begins with, “You are God, and You are this great.” Then they reminded God of what He had said. Then they acknowledged their fear and the threatening around them and asked the Lord to fill them with boldness.
Everybody may have been shaking, but then the whole house shook, and they stopped shaking. They were filled.
We are going to do an exercise to realize two things:
If we are put into a situation to share with the lost, there is something there. We have Christ. We have seen and heard something.
Take your paper and write the words “Seen and Heard.”
Write three points:
This is a simple outline for sharing what you have seen and heard of Christ. It may be your story of how you came to Christ, or it may be a recent experience of Christ.
Paul often shared his story in this way. His default was, “Here is my story of how I got saved.” He had a remarkable conversion story, but he told it differently depending on who was listening.
Acts 9 gives the story in the overall narrative. In Acts 22, Paul shares it with a crowd of Jews in Jerusalem. In Acts 26, he shares it before King Agrippa. The details vary slightly because the audience differs, but the pattern remains: before, during, and after.
If you grew up in a Christian home, you may not know exactly when you were saved. That can be part of your story. You can say, “I grew up in a Christian home. I do not know exactly when I was saved, but I remember experiences of Christ.”
You can also share a recent experience. If someone needs comfort, perhaps the story of your conversion is not the most relevant thing. But maybe you experienced Christ’s comfort in a difficult time a year ago. You can share what happened before, during, and after you received the comfort of Christ.
When you share what you have seen and heard, you are sharing Christ. The good news is the person of Christ.
We are going to partner up. If possible, partner with someone you do not know well.
First, each person will have about five minutes to share what he or she has seen and heard of Christ. Imagine that you are in a parking lot after work or after class. Someone sees you reading your Bible and asks, “How did you become a Christian?” You have five minutes to share: before, during, and after.
Then each person will choose one of the following passages:
Your partner should choose a different passage.
This is what I call the Ethiopian eunuch message. In Acts 8, Philip was led to run alongside the Ethiopian’s chariot. The Ethiopian happened to be reading Isaiah, and Philip asked:
Understandest thou what thou readest?
—Acts 8:30
The Ethiopian answered:
How can I, except some one shall guide me?
—Acts 8:31
He was reading Isaiah 53:7-8:
He was oppressed, yet when He was afflicted He opened not His mouth;
as a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb,
yea, He opened not His mouth:
by oppression and judgment He was taken away;
and as for His generation, who among them considered
that He was cut off out of the land of the living
for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?
—Isaiah 53:7-8
Sometimes someone will ask about a passage that we do not understand. We may have to say, “I do not fully understand that either, but I do understand this other passage. Let me share that with you.”
For this exercise, however, we are choosing passages that are clear gospel passages.
For the second part of the exercise, imagine that you are at the end of a coffee-shop conversation with a long-lost friend. You have five minutes left. It is now or never. You want to leave the person with something to remember, perhaps with a Scripture reference.
Draw a simple picture that helps explain the passage you chose. It does not have to look good. It can be scribbles, stick figures, or octagons. The purpose is simply to help communicate the message.
I was glad to see genuine fellowship going on. Some people were acting out their conversations; some were very good artists, and some were really bad artists. It does not matter. It is yours—your doodles—and it may be what someone remembers.
The point is that we have seen and heard something. To “see” is to understand something; to “hear” is to experience something and walk in it. It has to do with our own testimony of Christ.
John 3 and the serpent on the pole can be confusing. Someone may ask, “What does that mean?” Matthew 11 speaks of a yoke, and not everyone knows what a yoke is apart from an egg yolk. Isaiah 53 may lead someone to ask, “Who is He talking about?” just as the Ethiopian eunuch did.
These are genuine questions people might ask. We need not have every answer beforehand, but we can share Christ from what we have seen and heard.
Let us turn to John 4. We are going to read a few verses and share one last thing.
In John 4, Jesus has just spoken with the Samaritan woman at the well. She was lonely, and He came as a lonely man who needed a drink. He shared with her, and she seemed to receive and believe.
His disciples came and said, “Rabbi, eat.” Jesus answered:
I have meat to eat that ye know not.
—John 4:32
Then Jesus said:
My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to accomplish His work.
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest.
—John 4:34-35
Jesus wants His disciples to realize that the time is now. The harvest is now. He had just done the Father’s will by sharing with one Samaritan woman, and that was food to Him.
We may say, “The harvest is four months away.” But the Lord says, “Lift up your eyes.” The fields are already white unto harvest.
In Matthew 9, Jesus had compassion on the crowds. Then He said:
The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest.
—Matthew 9:37-38
The Lord Jesus tells His disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest. The Father is the Lord of the harvest, and Christ says, “Pray to the Father that He would send workers into the harvest.”
Then, in Matthew 10, Jesus gathered the twelve and sent them out.
These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans:
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give.
—Matthew 10:5-8
Jesus told them to inquire in every city and village for one who was worthy—someone open to the gospel, a person of peace. If a house received them, they were to remain there. If it did not receive them, their peace would return to them.
A similar experience appears in Luke 10:
Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place, whither He Himself was about to come.
And He said unto them, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into His harvest.
Go your ways; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves.
—Luke 10:1-3
The Lord sent the twelve first to the lost sheep of Israel. Then He sent seventy others, two by two. This time He warned them that they were being sent as lambs among wolves.
In both cases, He told them to look for a person of peace—a person who would receive them. If they were received, they could remain and work with that household.
At the end of Matthew, Jesus gives the Great Commission:
All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth.
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
—Matthew 28:18-20
Does that sound familiar?
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
—Joshua 1:9
As the disciples went out, Jesus told them that He would be with them until the completion of the age. This commission is not only for the twelve or the seventy. It is for the church.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells them that they will be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. As they went forth, they entered into their inheritance in a gospel sense—going into cities, finding people of peace, and seeing households respond to Christ.
Where do we start? We begin with our own realm—with our own household, our families, our friends, our schools, our workplaces, and our neighborhoods.
The twelve began with the household of Israel. They began among people who knew something of the Word of God and who were easier cases. I think many of us in this room were easy cases. Many Christians are people of peace who were already looking for the answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved?”
If we huddle together, receive boldness, and begin with our own household, then we will be prepared for more difficult cases.
If one person comes to Christ and then brings ten, twenty, or thirty others into the assembly, are we ready? Is there a crib? Is there a nursing mother? Is there someone ready to care for the babies? If not, it becomes the wrong kind of shaking.
We need to be ready to receive people and care for them.
At the end of John’s Gospel, after Peter is restored, Jesus tells him:
Feed My lambs.
Shepherd My sheep.
Feed My sheep.
—John 21:15-17
Lambs are little lambs, like babies. A baby Christian needs the milk of the Word. They need someone to hold the Word before them, share what they have received, and help interpret the Word.
An established believer, like an adult sheep, also needs shepherding. The sheep must be led to green pastures. Sometimes a message is like opening the door to a barn full of hay: “Here it is—eat.” That may be appropriate for mature sheep.
But a lamb may need five minutes from a message explained for an hour.
A sick sheep—a hurt believer or a believer who is not walking in full measure—is very similar to a new believer. If the church is not used to nurturing a hurt believer, it will not be ready to care for new believers.
Sheep do not survive by survival of the fittest. They survive because someone takes care of them.
If we begin by praying for the lost and caring for believers who need extra attention, we are being prepared to receive new believers. We develop a heart big enough to care for people. We become ready to nurse, shepherd, feed, and help others through.
Every new believer should become precious to us, like a precious little baby. Instead of saying, “New believer—great. Let us see how long they last,” we should say, “A potential new believer? Awesome.”
There is a completely different mindset in an assembly that has been praying this way. We love believers and unbelievers. When a new Christian comes in, whatever their background, we welcome them as we would welcome a baby Christian.
We need a broad, welcoming heart. We need to see the person who is alone, lonely, or overlooked. We need to welcome people in such a way that they know they belong.
If we begin there, we will find unbelievers who are hiding and believers who are sick or hurt. Often, sick believers are friends with unbelievers or with other sick believers. Then there are more people to care for, and we become a growing family.
We are not merely trying to see people make a profession of faith. We are making disciples for the sake of the kingdom.
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations.
—Matthew 28:19
We want to see believers come all the way through. We do not want people to come to Christ and then never become disciples.
The Lord can develop in us a heart big enough to handle thirty new believers. The early church saw five thousand men saved, and later they handled multitudes of people being saved among the Gentiles—people with difficult backgrounds and outwardly sinful lifestyles.
They were able to handle it because of their love for one another and because they were caring for the sick sheep.
This is a general direction for where to begin. If we look first to our own and begin to pray for the lost, I believe the Lord will develop in us a heart large enough to handle the people He brings.
The harvest is ready. We have material to work with. We have Christ to share.
We do not know what we are doing. Praise God—we are in a good spot.
We are ready to go forth with the Lord filling us with boldness. We can enter into the promised land in this particular aspect of the adventure: discovering Christ, sharing Him, and going forth in the land.
The Lord says, “Be strong and courageous. Lo, I am with you until the end of the age.” If He goes with us, He will teach us how to share with the lost in all boldness.
Lord, we come back to You with our eyes opened, in a sense, to the reality that the fields are ready. We do not need to wait for a perfect time. Your time is today, and salvation is for today.
We come to You as the Lord of the harvest. We come to You as Your workmen. You know that Your workmanship needs so much work, but at the same time we say, “Here we are. Send us.”
Lord, here we are in our feebleness, with mouths needing the touch of the coal of fire; with hearts needing to be cleansed; with failures needing to turn into deeper repentance unto deliverance.
We come to You and pray: Lord, send forth workers into the harvest, and save these lost souls. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Father, burden us where we are. Burden us for the people where we work, that we would pray for each one we meet or know individually, and that we would be those laborers.
Lord, open our eyes to see where we can be bold. Help us not to miss opportunities to share.
Lord, I cannot speak for others, but my mind was flooded with the sick sheep I have neglected. I have hypocritically prayed that You would bring in more lambs while neglecting those You have already entrusted to us.
Forgive us, Lord. Help us to be faithful with the ones You have already given us. As we pray for opportunities, remind us that there are already opportunities. The harvest is already white.
Teach us to pray with Your heart toward the lost. Help us to go forth compelled by love and by seeing the value of each person, rather than merely from a duty to be good Christians.
May we love people, love the good news, and see who they were created to be and how much Jesus loves them.
Lord, forgive us for the times we have been slow to respond. Give us opportunities even as soon as we leave this place. We do not want to wait until our friends have passed away and we have missed many opportunities.
By Your grace, stir our hearts, open doors, and cause us to enter into the experience of what we have heard here. Raise up laborers for this harvest. We believe there is a great harvest to be brought in in these days, and we want to cooperate with You.
Lord, we thank You that we do not know how to do it and that we have to rely on You. Teach us to be faithful in prayer. Teach us to pray these things through until we see them come through.
Bring us through, Lord. Do not let us remain in the same place years from now. Let us see Your faithfulness come through. Let us see people come to follow after You, become established, and become faithful laborers in Your vineyard.
Lord, it has to be You. We struggle in our own strength, and we are limited by our failures. But we thank You for Your mercy.
As You restored Peter after he had denied You, You see our hearts and You know where we are coming from. We want to feed Your lambs and shepherd Your sheep.
Revive our cold and hard hearts with the fire of first love. May we be constrained by love—not by obligation or our own strength, but by love for You. May we love what You love, lay down our own loves, fight the good fight, and defend the sheep You have entrusted to us.
Lord, strengthen us in the strength of Your might. Help us not to slacken or merely seek comfort. Give us hearts that pursue after You. Lift us out of ourselves and help us fix our eyes upon You, that we may follow through and be pleasing to You. Amen.
Lord, thank You for Jeffrey’s testimony. Where he failed or lacked, he continued to press on, press forward, and get up again.
We know that the enemy accuses us and tries to make us feel defeated by our failures. Help us not to remain under accusation. If we stumble, help us move forward and press on.
It is a good time when you skip food and discussion in order to pray, and you are better for it. As Jesus said, there is food in doing the will of the Father.
I believe that, in this area, we may have touched something precious for the coming year. The Lord wants to give us something. As we come into the fullness of this aspect of the land, may the soles of our feet lay hold of it.
May the Lord give us boldness, a burden for the lost, a heart for the sick sheep, and an assembly life ready to receive, nurture, and establish those whom He brings.