The foundational presupposition that drives the family integrated church movement is the sufficiency of scripture. Not only is scripture inspired and authoritative, it is sufficient for the life and conduct of the Christian and the functions of the local church. Taking that same standard, we must base our evangelism and missions in the sufficiency of scripture. We are not free to develop and employ man-made theories and strategies or define success by man's measurements. We must make every effort to reach the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ in the ways that he has laid out in his word.

As this movement grows, there are individuals who desire training and desire to know how to do this and not necessarily desiring what seminaries do. A lot of the people who are wanting that kind of training are people who have already been through the seminary thing. Isn't that ironic? And we get guys all the time who've, a couple of them who have moved to Houston to be a part of our church, who have seminary degrees and pastoral experience, but got a hold to this concept and just realized that, boy, they had big-time blinders on and did not know the first thing about doing this kind of church or this kind of discipleship. I was one of those guys.

All kind of training. It was not my training that got me to this place. It was in spite of my training that I got to this place. So It's unfortunate, but it's a reality that in most places, guys are not learning. I had a conversation earlier with somebody outside, Paul and I were talking to somebody outside about the fact that They'd grown up in church and been to Bible college and all this sort of stuff.

And they didn't know anything about family worship or about catechism or any of these sorts of things. And Paul and I just talked about the fact that we've been trained at some of the same places, some of the most well-respected places that there are. And never, ever, ever touched on any of these subjects. Never. Never touched on any of these subjects.

And so it's funny, people look at us with these looks of incredulity when we talk about the fact that these are things that we came to late in life. You know, ask questions about where in the seminary training process did you get a hold of this. It's quite the contrary. Most everything in that process, for me anyway, was going in the other direction. But in the last time that I have with you here today, I wanna share with you what I think is the crux of the matter when it comes to not just family integrated church, home discipleship church, whatever you call it, but the church itself.

And this is something that I share with those inside and outside of the family integrated church movement. Because if we're not careful, we miss the main thing. We forget the main thing. If we're not careful, we end up priding ourselves and concentrating on what we don't have. We don't have a youth group.

We don't have Sunday school. Oh, well bless your little, little heart. But that's not what the church is about. In fact, family integration is just a small part of who we are as a church at GFBC. It's a real small part of who we are.

We have, depending on how you calculate it, six week or eight week membership process. There's six weeks that are kind of an instructional time. But there's a week before that where people apply to get into the membership process and a week after that where people are interviewed to get out of the membership process and actually become a member. So you put it all together and it's an eight week process. Out of that eight week process, there's only one week, One week where we talk about family integration.

One week, that's it, that's it. Because who we are as a church, family integration happens to be a delivery mechanism for us. So what are we about? I'm glad you asked. Matthew chapter 28.

Beginning in verse 16. We'll talk about why we do church the way we do it. It reads, now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. It's interesting, I love this.

When they saw him, they worshiped him. Which is interesting. One of the arguments for the deity of Christ, by the way, in the area of apologetics, one of the arguments for the deity of Christ is the fact that he received worship. No, no God-honoring Jew would dare receive worship from anyone under any circumstance because it would be idolatry. However, Jesus received worship from his disciples.

He is the only one who is worthy of worship. Folks, we do not worship the family. We do not worship home education. We do not worship patriarchy. We worship Jesus Christ.

And as a church, we exist to exalt and to worship and to bow the knee and to prostrate ourselves before the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't make much of the family, we make much of Jesus. And if we get to a place where we're making more of the family, or more of patriarchy, or more of home education than we are of Jesus, then we are in a place of idolatry. We exist to bow the knee to Christ. To worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

We exist to give to Him all that we have and all that we are. Just as these disciples, when they saw the resurrected Christ, recognized that He and He alone was worthy of worship. We don't worship styles, we worship Jesus. We don't worship philosophies. We worship Jesus.

And that's who we are first and foremost. We are a people who are hard after God. We are people who are passionate for Jesus Christ. We are! And if we can't get there, we got issues.

If we can't get there, we've got problems. I wanna ask you something. As you sit here, for those of you who are contemplating planting these churches, Or as you sit here as those who are part of these churches or as you sit here those who are talking about transitioning these churches is at the forefront of your mind this idea of Bringing glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ or are you all about a program? Is it about something else that will work or do you believe you have been called to something that will be an act of worship to your Lord? Is that what you see?

Is that what you seek? Is that what this is about? Bringing glory and honor to Christ. Because he and he alone is worthy of it. Is that it?

It had better be. If it's not, we've got problems. Look at the next part of this text. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

We do what we do as a church, not only because we desire to worship Christ, but we do what we do as a church, because Christ is the ultimate authority in the church. Christ is the ultimate authority in the church. Now I say that and everybody kinda nods and agrees, and you know we give a thumbs up, and we give the amen to that, amen. Christ is the only authority in the church, then are you willing to submit every one of your practices and activities to the authority of his word? That's a hard question that we have to ask ourselves.

We ask ourselves that question all the time. And let me tell you, in the two years that GFBC, and it'll be two years in April, you know? In the almost two years that we've been in existence, there have been times when we have had to go back and say, ah, no, we don't need to be doing this. Or things that we've had, you know, on the runway, so to speak. Things that we're ready to sort of get launched out there.

And we've had to pause and come back and say, no, because as we think through this principally, this does not fit with who we are as a church. This does not fit with what we see in the scriptures. This would be pragmatically something that may have, you know, beneficial ends. But from a biblical perspective, do we believe in sola scriptura? Do we believe, not just in the inerrancy of Scripture, but do we believe in the sufficiency of Scripture?

Do we believe that? Honestly, do we believe that? Christ is the only authority in the church I'm not the authority in the church Esther Paul's not the authority in the church Our elders are deacon. We're not the authority in the church, Christ is the authority in the church. Do we honestly believe that?

If we believe that, then all that we are and all that we do must flow from that belief, must flow from that authority. And There should be nothing in our churches, nothing, that we are not willing to put on the chopping block if we find that it's not scriptural. Unfortunately you and I both know that that is not the case. There are many things that we hold dear that you can't find anywhere in the Bible. But people will cut your arms off if you try to touch them, amen?

And some of you have found yourself in these meetings where you sit down and there are issues in the church, and you've been part of these meetings where, you know, a disagreement arises. And in this disagreement, one person has scripture, but the other person is holding on to something and they say something like, look, I don't care what that says. I'm not budging. Some of you have been in those meetings. What do you do at that point when somebody says, listen I don't care what that says.

That's not the point. This is what we do. This is what we've always done. This is the way they do it. And they are successful and they are effective.

Therefore, since success and effectiveness are the ultimate marks of God's favor, That must be the way to go. We have 100 people, they have 1000 people, therefore they're right, we're wrong, let's do what they do. If that's the case, I got a little news flash for you. You need to just go face to the east toward Mecca and say the Shahada. Because the Muslims are growing faster than we are.

And by our own definition, that means they have more favor from God than we do and therefore they are right. So you just carry your little philosophy on out to its logical conclusion. Bow toward the east toward Mecca and recite the shekhada. That's not the answer, people. Christ has all authority.

And newsflash, we are on the narrow road, not the broad one. So when you see huge numbers of people you might just want to check. Hey man, because nothing grows faster than cancer. Christ is the ultimate authority. He says He will build His church.

He's the ultimate authority. And this is not easy. It's actually rather difficult to do because there are so many things that we're used to. You know what's interesting and very helpful in this regard? Discipling our children.

When we disciple our children, they begin to reach this wonderful age, and for different children, this age comes at different times, where they become a walking conscience. And they're learning things. And they're respectful children, but they'll kind of ask, huh, I just was, I was wondering why we do so and so if this and such is true. And You just flash a thought through your mind. Can I beat them for that?

It's like, no, you just need to stand there and be convicted, humiliated, and repent. We're wrong about a lot of stuff, folks. But the question is this, is Christ the ultimate authority? That's what it all comes down to. It doesn't matter who's more persuasive, it doesn't.

It matters. What's biblical? What does the Bible say? And are we doing what we're doing because it lines up with scripture, with biblical teaching? That's what it's about.

You see, here's the problem when we talk about evangelism, and again, this is the great commission, this passage is the great commission, and usually when we talk about the great commission, we get right to the next verse coming up here, and we skip through these first couple of verses here, with Christ as being worthy of our worship, and we skip right over Christ as having all authority in heaven and earth. We skip right over that, because now what we've done is this we've redefined evangelism. And if you wanna know much of the problem that people have with a lot of these methodologies, here's what it boils down to. We've redefined evangelism. Evangelism is all about getting as many people as possible to pray a magic prayer in the magic part of the room.

That's what we've watered evangelism down to, okay? We gotta get as many people as possible, and so you bring your little four spiritual laws, one, two, three, four, pray, yes, thank you. One, two, three, four, pray, yes, thank you. One, two, three, four, pray, no, okay, later. One, two, three, four, pray, yes, thank you.

That's our attitude toward evangelism. If we can just get people this information. And I get people all the time, you know, writing me, emailing me, calling me. I got a friend who believes this. What can I say?

They're asking me for a magic judo move. Well, I understand that your mother was Buddhist. I have a friend who's Buddhist. What was the magic judo move that worked for your mother? So that I can then take that magic judo move and I could do, if I knew that, I'd empty out every Buddhist country in the world.

There is no magic judo move to get people to come to Christ. But why do we think that way? Because of the way we've defined evangelism. Evangelism is not about the spirit of God working through his people to call people to himself for his own glory and his own honor, no, evangelism is about manipulation. That's what it is, doing whatever it takes, no matter what, to get people to Pray that prayer.

When that's over, forget about it. Dunk them in the water, count them, and move on. Now once we've had that as our definition, And once that becomes the foundation upon which everything else is built, because after all, what we're here for is souls. That's what we're here for. We're here for souls.

Now I don't know about you, I'm here for Jesus. Amen? I believe the church exists to exalt Christ. Evangelism and soul winning is just one of many ways that the church does that. But I'm here for Jesus.

Amen? But once we've made that definition, then everything else just sort of falls into that category. No, no, no, what we start with is the Christ who is worthy of our worship. What we start with is the Christ who has all authority given to him in heaven and earth. Because it's only then that we can put evangelism in its proper context.

Christ is the one worthy of our worship, and Christ is the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. Which means, look at the next part of this. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So, we are to be unapologetically evangelistic, but why are we to be evangelistic? We're to be evangelistic because Christ, who has all authority in heaven and earth, told us to go and make disciples.

Not converts, by the way, but to go and make disciples. Alright, so we're unapologetically evangelistic. Christ has all authority. By the way, here's what this means also. There are a lot of people who are offended by evangelism.

We really are because of relativism in our culture. And you know, there are other people who believe other things and it's offensive to go and to tell them about Jesus. You know what? Who has the authority, our culture or Jesus? Jesus has the authority.

So who will I offend? Will I offend Jesus and obey my culture? Or would I offend my culture and obey Jesus? I would most assuredly offend my culture and obey Jesus. I'm gonna tell people about Jesus.

I'm gonna tell people they must be born again. Amen? They must repent. I'm gonna tell them that. And we will be unapologetically evangelistic.

We are to be evangelistic. It's not optional where the churches are evangelistic. I've had people say to me, by the way, I've had people say to me, people in family integrated church circles, lest you think it's not really there, that evangelism and this family integrated mentality, they might not work too well together. Because we gotta protect our families. We gotta protect our families.

So we gotta be careful about the exposure of our families. Help you if you think like that. Jesus said go and make disciples. Amen? Not sit here and wait till I send you like-minded people.

Go and make disciples. Or else they're never gonna become like-minded people. We're unapologetically evangelistic, because Christ said so. He defines that. By the way, he also defines what evangelism is.

How do we do this? Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, so we're baptizing them. The other thing is teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. That's what you do. You go and make disciples by teaching people the Word of God.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Go and make disciples using the Word of God. Go and make disciples teaching what Jesus taught. That's what we're to do. By the way, our argument, and here's where family integration comes in, in what context can you be most faithful to this command to disciple someone and teach them to obey all that the Lord has taught you.

In what context can you do that better than anywhere else? In your home. Whom else do I have access to for that kind of time and that kind of teaching. Who else? No one else.

No one else. Now does that mean I don't evangelize anybody else? No, absolutely not. I evangelize, but here's what I'm doing. When I'm evangelizing, What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to evangelize individuals who can be evangelizers in the context of their families.

By the way, here's what's interesting. He says here that we're to go and make disciples of pantata ethne, every people group. Isn't that interesting? Last night, brother, thank you so much for pointing out last night what God said to Abraham about the families of the earth being blessed. What do we set our sights on?

What do we want? I don't know about you, just give me all of them. When I look at a teenager, I'm not going, oh God, please give me that teenager. No, no, no, no, no. Give me his daddy, please God.

Cause if you give me his daddy, and his daddy will have him. And his daddy will have his mama, and his daddy will have his brothers and his sisters. And I can just get a whole bunch of them in one shot. Give me his daddy, please. Amen.

Amen. That's not less evangelistic, it's more evangelistic. I wanna reach people groups, that's what I wanna do. So Christ is the one who defines our evangelism. Christ is the one who calls us to be evangelistic.

Teach them to observe all things. Here's the other thing that we've seen. People have asked us this question a lot too. Well you know you guys have a lot of home schools in your family so I'm assuming that a lot of families feel sort of alienated from you guys because they come in and they're not homeschool families. Well first of all that's not something that we really play up on a regular basis.

It's something that people know about us you know but when people come in you know we don't sort of you know just kind of hair lip them and get them over to the corner somewhere and go you know where do your kids go to school oh you can't do that no you have to no that's not what we do. Let me tell you about a lunch that I just had with a gentleman. I had a lunch not long ago with a gentleman who's been visiting with us. This gentleman has been part of a cult for a while. This gentleman and his family came and visited our church.

He got a hold of a message that I had done. And this gentleman had got a hold of this message and he really latched onto this message because it was, you know, I was preaching on marriage and family and I was preaching from Genesis and the cult that he was a part of really emphasized the law and the Old Testament and several aspects of the law and so he's like, man, here's this guy, and he's preaching from the Old Testament, talking about American family, I really like the way he did that, and so long story short, he comes and visits us, we realize that this guy, he comes, you know, we have contact with him, have him in our home, He's coming from a cult. He's coming from a cult. Not necessarily actively involved with that cult anymore, but that's his thinking. And his family's been influenced by this cult.

So right there in our home, at our table, I'm not only sharing the gospel with this guy, but I'm refuting line by line, verse by verse, the tenets of this cult that he's a part of. And we're going through some serious issues. They could not have been farther away philosophically from who we are as a church. Way, way, way far away from who we are. And so I start giving this guy reading assignments and we're working through some stuff here and I'm trying to get him to understand what legalism is and the stuff that he's tied up in what this cult is all about what the gospel really is and so we're just taking our time we're going through this stuff and they keep coming I absolutely expected them not to come because we just confronted a lot of things right there at that table and we just were honest they keep coming why lunch with this guy not long ago.

And he's not there. He's not yet been converted. He's not yet been converted. Some of these things that were very detrimental and harmful, they've stopped in their family. But his attitude was, hey, OK, you're right.

I'm not really sure about this. When you say it that way, this might be wrong, so I'll stop it until I know for sure, because I really don't know it all that well. I'm like, hey, I'll take that, you know. But here's the irony. They've been in our church for a while now, and at this last meeting that I had with him over lunch, he says they're getting ready to start homeschooling their son next semester.

And we hadn't talked about that. We hadn't had one conversation about that. I'm working on this guy's soul. That's the last thing that I'm talking to him about, okay? But they're about to start homeschooling their son.

Why? Because of fruit that they've seen in other families. And because of evaluation of their child's life since they've been around us. Were they like-minded already? Could not have been further away from who we are.

Not even converted yet. I believe God's got them, you know, like when you just catch a little insect or something, cup your hand over top of them, you know. You got them, they're going anywhere. I believe it with all my soul. We're very close to this family being gloriously converted.

Gloriously converted. God's already working on them. But you know what's been happening? We've been teaching them to obey all the things that he's taught us. Because the gospel is not just four principles that you assent to intellectually to be saved.

The Gospel is about every facet of life. And as they're hearing the Gospel over and over and over again, and as they're hearing it applied to every facet of life, what's interesting is there are other parts of their life where they're beginning to experience transformation as they come closer and closer and closer to understanding the Gospel. So while I do argue that the place where you are most able to carry these things out is in your home, I would never, ever, ever argue that it's the only place that we carry these things out. Absolutely not. But here's the beauty.

Remember where I told you this encounter started? In my home, at my dinner table, with my family. That's where this started. Where is it continuing? Periodically, in our home and our dinner table with this family and our family.

By the way, if you wanna know where the interest in home education came from, Sometimes while mom and dad are off cornered over here talking about stuff, that little son's over having conversations with young people who are not like the other young people that he knows. And what has happened is over the months, he's come to mom and dad and he said to them, hey, I don't wanna go to that school anymore. Look at the next part of this text. Teaching them to deserve all that I've commanded you. Last line.

And behold, I'm with you always. Even to the end of the age. I love that. You know what that is? That's both a comfort and a warning.

It's a comfort, obviously, you know? Oh, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. And I love the fact that that line is there. Because contextually, you know, One of the reasons it's great that that line is there is because there are a lot of people who come here to the Great Commission and they look at it and they say, well you know in the immediate context, what you're looking at here is he's speaking to those 11 disciples and so this command to go and make disciples of all nations was really an apostolic command. And so it's a command for the apostles, it's not necessarily the command of all believers.

Oh really? If you don't get goy therefore, you don't get lo I'm with you. Amen? I don't know about you, I need some loam with you. So I better grab a fistful of goyim there for it, amen?

There's encouragement there. Loam with you always, even to the end of the age. There's also the sense of a warning there. Here's why. If I can just have another moment of confession.

I was well trained as an evangelist. Well trained as an evangelist. Theologically, you know, it's interesting, people always ask me in our kind of background, where's Southern Baptist, and I could talk about Southern Baptist because I are one, in Southern Baptist circles there's a lot of things that you can be as a Southern Baptist and then they can be just fine. But if you're in some circles, identified too closely with the C word, Calvinism, Oh, that could be a death knell in Southern Baptist circles. And so there's been rumors about me.

I've had pastors who actually called me and said, brother, I just, hey, I just wanted you to know, I was talking to so and so, and there's people out there who were saying stuff, you know, And I just thought you should be aware. Said, saying stuff like what? Well, you know, that you're a Calvinist, and you know, and I just, I don't want it to hurt your ministry, because I know you travel and preach in a lot of places, and I don't, you know, so I just thought you should know. And I'm just silent on the other end of the phone. They go, brother, are you?

And I always answer them the same way, you know. You go, are you a Calvinist? I go, oh, I would never baptize an infant. They don't like that answer. See, but if you're asking me if I ascribe to the doctrine of grace, most assuredly, I'm a fire-breathing five-pointer.

Six, seven, eight, if you'd want to add some more, you know. And they just kind of sink. But if I can just make a confession here. I haven't always acted like a Calvinist. I didn't realize I was one for quite a while, actually.

Remember, I didn't grow up in church. I didn't know a whole lot. So I'm in seminary and I'm being trained, and it was, listen, especially in my MDiv program, my Master of Divinity program at Southwestern Seminary, when I was being trained there, I was taught about Calvinism, but it was the big scary, those people who don't believe in evangelism and those people who are fatalist and all this other stuff and you know so it was like this is what these bad people believe and then they go and I go. Any questions? I ain't got no questions man.

And I'm thinking man I'm one of the bad people. But what I did learn was I learned how to be a functional Armenian. And so I believed like a Calvinist, but I was trained in evangelism like an Armenian, like a Pelagian, okay? Man is not completely fallen, No, no, no, no. He's not dead.

He's just sick. You know? And you just got to reason with him. And you can reason with every man. Basically what that turns into is you can manipulate every man and you learn the tools of the trade.

I learned the effective art of the invitation. You know, hand up, stand up, come up. I learned the whole deal, man. I could do the deal. I could close it, baby.

I could make people who've been saved for 29 years come at an altar call, man. You know? Then I read the biography of Charles Finney. And it was like a knife. It was like a knife through my soul.

And I said, boy. A lot of the stuff that I've learned to master came from this guy. And he did it Because of this? That's Pelagianism. That's been refuted as heresy.

But you know what I had done? I had bought into the idea that evangelism was about my ability to get people to do something. Now it's in their best interest for them to do it, but it was about my ability to let them know how much it was in their best interest to do it. Instead of understanding that evangelism was about me proclaiming the glories of Christ and pleading with men passionately as it related to the glories of Christ, to repent and believe. But to plead passionately, not because I believe that if I have enough passion, I can make people believe, no, no, no, no, no.

Not at all. But to plead passionately because I believe evangelism is like the prophet in the valley of the dry bones. They're dead. And I'm pleading passionately because it's only God who can give life. And I'm asking dead men to be made alive, and they can't be made alive.

It's only the power of the Spirit of God that can bring that so my passion and my plea is as much for the Spirit of God to awaken the dry and dead bones as it is to call men to repent and believe. Jesus says, lo, I'm with you always, and it brings great comfort to me, but it also brings great conviction to me, because for the first half of my ministry, I acted like he wasn't, and I didn't need him to be. I just needed the right program. If I could just get the right program, If I could just learn the right phrases and teach people the right phrases, we could get it done. No.

It's not what evangelism is about. Evangelism is about a life that says Christ is worthy of all worship. Christ has all authority, and he gets to define the rules of the game. We are unapologetically evangelistic because Christ has commanded us to be evangelistic. But we do it in accordance with his commands, which means we go forth making disciples, teaching them to obey all the things that he has commanded us, so I'm not trying to teach as little as possible so that I can get people to pray a prayer.

I'm trying to teach as much as possible so that people will obey Christ. And I do it with constant and complete dependence on Jesus himself, who is the author and the architect and the end goal of all evangelism. That's why we do what we do. That's why our churches are what they are. First and foremost, we are about the worship of Christ.

We're built on the authority of Christ. As such, we do evangelism because He commanded us to. And We have as our goal to reach panta ka'ethne, every people group, for His glory and for His honor and for His name's sake. We do it the way that He taught us to do it. And we do it recognizing that He has all power and all authority to bring it about and that He is our help to that end.

It's not dependent on me. How do I know that? Well, a little passage of scripture that brought me great comfort. And it's in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 7 and verse 9.

This is in the future. After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. You know, according to Revelation 7, 9, God is going to accomplish this great evangelistic effort with the nations. God is going to be glorified before his throne by a great number of people that cannot be numbered from every tribe and kindred and tongue and nation. So when we do evangelism in our church, and in our church, Listen, we're serious about the Great Commission.

One of the things we do is we have a prayer grant that goes out every week, and in that prayer grant that goes out every week, one of the areas that we pray, there's four main areas that we pray. Area number one, we pray for one another, because the scriptures clearly teach, pray for one another. And so there are five families from our church that are listed each week that we pray for. And this goes out to every family. Pray for kings and those in authority.

We pray for one local, one state, and one national leader every week. And pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers. We pray for an unreached people group every week. Because we want the unreached people of the world in the forefront of the minds of every person at Grace Family Baptist Church. Everyone.

Everyone. Because we're serious about reaching panta ta Ethne, every people group. But here's the good news. We get to be a part of it, but God's not dependent upon us to get it done. That is incredibly freeing, amen?

So when I look at the 1.8 billion people in the world who've never heard the gospel, I can weep because that truth exists, But I also have hope, because God has given a commandment to his people, and he has also shown us at the end of the book that he's going to get it done. How? I don't know. But I'm responsible for my part of it. And that's what I'm going to do.

We're responsible for our part of it. And that's what we're going to do. And as God expands that, praise be to God. This is the way we view evangelism. Not as something that's programmatic.

Because if it's programmatic then only the people who are involved in the program need to be evangelistic. Amen? Not as something that's event oriented. Because if it's event oriented, then only when we're really in those events do we really need to have a push toward evangelism. No, not at all.

It's part of our worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's part of our acknowledgement of his authority. And it's part of who he's commanded and taught us to be as his followers. That's the way we view evangelism. It's essential.

And it must be in our DNA. It has to be in everything that we do. Because ultimately, ultimately, that's why we're still here, amen? God's not finished with that process. He hadn't called us home yet, because there's something for us to do in the meantime in that area of bringing Him glory and honor and bringing Him worship.

So we would be about the business of doing that. But remember, when I say we will be about the business of doing that, what I don't mean is, this lowest common denominator, use car salesman, get people manipulated into praying the prayer, no matter what the cost, because the sad reality is, hell is going to be filled with people who answered all the calls. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your goodness to us. We're grateful.

Thank you that you haven't left us to wander aimlessly in the dark, but you've provided, preserved, and protected for us your self-revelation in the Bible so that we can know who you are, we can know who we are, and we can know how it is that we can be yours, that we can be obedient to you. Grant grace that we may be obedient in this area of evangelism. All of us, no matter where we are in our lives, no matter where we are in our positions of service, may we be more faithful to making you known among the nations and starting right where we are for your glory and your honor and your namesake, trusting you all the way, because you are with us always, even to the end of the age. Thank you again. In Jesus' name, amen.