Shake and Shine! – Part 2

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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jefferson. I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. None of us leads a good enough life to ever lead somebody to faith in Jesus Christ. A lot of people like to quote the supposed words of Saint Francis of Assisi who said, preach the gospel, use words if necessary.

Listen, words are necessary. There is nobody who's ever come to faith in Christ without hearing the word of God. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. To imitate someone we admire means that we try to mimic their attitudes and actions.

So, if our desire is to become more like Jesus, we need to pattern our lives after His. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes the primary passion of Jesus, which should in turn become our passion as well.

Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message. Dr. Jeffers? Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. In my lifetime, I've never experienced the kind of darkness that pervades our culture quite like today.

Sometimes it feels like the bad news is pressing in against us, and oppression is winning the battle. Think about it. Our country is deeply divided over moral issues. The fight against evil is escalating. And all the while, anti-Semitic attitudes have spread like wildfire into our schools and public spaces.

We are living in dark times. That's one of the many reasons we're thrilled about the Salt and Light Matching Challenge that's been started by a generous group of friends. They've established a gift of $1 million for the expressed purpose of doubling that amount through our listening family. They will match dollar for dollar every generous gift you give with the ultimate goal of raising $2 million for God's glory. Stunning amount will become an arsenal to unleash on the darkness of our culture by shining the light of God's Word through our radio program, the daily telecast, our print resources, the Pathway to Victory website, and the many other ways God is using this ministry to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word.

Please take advantage of this occasion to double the impact of your gift. Because of this matching challenge, any amount you choose to give between now and July 6th will automatically become twice the size. By leveraging your gift in this way, you'll be helping us push back against the tide of evil that is engulfing our nation.

Now, let's open our Bibles as I teach from the book of Colossians and other New Testament passages as well. I title today's message, Shake and Shine. Paul says, if Jesus Christ is really central in your life. Then you're going to devote your life to attracting people to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you have your Bibles, turn to Colossians chapter 4.

Look at verse 3. Praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ. For which I have been also imprisoned, that I might make it clear in the way that I ought to speak. Paul did not write, Colossians pray that the doors of justice might be opened so that I can be freed. No, Paul prayed that the door of opportunity to preach the gospel would be opened.

You see, more important to Paul than being free was being faithful. And he said, by the way, not only pray for me that I would have opportunity, pray that when I get the opportunity, I could witness clearly. Look at verse 4. Pray that I might make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

Now Beginning in verse 5, Paul makes the application to us. He says, now, just as I'm asking you to pray for opportunities and clarity for me. I'm praying the same thing for you. God doesn't just want those of us who are apostles and pastors and evangelists to share the gospel. This is something that we're all to be doing.

And he makes that pivot in verses 5 and 6 of personal application to the Colossians. Paul said, be ready now to share your faith. How do you share your faith? Notice what he says here. He says, you do it in two ways.

First of all, through your conduct. Look at what he says in verse 5: conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders. making the most of the opportunity. He says, conduct your relationships, conduct your work, conduct your own moral life in wisdom when it comes to outsiders. In other words, We ought to live our lives in such a way in our own families that when people see our relationship to our mate or with our children or to our parents, that people say who aren't Christians, boy, I want what you have.

Makes them attracted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, not repulsed by it.

Now, our conduct, listen to me on this, our conduct is one way we attract people to the gospel. But it's not the only way. In fact, It is impossible to lead somebody to Christ by your conduct alone. None of us Leads a good enough life to ever lead somebody to faith in Jesus Christ. A lot of people like to quote the words, the supposed words of Saint Francis of Assisi, who said, preach the gospel.

Use words if necessary. Maybe you've heard that before.

Now, first of all, it's highly doubtful if St. Francis ever spoke those words to begin with. But even if he did, it's immaterial. If he did, he was wrong. Words are always necessary.

In fact, the only people I know who go around quoting that, preach the gospel, use words if necessary, the only people I know who say that are people who are too. Cowardly to really share the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're using that as a cop-out. They don't want to take the chance and risk somebody being offended by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So they say, well, just look at my life. Don't look at my words. Listen, words are necessary. There is nobody who's ever come to faith in Christ without hearing the word of God. Romans 10:17 says, For faith comes by what?

Not by seeing, but by hearing the word of God. And so if we are going to really make our priority in life, winning people to Christ, it's not just through our conduct, but it is also through our speech. And that's what he says here, beginning in verse 6. Look at what he says: Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. Let your speech be filled with grace.

When you talk to somebody about the gospel, let those words be pregnant with grace.

Now, I think he's talking about not only the content of our speech. but also the manner, the style of our speech. Yes, our speech to people who aren't Christians ought to be filled with the message of grace. We do need to talk about sin. and God's judgment to come.

The fact is, there can be no good news unless you understand the bad news, first of all. And the bad news is, we've all sinned, we are all deserving of God's eternal judgment. But don't stop there. That's the problem of the Pharisees. They stopped there.

They just talked about sin and condemnation. They never offered people a way of escape. Jesus Christ came to offer people a way of escape, to be forgiven of their sins through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross for us. And we need to always remind people when we share the gospel that yes, we're all sinners, but that's why Christ came. And he offers to forgive us of any and every sin in our life if we will only trust in him.

Make sure your speech is filled with grace. but also make sure you speak those words graciously. That's what he's talking about here as well. You know, when we share the gospel, there is no reason to be offensive, arrogant, brash, belligerent with people. There's no reason to feel prideful.

Oh, I'm an insider and you're an outsider. I love the definition of Christianity: two beggars, one telling the other where to find bread. That's exactly what we're doing when we're witnessing one beggar telling another where to find bread. We need to speak graciously with people. Remember what it was said about Jesus?

Jesus never watered down the truth. He could be very, very brash in what he said, direct in what he said. But listen to Luke 4, verse 22. And all were speaking well of Christ and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips. Yes.

It's true the gospel is offensive at times. People don't like hearing that there's nothing we can do to earn God's love, that it has to be received by grace and grace alone. But even though the gospel message can be offensive, We never have to be offensive and sharing it with others. Let your words be filled with grace. And he also uses this phrase: let it be seasoned with salt.

You know what salt does, besides hardening your arteries. You know what salt does, don't you? What does it do? It, first of all, makes bland food delicious. It adds to the taste of the food.

And it also creates thirst, doesn't it? When Jesus said, Let your words be seasoned with salt.

Now, to use salt effectively, you don't open the lid on the shaker and just dump it out.

Well, some of you may, but you're not supposed to do that, okay? You're supposed to season it, you're supposed to sprinkle it. That's how salt works the best. You turn bland food into delicious food, you also create thirst.

Now, Jesus said our speech about the gospel is to be the very same way. We read the passage in Matthew 5:13, you are the salt of the earth. We ought to speak in such a way when we're sharing the gospel that we create interest, spiritual thirst in people. Or Jesus did that. You know, Jesus never gave the same gospel presentation the same way twice.

He always tailor-made his approach. to the individual to whom he was talking. There was always the same message. that forgiveness is possible through faith in God's grace. But he never delivered the same message the same way.

He tailored it to the individual's needs. For example, remember when he was calling Peter and Andrew? He saw Peter and Andrew fishing, and as he was walking by, he said, Hey, you guys are interested in fishing? Come follow me. And I'll make you fisher of men.

Remember in John chapter 3, he was talking to Nicodemus, the member of the Sanhedrin, high-ruling Jewish council. Nicodemus came and said, You know, what do I need to do to have eternal life? Jesus said, oh. You have to be born again. And that kind of peaked.

Nicodemus interest. What do you mean, born again? Can a man crawl back into his mother's womb a second time? And then Jesus, knowing that Nicodemus knew the Old Testament backwards and forwards, said, No, here's what I mean. And he used that story of Moses in the wilderness with the bronze servant as an illustration of what it means to have true faith.

In John chapter 4, the next chapter, he took a completely different approach. He was talking to the woman at the well. Remember her? She wasn't a learned Jew. She was a half-Jew, hated by the Jews.

And she came there to draw water at Jacob's well. Jesus was standing there by the well, and he said, Oh, I see you're drawing water. She said, yes. He said, what if I told you? I could give you water.

That would so satisfy you that you would never thirst again. Would you be interested in that kind of water? She said, I certainly would. And he used that approach to share the gospel. That's what he's talking about when he says, season your speech with salt.

Live and speak in such a way that you create interest in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then you're ready to share the gospel clearly when you have opportunity to do so.

Now, I want to share with you three applications from this passage, and I want you to write them down. Three applications that speak to all of us today. Paul is saying in this passage: if Christ is central in your life, number one, your life will be driven by a single purpose. If Christ is central in your life, your life will be driven by a single purpose, and that purpose is to attract other people. to Christ.

D.L. Moody said one time, I view this world as a wrecked ship. God has given me a lifeboat and said, save all that you can. If you are really becoming like Christ, that's going to be your perspective on this world. God has left you here for one reason, and that is to save as many as you can.

And by the way, we save people individually through our conduct and our speech, but we also do so collectively as a church. And that's why our church exists, in order to reach as many people with the gospel as possible. And one way we demonstrate that that's our life purpose is through our giving. It's not only through our speech and our conduct, but it's through our giving. Do you remember what I said at the beginning of this series in Colossians 3?

I said, if you want to know whether you're heavenly-minded or earthly-minded, ask yourself these three questions. Number one, what do I think about most often? What do I think about most often? Number two, what do I talk about? most often.

My conversation, what's the topic that usually comes up? And number three, What am I spending my money on? Those three questions, what I think about, what I talk about, and what I spend my money on, are the best indication of whether or not we are heavenly-minded or earthly-minded. You say, well, why does how I spend my money, why is that a test of whether Christ is central in my life? I want you to think about this for a moment.

Your money really represents your entire life. When you go to work every day, Whether it's working for somebody else or working for yourself, do you realize that you are? Exchanging your life for money. That's the deal you make with your employer or with your career. You say, okay, I'm going to give a certain amount of my time.

It's limited, it's finite. God's only given me so much, but I'm going to exchange my life. and receive money in return. Have you ever thought of it that way before? That's the deal you're making.

Every day you get up and work, you are trading a part of your life. your money.

So money represents your life. How you spend your money really is how you're spending your life. What are you spending your life on? That's why I'm so grateful for so many of you who sacrificially give to the ministry of this church. By giving sacrificially like you're doing, you are investing your life.

and the purpose of winning people to Christ. And what Paul is saying here is: if Christ is central in your life, that is the purpose that is going to drive every area of your life: your speech, your conduct, and yes, how you invest your money. Secondly, If Christ is central in your life, then you will live in a way that's consistent with your faith. That means the guiding principle of your behavior. Every day will be: does this behavior attract people to the gospel or does it repel people from the gospel?

How you conduct yourself in your dating relationship, in your marriage, your ethical conduct, your personal morality, all will be guided by the principle: does this action attract people to or repel people from the gospel? Number three. If Christ is central in your life, you will constantly look for opportunities to share your faith. That is, if this is really your purpose, to share Christ with as many people as possible, you're not just sitting there passively waiting for somebody to come up to you and say, Could you please tell me how I might have an eternal home in heaven by trusting in Jesus as my Savior? Let me tell you, I've had very few people in my lifetime ever come and ask me a question like that.

No, if we're really going to make this our purpose, we've got to be proactive like Jesus and Paul were proactive. That means we ought to look for any and every opportunity, every entry point we can to share the gospel. For example, somebody shares with you that they're depressed or that they're having difficulty in their marriage or with their children. Yes, we ought to be genuinely empathetic with them. But then we use that as a way of sharing the lasting solution to their problem, a relationship with Christ.

Or maybe, and this is happening all the time right now.

Somebody comes up to you and they're just moaning and bemoaning about what's going on in our country. Oh, it's just so awful what's happening in America. I don't know what's gonna happen in America. You know what you can say? You can say, well, I'm concerned about our country, but you know what?

I'm really not that upset. You're not? No, I'm not that upset at all. Could I share with you why I'm not upset? Could I share with you why it is no political leader can ever solve our deepest problems in this country and why I'm looking for another leader to solve the problems?

You can use that as an opportunity to point people to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even this shooting in Aurora, Colorado. What a great opportunity to share the gospel with people. People are saying right now, they may ask you. Why did this happen?

What is it do you think caused James Holmes to commit that hideous crime? How do you explain such a thing? What a great chance to say this kind of crime only proves that the Bible is true. That there's not only a God, but there really is a Satan. That He really is, as Jesus said, one who seeks to kill and destroy.

And not only does He want to destroy people physically, He wants to take their souls eternally. to separate them from God. If you're really making Christ central in your life, you'll look for any and every opportunity you can to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's our reason for existing individually. It's also our reason for existing as a church.

You know, it's very easy. Even for a church like ours. To lose sight of our ultimate purpose. To so become involved in other things that we forget the real reason that we exist. The tendency of churches to forget their purpose.

Is illustrated in that well-known parable by Frank Boyt called The Life-Saving Station.

Now I want you to just sit back for a moment. Relax. I want you to listen to this parable. Maybe it will speak to you. On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur.

was a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat. The few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea. With no thought of themselves, they went out day and night searching tirelessly for the lost.

So many lives were saved by the wonderful little station that it became famous.

Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station. and they gave of their time, money and effort to support its work. New boats were purchased and new crews were trained. The little life-saving station grew.

Some of the new members of the life-saving station were unhappy because the building was crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea.

So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building.

Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they redecorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as a club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions.

So they hired crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in the club decoration, however, and a symbolic life-saving boat dominated the room where the initiation took place. About this time, a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crew brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick.

Some had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful club was considerably messed up.

So the property committee immediately had a showerhouse built outside the club where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting, a split took place in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal life of the club.

Some members insisted on life-saving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. They were finally voted down, however, and told that if they wanted to save the lives of various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. And they did. As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that occurred in the old. It evolved into a club.

and yet another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself. And if you visit that coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters. But most people Drowned.

That's a fitting way to conclude today's study from Colossians. We must never forget our role as a church and as Christians. We are God-ordained lifesavers, standing ready to throw a lifeline to anyone who's drowning at sea. And that's our passionate pathway to victory as well. We long to see people trust Jesus Christ as their rescuer.

And God is using this daily program to do just that. Every single day we hear from men and women all across the country who have come to faith through this program or they've decided to rededicate their life to Christ and shake and shine for him. For many people, Pathway to Victory has become their life-saving station. When you give financially, you're making this outreach possible. Pathway to Victory couldn't exist without loyal friends like you who give.

Because of those gifts, we remain fully devoted to piercing the darkness with the light of God's Word. And right now, we're ecstatic about the amazing opportunity to double the size of your generous gift to Pathway to Victory. Several families have pooled their resources together to establish what we're calling the Salt and Light Matching Challenge. They've set aside $1 million, hoping to inspire people like you to join the effort. What this means is your generous gift today of, say, $100,000.

Will be doubled to $200. A $500 gift will become $1,000. If you gave a $5,000 gift, our friends would match that until it became $10,000. Can you imagine the impact of unleashing $2 million in ministry dollars so that more and more people across America and around the world could hear God's word through Pathway to Victory? Thank you so much for linking arms with us in this worthy effort to light the darkness by boldly sharing the truth of God's Word.

David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffers. Today, when you invest in the Ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand new book by Dr. Jeffress, Shine the Light.

Just call 866-999-2965 or visit our website at ptv.org. And when your gift is $100 or more, you'll also receive not only the book and DVD, but also the complete collection of audio and video discs for the Shine the Light teaching series. And don't forget, because of the salt and light matching challenge, your gift will be matched and therefore double in impact. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or find us online at ptv.org. You could also write to us, here's that mailing address, PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, inviting you back next time for a message called Heart Surgery 101. That's coming up Thursday on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. And right now, your ministry gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge.

Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on July 6th. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org/slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory.