Your Jesus Revolution Moment | Sunday Message

Greg Lorry and Harvest Ministries recommend a new resource from best-selling author Max Lucato dealing with your thought life.

So many people have Max Lucato books already in their library, but this is his brand new book to help you learn how to team your thoughts. Our thoughts really ultimately affect pretty much everything. And folks, we want to offer you this book by Max Lucato. Team Your Thoughts. for a gift of any amount at harvest.org.

Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org. All right, well, I want you to grab your Bible and turn. I like that you applauded for that.

Okay, good. I want you to turn in your Bible to do passages Ephesians 4 and Romans 12. Ephesians 4, Romans 12, and the title of my message is Your Jesus Revolution Moment. Question? Have you ever received a gift that you really didn't like all that much?

And that might be clothing.

Someone gives you a shirt or a dress. And then you immediately open it up and you don't like it and they ask you, what do you think? And you kind of have to not completely tell the truth. And so you say, well, I don't have anything in my wardrobe quite like this. And you're thinking this would be a great rag to wipe my car down with, right?

And then you see them maybe a couple weeks later. Hey, when are you going to wear that shirt that I gave you? And, you know, if you're one of those people, just stop, please. You don't have good taste. I don't know how to help you understand that.

Here's what I do. I will give someone a gift, and maybe I'll give them a shirt or a dress or something like that. But I'll always put the receipt in and I'll say, if you don't like it, please return it because I want you to get what you want.

Some people, they want you to wear that ugly shirt no matter what. Or someone gives you a fruitcake. Hey, how did you enjoy the fruitcake? You don't want to tell them you gave it to the dog and he died. The dog's dead.

The fruitcake killed the dog. But maybe you have that gift and you don't know what to do with it, so you re-gift it. How many of you have ever re-gifted a gift? Raise your hand up. You're in church, be honest.

Okay. That's it? The only you? Uh just be careful. that you don't re-gift the gift back to the person who gave you the gift.

In the first place, right?

Well I bring this up because The Bible speaks of spiritual gifts. that God has given to each of us. And I can guarantee whatever God Whatever gift God selects for you is going to be great. You're going to love it. You won't want to regift it.

But what is a spiritual gift? Spiritual gifts are different than natural talent, though that too is given to us by God. A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability to do something you would not normally do. Again, a spiritual gift is a supernatural ability to do something you would not normally do. The problem is sometimes Maybe God will give someone else a gift and you'll say, I wish I had their gift.

I remember years ago as a little kid. I and I had a friend. Who was given a toy for Christmas? And I don't remember what I received, but. All I knew was I wanted his toy more than the toys I received.

Now this is early 60s.

So you have to understand tech was very basic in those days. His gift was a plastic skin diver. that you put batteries in. And you put him in the pool, and his legs kicked, and he sunk to the bottom of the pool, and bubbles came out. I thought that was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

And I wanted that gift more than anything else, and we can be that way. Oh, I want their gift. I wish I could do what they're called to do, but we need to discover the gifts that God has given to us and use them, and we all have them if we're Christians. Because Romans 12, 5 says, We being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. Listen, you are not a random person.

living in a random life. God has created you with a purpose.

So you want to take those gifts and use them. Don't let them lie dead. Dormant. The Bible says, stir up the gift that is given to you. And uh, you know, God Called me to be a preacher of all things, and that is the last thing I aspire to.

I did graduate high school. In fact, I don't know if you know this, but I'm in the harbor. High hall school. Hall of Fame. Can you believe that?

I actually went to an award ceremony. And I spoke and I said, Look, I should be on your hall of shame, okay? I don't know how I ended up on your hall of fame. But I use that as an opportunity to share how I came to Christ at the campus. And I was driving by there a couple months later with one of my granddaughters.

They said, hey, you want to go see my picture on the Hall of Fame at Harbor Heights? And we went in and they wouldn't let me go in. You can't come in. You're not a student here.

Well, I want to look at the Hall of Fame. Get out of we'll call security.

Okay, goodbye.

So But I mean this was not what I aspired to I wanted to be a graphic designer. I think my backup plan was a pet shop, maybe. Um But when God called me to preach, that was not a gift I had naturally, but it was a gift He gave to me in. He expects us to use the gifts he gives to us. And He expects us to develop them.

And He expects us to cultivate them. And He expects us to use them for His glory.

So this is the last message in our series. We're calling Upward, Inward, and Outward. And we're pointing out that these are three principles that should be constantly operative in the life of the Christian. Why am I here on this earth? Number one, I'm here for the glorification of God.

Number two, I'm here for the edification of the saints. Thirdly, I'm here for the evangelization of the world, upward, inward, outward. To review, number one, I'm here for the glorification of God. The Bible says whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Whatever you're called to do, if you work an in-and-out burger, flip those burgers for the glory of God.

If you're a construction worker, then do that for the glory of God, right? If you work in a bank, if you work as a secretary, if you're a professional athlete, whatever your field is, you're called to, do it for God's glory. And if you can't do it for God's glory, you might need another line of work, right? I should be able to write these words over everything that I do. Hallowed be thy name.

If I can't say, hallowed be thy name, before I go out that night to do whatever I'm going to do, maybe I shouldn't do it. If I can't write, hallowed be thy name over my career choice, maybe I need a different career. If I can't write, hallowed be thy name over that relationship I'm engaged in. Maybe I don't need that relationship.

So we're here to glorify God. And I think of Charlie Kirk. who are remembering. Today. There's a big service for him in Arizona.

Um The president will be there, the vice president will be there. Marco Rubio, Pete Hagseth. A lot of wonderful Christian musicians. Chris Tomlins there. He sent me a video just now.

Why aren't you here?

Well, I wanted to go, but... I felt God wanted me to be here today at church, so that's why. Phil Wickham is going to sing at it and uh Brandon Lake and it's going to be a great time. The gospel is going to be proclaimed. I think a very large audience is going to hear the gospel today.

Let's pray that God touches hearts. But, Charlie. Yeah, I met Charlie a number of years ago. I spoke at one of his events recently for his turning point organization for pastors and. He was an amazing young man.

I mean, this guy. You know, he came to faith at the age of 11, and at 18, he started his organization. It's almost like he was born an adult, you know? He was really quite remarkable. And very motivated and very intelligent.

And you know, he took his gifts and developed them. He didn't go to college, he just learned this all through experience and applying the gift that God gave to him. And tragically, tragically He was assassinated. He was murdered. There's no other way to put it.

And because of video today and social media, Unfortunately, we've probably seen that video. Play before our very eyes. And this is something that is a national tragedy. And I think for a younger generation, a very traumatic event in their lives, for all of us, really. Charlie had a short but effective life.

I think of the words of Corey Tinboom who said, life is not measured by its duration, but by its donation. You know, I know a lot of people that live long lives that are not. productive. They don't make much of a donation. Charlie Kirk lived to the age of 31.

but he made a tremendous donation with this life, right? Jim Elliott, who was a missionary to the Alka Indians, and he was tragically martyred. Aye. In sharing the gospel with them, he wrote in his journal that they discovered later: I seek not a long life, but a full one like you, Lord Jesus. Charlie certainly lived that full life.

Charlie Kirk is quoted to have said this, and I quote, I'm nothing without Jesus, I'm a sinner. I fall incredibly short of the glory of God. We all do. I gave my life to the Lord, and everything I do incorporates Jesus Christ. I want to be remembered for courage for my faith.

The most important thing is my faith. And that is what he's being remembered for. I'll have a few more things to say about Charlie in a little bit.

So we're here for the glorification of God. Number two, we're here for the edification of the saints. Jonathan talked to us about that last week, and I want to sort of pick up where he left off and talk a little bit about that, then focus on the final. Principle of the evangelization of the world. And that takes us to Ephesians 4, because it says that God has given us in the church certain gifts.

Ephesians 4.11, these are the gifts Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers. And their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. My job as your pastor. It is to teach the Word of God, it's to feed you the Word of God. but it's also to equip you, help you, and help you.

Discover the gifts that God has for you. And I can't tell you how much I love it. when I see people grow spiritually. Yes, I I love it when people come to Christ. You can't get tired of that.

But just the other day, I was talking to a young lady who came to Christ through our ministry and And she was saying things that They were ministering to me. And she only came to the Lord like a year ago. And I said, look at you. Look at how much wisdom and knowledge you've gleaned from this scripture already. And it's so wonderful when someone finds their gift and they begin to develop their gift.

And so that's our job. That's why he gave us. The church. And so we want to help people grow in their faith.

Now you might say, well, Greg, I'm not called to be a. Pastor, or a teacher, or an evangelist.

Well, I don't know about that.

Some of the most effective evangelists I've ever met are not pastors of churches. They're not missionaries. They're just regular folks that have a unique giftedness to tell others about Jesus. I've been with them out in public places and they'll start engaging strangers in conversations and I'll just stand back in amazement, you know, because I can only do it if I have a pulpit in front of me. In fact, I have a pulpit on wheels in my car I take with me everywhere.

I'll go to the market and I'll just push it along, you know, and get the bread and the milk. And then, if there's someone to preach to, I'll preach to them.

Now the truth is though, you can be gifted as an evangelist and and not necessarily have a pulpit like This So the challenge is to discover what your gifts are. Here's a description of a number of the gifts, not all of them, but. A number of them. Romans 12 verse 6. In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.

If God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out. with as much faith as God has given you. If you're gifted serving others, serve them well. If you're a teacher, teach well. If it's encouraging others.

or exhorting. then be encouraging. If it's giving, then give generously. If God has given you a leadership ability, take that responsibility seriously. And if He has given you a gift for showing kindness to others, Do it gladly.

So one thing that Paul mentions is the gift of exhortation. Let's contrast the gift of exhortation with the gift of teaching.

Someone who has the gift of teaching tells you how to do it.

Someone with the gift of exhortation makes you want to do it. It's sort of like a cheerleader. I was watching my granddaughter. Allie played volleyball the other day. She's very good.

I think the best, of course. Um And they have, you know, the other girls will cheer. They have a pretty deep bench, so they're rotating the girls in and out. And so, when the other girls are on the sidelines, they're not just sitting idly by, they're cheering the others on, go, go, go. And they have little cheers they've worked out.

And I joined them in a couple. No, I didn't. They would have. They wouldn't have liked that. Who's that 72-year-old man?

Get him out of here quickly.

Okay, so An encourager. And I feel like our culture is so discouraging today. It seems like the whole world has become a live version of X. You know what X is? formerly Twitter.

And it's just a lot of people generally fighting. With other people, and it seems like our culture has become this: you know, discouraging words. Have a way of staying with you. When I got my surgery for hip replacement, I was sitting there in my little hospital bed, my super cool gown. Um feeling kind of vulnerable.

And they have all these things hooked up to you, and they're doing all these checks before you go into surgery. And the one of the nurse was listening to my heart. She said, Do you have a cardiologist? I said no. No, she said, I think you have a heart murmur.

Immediately I just I knew I have her. I might be having a heart attack right now. I don't know. And then the anesthesiologist came in and the nurse said, listen to his heart. Anesthesiologist listened to it and said, he's fine.

No, do you hear a murmur? There's no murmur. Oh, okay.

So then it went away immediately. You know what I'm saying though? The power of words, especially from a doctor or a medical official. Oh, wow, you know. Our words really matter.

You know, after President Lincoln was assassinated. They found that he carried out around a worn old newspaper clipping in his pocket. And what it said, it was an article from a paper that said: Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest statesmen of all time. Even President Lincoln, as great as he was, he's regarded as one of our greatest presidents, the greatest by some. Need an encouragement.

He'd get down every now and then and just pull that out.

Well, someone out there likes me. Don't be a discourager. Be an encourager. In the book of Acts, we have the story of a man who literally had the nickname Mr. Encouragement.

His name was actually Joseph. But they nicknamed him Barnabas. We call him Barnabas, but that was not his given name. Because Barnabas means the son of encouragement.

So he was Mr. Encouragement. If they gave you a name. What would it be? Mr.

Or miss. Like what would be a word that would best describe you? Mr. Excitement, some people are that way. Miss happiness.

or perhaps missed her Bible. Boy, wherever that person goes, they're quoting the Bible. Or would it be Mr. Critical. Or Miss Cranky.

Or would it be Debbie Downer or Bobby Buzzkill? You know, certain people only see the negative. They never see the positive. They're always criticizing. They say, well, I have the spiritual gift of criticism.

No such gift. The Bible does not say God gave us apostles. prophets, pastors, and Karens. There's no Karens. I'm sorry if your name is Karen.

It's a it's a fine name. But some Buddy hijacked your name and did something.

So I'm sure you are very encouraging Karen. Is there anybody named Karen here? God bless you. God bless you. God bless you, Karen.

You're not that way. Look at you, I can tell. Though you did seem a little critical earlier. Not really.

So, an encourager, that's a great thing. You know, Paul and Barnabas became friends. Paul was formerly Saul of Tarsus, right?

So, he comes to Christ. No one believes he's become a Christian because he's a Christian. Christian killer. But Barnabas missed her encouragement and said, Oh, this guy's conversion is real. I'm going to take him under my wing and I'm going to introduce him to fellow Christians.

In fact, I want to go on the road with this guy and do ministry with him, which they did. And we read in Acts 14, 22 that Paul and Barnabas confirmed the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith. that we through much tribulation must enter the kingdom of God. And this is why the church is so important. Because in Hebrews 10 it says, We should gather together.

And consider one another and provoke each other to love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting or encouraging one another daily, even as we see the day of the Lord approaching.

So, this is something we should all do. Then, there's the gift of giving. Mentioned in 1 Corinthians 16, 2. uh that everyone excuse me mentioned in Romans 12.8. If your gift is giving, then give generously.

Now look, every Christian should give. And if you don't give to the work of God, you're missing out on the blessing. Because Jesus said it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. But this is not that. This is not just a believer giving.

This is a supernatural gift of giving. And I've met people that have this gift. It's not always money. It's other things. People with extraordinary gifts of hospitality.

People that are always there for you in some way, shape, or form. And so Paul says if your gift is giving, then Be generous and And give well. And then there's a gift of showing kindness, verse 8. If you have a gift for showing kindness, do it. gladly.

Some people have a supernatural ability to show mercy and compassion. Excuse me. to those who are in need. You know, when you go to a hospital room. You know, I go as a pastor.

I try to have the right things to say, but I've met people that do a much better job than I do. Because they walk up to that person and they take their hand. Maybe they stroke their hair. They help them, they'll feed them, they'll do what that person needs and I'll just look at that and I'd say, that is not my gifting. My wife is that way.

She's so nurturing and helpful, and I'm over preaching a sermon somewhere, right?

So, this is a gift from the Spirit, and it's a great gift. And if you're in a hospital room, you'd really appreciate somebody who has that gift of showing kindness. But ultimately, The purpose of all of these gifts is so we will grow up spiritually, Ephesians 4:15. We need to speak the truth and love that we may grow up. As every joint supplies and every part does its share.

For the growth of the body.

So, this is something we all want to do.

Okay, so now we're coming to the final point. We're here for the glorification of God. We're here for the edification of the saints, and we're here for the evangelization of the world. And how much our world needs evangelizing. How dark it is coming back to Charlie.

After his tragic death, We saw how twisted our culture actually is. We saw how dark The hearts of some people are, the Bible says, the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things. Who can know it? There were people that were literally celebrating the death of this courageous. Young man, and it reminds me of that passage in Isaiah about those who call evil good, and they call good evil.

They put darkness for light. and light for darkness. In many ways this is a moment that is a mirror for our nation. It shows How much we need Jesus. Politics won't save us.

Policies won't heal us. Only Christ can. And we desperately need. a spiritual awakening in America. The church is under attack right now.

Christian leaders are under attack, and you need to pray for them. It's easy to criticize them. Second, just them. But pray for them. And it's dangerous to do what some of us do.

standing in front of crowds and In preaching, truth, not everyone appreciates that, needless to say. This is uh something that was happening in the early church as well. There was an occasion where James, the brother of John, was arrested and he was beheaded by King Herod. Then Herod arrested Simon Peter. And I love what Acts 12 says, verse 1.

Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And that word constant means fervent. Passionate prayer. I don't know how hard. Did they not pray for James?

I don't know about that. But I know they were really praying for Peter. Lord, don't let Peter die. And you know the rest of that story: the Lord sent an angel. Opened the doors literally for Peter who walked out unharmed.

But we need to be praying, but we're going to face spiritual attack. The Bible says. All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Jesus said, Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely. When they tell lies about you, he says, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.

We're going to face all kinds of attacks. It's going to be being criticized. It's going to be being mocked. It's going to be being canceled. We'll have people attack us physically.

You never know what it's going to be. And Charlie. was a young man who spoke up boldly. And he reminds me of someone in the Bible named Stephen. Stephen was the first martyr of the church.

And he liked Charlie or Charlie like him. was a courageous young man that spoke up for what was true, and he died a horrible death. They stoned him to death. But as he was dying, Stephen was given a glimpse of heaven. And he says.

I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father, which is interesting because normally when we read of Jesus in heaven, he's sitting at the right hand of the Father. But in the story of Stephen, he's standing. Why? I don't know. But maybe the Lord was standing in honor of the first martyr.

And the moment Stephen took his last breath on earth, he took his first breath in heaven. And the same is true for Charlie Kirk. The same is true for any follower of Jesus. When you die, You go straight. to heaven.

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. But why does God allow this to happen? Why such a young man? I don't have the answer to that. We grappled with that for a long time after our son Christopher, aged 33, died.

In an automobile accident. If I could have traded places with him, I would have done it without hesitation. But the Lord took our son at a very early age. These are unanswerable questions. But what we do is we turn to God.

The Bible says God is our refuge and our strength, a present help in time of trouble. And we mourn. I think this is important because sometimes Christians will say, well, don't, you know, when Christians die, they go to heaven. Don't be sad. Don't know.

Be sad. When I die He'd be sad for a while. I mean, not forever, but... Shed a couple tears. I'll be watching you from heaven.

You know, I... I doubt that. But um But no, it's appropriate. You know, the depth of our sorrow is an indication of the depth of our love. And we need to mourn when we lose loved ones, even Stephen.

When he was martyred Of him we read, Godly men mourned over him.

Well, why do they mourn over him? He was in heaven. Because they were sad. That he didn't live his life out. They were sad he wasn't with them any longer.

And the Bible says there's a time to laugh, and there's a time to cry.

So where it's appropriate for us to mourn. And I have to say, in all honesty, I was disappointed by the fact that some churches and some pastors made no mention of Charlie after he died. No mention. This young man was a Christian leader. He was making a difference.

And he should have been acknowledged. And that's why we're acknowledging him today. We feel this because he was part of the church and the Bible says when one member of the body suffers, we all suffer. But then the Bible also says Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts Of joy.

Something very amazing happened after the death of Stephen. Like, worst case scenario, Stephen dies. Horrible tragedy. But God was at work. And we read that after Stephen went to be with the Lord, Acts 8, A great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except the apostles were scattered through Judea.

You say, oh, that's a bad thing. Actually, that was a good thing. Because Jesus had said to them, You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In other words, okay, after the day of Pentecost. You guys, I'm filled with the Spirit.

Now go out and share this. And everyone's like, yeah. They'd rather stay in Jerusalem. We want to be under the spot where the glory came out. We'll have a nice little holy huddle here.

And then now they're scattering. And among those people that were impacted by the life and the death of Stephen was someone I already mentioned, the notorious Saul of Tarsus. And I believe that Stephen's courageous life and death directly impacted Saul and resulted in his conversion.

So God can bring good. despite the bad. We don't have to say the bad was good. We don't even have to say this bad thing happened, so this other thing will happen. All we have to say is, this bad thing happened.

We don't know why this bad thing happened, but despite that bad thing, God has done a good thing. That's what Romans 8:28 means. And by the way, Charlie was interviewed in his last interview. And he was asked what his favorite Bible verse was. And that's what it was, Romans 8:28.

And we know. That all things work together for good to those that love God and are the called according to His purpose.

So the church spread, and I believe right now, We have a watershed moment in our nation, a turning point. As Jonathan mentioned last Sunday. which is the name of Charlie's organization, Young People. Let me address you for a moment. Older people, get up.

No, this applies to you too, but I want to direct this. specifically to younger people. Charlie's a good example to follow. This could be your Jesus revolution moment. Seize it.

Stop trying to fit in. And be cool. Be courageous for Christ because that's the coolest thing you can do. And we need your voice. We need your voice right now.

You know, it's interesting that the Jesus movement did happen on the heels. of a number of tragic assassinations in our country. JFK, our president. RFK, his brother. MLK, Martin Luther King, others as well.

And it was sort of traumatizing. The nation was in trauma. And God began to work, and everyone was talking about a revolution. We want a sectoral revolution, we want a political revolution. And God said, I'm going to send you a Jesus revolution, we need another one.

And there's a lot of interesting things happening right now that would cause us to wonder: are we on the verge of another spiritual awakening? You know, there's a lot of Wonderful signs. That would seem maybe we are. Charlie Kirk said, and I quote him, Gen Z and Gen Alpha are coming to Christ in massive numbers. They don't want fluff.

They don't want a watered-down gospel. They want the tough, honest truth. They want the unfiltered gospel of Christ crucified and the power of the resurrection. Amen. Amen.

That's what they want and that's what they need. And that's the only thing that will change them and the only thing that will change our country. I've mentioned to you before there's a lot of interesting trends already in play, like. The increase of church attendance with younger people. Young people are coming back to church, specifically Gen Z.

is coming back to church. And even more interesting, Even more interesting than that, and I can't think of historical precedent for this. Young Gen Z men are leading the way. That's amazing. Girls, you'll catch up.

You know. Because the fact is usually girls lead the way in everything.

So for once, a guy's got it right. Way to go, little dudes.

Okay, so. Lead the way. But there's another reason we need to preach the gospel. Not only because because it's the only hope for our culture. But because we need to do it for ourselves, you see, I don't know what that means.

Okay, so we talked about upward, inward, outward, and we compared it through a three-legged stool. In dumb I have one here. Do you see it? If you have deep faith, you see it, right? No, there's no step.

But um So every leg matters. If I remove one leg from a three-legged stool, it's going to fall. It's going to collapse. And these are principles that must be in play in my life on a regular basis as a Christian and we as the church.

So we need to be glorifying God. We need to be part of the church, developing, cultivating, and using the gifts that God gives us. And we need to be evangelizing. If you're not evangelizing, one leg of your stool is missing, and you're missing out on a great blessing because there's something. replenishing and life-giving about sharing Your faith.

You know, I think a lot of times as Christians, we grow spiritually. We're studying our Bibles. We're going to church every week. We're in a small group. We're praying.

But there's sort of something missing in our life, and we can't quite figure out what it is. that something that is missing is an outlet for all that truth. You need an outlet. And Jesus said, Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, running over. But the same measure you give, it shall be given back to you.

And I can tell you, there's been more than one time. I have stepped into the pulpit depleted and drained. And maybe even You know, dealing with some difficulty of some kind. And as I've just sort of taken my focus off of myself and put it on giving the word of God or maybe proclaiming the gospel, it replenishes me. You know, this is And you've had that too, right?

Maybe you're feeling down. Oh man, this is a hard day. It's hard to be a Christian in America. I have a call. I have to go put gas in my car.

Whatever, you know. There's whatever reason you're not in a great mood. And so you're pumping gas in your car, whatever. And then there's someone over there. That has an electric car and they're trying to pump gas in their car.

You find it highly entertaining, you're watching it. And then maybe you start a conversation with them. You start talking about Jesus and the more you talk, the more excited you get because you're rediscovering what we sometimes forget. Right? Share Going back to a fuel analogy, you started on empty, you only end on full.

See, that's the thing. This is why we need to do this. It's for you too. Proverbs 11, 25 says, those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. God did not give us the gospel to hoard.

but to share. You're blessed. to be a blessing. to others.

So, discover and cultivate the spiritual gifts that God has given to you. Jesus said, look around. Lift up your eyes. The fields are white to harvest. The harvest is great, but the laborers are few.

Therefore, pray that the Lord would send laborers into the harvest. I have a fun idea for you. How many of you are on social media? You have an Instagram account? An X account, Facebook, TikTok, just raise your hand.

Don't be ashamed, okay? Quite a few of you.

Okay, good. All right. You have a platform. Use your platform for God. And so here's a thought.

Record a one-minute message. You can maybe go two minutes, so go much longer. A one to a two minute message sharing your testimony. Just say, hi, my name is, and let me tell you how I came to become a follower of Jesus and tell your story and post it on your platform. See what the Lord will do with that.

See, it's a place to start, right? But you have to look for those opportunities. You know, sometimes we'll say, I want to be a missionary one day and cross the sea. Hey, maybe you should start by crossing the street. and talking to your neighbor.

Coming back to Charlie one last time. When he left us, he was holding a microphone. as you may recall. Yeah. We all have a microphone.

Of sorts. I'm going to use the idea of a microphone as a baton in a relay race, right?

So when you run in a relay race, it's not all about you. It's about working with your team. And when you've run your lap or your portion of the race, you hand it off.

Someone on your team and they take The baton, and they run their length, and then they hand it off, and then one final person goes across the finish line. The baton is here for us to take. All of us young and old. Will you do it? Will you be that person?

to reach your generation. We're going to close in prayer. And I'm going to give an opportunity for anybody here who has never put their faith in Jesus to do so. And there's going to be a final challenge for all of us. Let's pray.

Now, Father. Thank you for your word, and thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sin. I pray for everyone that is here. And if there's anyone that has joined us, it is not yet a Christian. They're not yet.

One of your children, they haven't had their sins forgiven. They don't have this relationship with you. Lord, let this be the moment they believe. But our heads are bowed. And her eyes are closed.

And we're praying together. If you want Jesus Christ. to forgive you of your sin. If you want him to come into your life. If you want to know with confidence that you will go to heaven when you die.

If you want to fill that big hole in your heart, so to speak. You've tried to fill with everything this culture offers. If you're ready to say yes to Jesus, I want you to raise your hand up, and I'm going to pray for you. Raise your hand up if you want Christ to come into your life today, and I want to pray for you wherever you are. Anybody, wherever God bless you, God bless you.

Raise your hand up. I'm going to pray for you and with you. Just raise your hand up saying, I want this relationship with Jesus Christ. God bless you. I'm going to ask every one of you that raised your hand to just pray this prayer now, right where you are.

You could even pray it out loud. Just pray, Lord Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for me. I choose to follow you.

from this moment forward.

Now while our heads are still bowed, and we're seated, I'm going to pose a challenge. And I don't want you to do this unless you really mean it. I'm going to ask you. If you would say, I'm ready to take that baton. I'm ready to take that microphone.

And I want to live a sold-out life for Christ. And I want to glorify God with my life and reach as many people as I can with the gospel. I'm ready to say, Here I am, Lord, send me. If that's what you want to do, then I want you to pray this prayer out loud. Lord Jesus.

This world is lost. And you've called me to glorify you. I want to reach my world for you.

So use me, Lord. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Open up doors of opportunity. Help me discover my gifts of the Spirit. and use them for your glory.

Use me to bring others to you. I commit myself to you now. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to this podcast.

To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it, just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God. Yeah.