Mission | John 15:16 | Gospel

You know this verse, Ephesians 4:11? God has appointed pastors and leaders and teachers for the equipping, right? The equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. According to that verse, who does the ministry? The saints, that's right, you're the saints.

Are you seeing God speak through you to others? That is what God has put on you to do. And if you are not living that, you are not living the plan of God. Welcome back to the Summit Life podcast with J.D. Greer.

I'm Molly Bitovich. Today on the podcast, Pastor JD addresses a common misunderstanding, and maybe it's one you have as well. Many believers think ministry is a paid job for pastors and missionaries and not the work of ordinary Christians. But the truth is, there's no such thing as an ordinary Christian. As you're transformed by the gospel, you're empowered to do amazing things for God.

And whether he's called you to go across the ocean or across the street, every one of us has a mission and every one of us is a minister. We'll join Pastor JD in just a moment, but first, let me tell you about an easy way to stay in the loop with everything happening here at Summit Life. When you sign up for our weekly newsletter, you'll get regular updates from Pastor JD, including recent messages, free resources, and stories of how God is at work through this ministry. And when you sign up today at jdgreer.com, Summit Life is offering a free booklet called Transcend the Culture War and Transform the World. It outlines a gospel-centered path through today's most divisive issues.

You'll receive two physical copies, one to keep and one to give away, because this message is too important not to share. Discover how ordinary faithfulness can lead to extraordinary change. No donation required, just visit jdgreer.com to request your copies.

Now let's get started in John chapter 15. We're in a series called Gospel. The revolutionary idea of the gospel. Is that we don't change by focusing on a list of what we are to go and do differently for God. We change by dwelling on the news of what God has done.

For us. The gospel changes us in a fundamentally different way because it changes our hearts. It changes our desires. We begin to do righteously and act righteously because we love righteousness and we crave righteousness. We seek God because we desire God.

The secret of growth in Christ, y'all write this down. The secret to growth in Christ is that we grow more. When we focus less. on what we are to do for God and more on what he has done for us. The secret to growth in Christ is that we grow more.

When we focus less on what we are to do for God and more on what He has done for us, I've used a lot of analogies in this series, but one of the most important ones is the one that Jesus Himself uses here in John 15. The analogy of spiritual fruit. He says, if you abide in me, verse 5. If you rest in my love, verse 9, you will produce abundant fruits. They have told you to think about that analogy of fruit.

Fruits are not produced on a plant because the plant focuses on fruit production. Fruit happens because the plant is alive. It's just a byproduct of being alive. Or I told you to think about it in the way that our physical fruit, human beings, how a child is produced. Right, this is sort of an earthy example, but when a man and woman conceive a child, they're not thinking about the mechanics of making that child.

They're not thinking, well, this chromosome goes here and the fertilized egg implants here. They're not thinking about all that. The way God designed it was, they come together, they're not thinking about the science or the biology of producing the child. They're swept up in a moment of loving intimacy with one another. And the fruit of that is a child.

Not in the same way. We don't produce spiritual fruit by focusing on spiritual fruit. We become intimate with the doctrines of the gospel and the result of spiritual fruit. According to Jesus, right believing produces right behaving. And so whereas most of us have always heard this is how you're supposed to behave.

Jesus said, if you believe rightly, You'll behave rightly.

Now, let me deal with one objection real quick because I know some of you have had it over the last several weeks. You're like, But we all know people who say they believe the gospel but don't bear fruit, right? And right? Don't you know somebody that believes the gospel? Maybe you are this person that you believe the gospel, but you're not producing spiritual fruit.

That's because in the Bible there are two different kinds of belief. There is mental acknowledgement, the kind where you give mental assent to something, which the Bible says in James 2, even the demons have. They understand that there's one God. They understand that Jesus rose from the dead, that he is Lord, that he died on the cross for sins. Right, but they believe that so much they tremble.

That's one kind of belief, but then there's another kind of belief in the heart, which is the kind of belief that Jesus is speaking about here in John 15. It's an intimate knowledge of and abiding in. the truths of the gospel. That's a whole different kind of belief. And when Jesus.

And the gospel have become a part of your heart, then spiritual fruit comes as naturally to you as roses on a rose bush. Today, we're going to look at how abiding in the gospel produces a fervency and boldness and mission. Those who believe the gospel become fervent in their commitment to take it to others. We've used this analogy here of a wheel. At the center of the wheel is the gospel.

And when the gospel is at work in our heart, it produces various things. It produces, John 15, a desire. For prayer and to study the word, it produces godly character. It produces this desire to live in a loving body of Christ, the community. This week, we're going to look at how it produces a passion for mission in our lives.

Belief in the gospel produces a fervency in mission. I got inspiration for this message, brand new inspiration from the strangest place, and that is my daughter. My daughter, this happened recently, didn't happen this week, it happened a little while ago. I've become friends with one of the local Muslim leaders here, a guy named Abdullah. And our families have gotten to know one another.

I've had him over for dinner, he and his family.

So first time they came over for dinner, I kind of prep my family as much as you can prep a seven-year-old, a five-year-old, a three-year-old, and a one-year-old about what Muslims are and what they believe. I'd prepped them, but they come. This guy has a wife and he has two kids, one who's 11, one who's nine.

So we get all in the dining room, and suddenly this thought, I was like, I said, Abdullah, when you and I get together for lunch, I pray and you pray and then we eat together. I was like, you know, and we're both cool with that. He said, but you know, here I'm in front of your family, is it? bother you if I pray and thank God or do I just need to kind of pull my family to the side and do that? You know, not in the presence of your family.

He said, Oh, he says, Don't worry. He says, I tell you what. He says, Why don't my daughter, why doesn't she pray for our family? And then your daughter pray for yours?

Now my daughter's seven.

Okay, and we've had no prep time and I was like That sounds like a great idea. And so his daughter launches, I mean, we all bow our heads. She launches into, I kid you not, a 45 second at least prayer that was all in Arabic. I have no idea what she was saying. In fact, it crossed that line of awkwardness to the point that I was like, is she going to recite the whole Quran?

I mean, it just kept going on. And I was like, wow. We get to the end of this 45-second thing that she prays. And then there's kind of a quiet. Moments, and I open up one of my eyes to look at my seven-year-old, who again, we've had no prep time with, because I'm like, does she know that it's her turn?

Her head is bowed. And all of a sudden, she looks up and she says, Dear Lord. Thank you for sending your son Jesus to come. to this earth to die on a cross for our sins so that we could be saved. And thank you for leaving us your holy Bible so we could all know about it.

In Jesus' name, amen. And it was one of those moments where I was like, I was kind of proud of her, and I was kind of like. Land the plane Yeah, land a plane, but she's just, you know. She understands, right? She's like, this is the gospel.

They need to know it. And if my dad's too chicken to tell it to him, I'm just going to pray it. I'm just going to pray it. It really is that simple. It really is that simple.

There is a fervency in mission. That comes from just believing what the gospel says. what the gospel says.

So we're going to look at John 15, 16. And so I'm going to show you how real belief in the gospel produces this.

Now, what we're going to do is we're going to read verse 16. Actually, we'll back up, start at verse 13, get a little bit of the context. And then, it's like I've explained to you, John 15 is kind of the summary passage for a larger passage, which is John 13 through 17. That's all kind of one unit of scripture.

So, we find Jesus talk at a little more depth in some of other places of John, 13 through 17.

So, we're going to start there in John 15, then I'm going to take you to a couple other places and we'll go a little deeper. Let's start in verse 13. Jesus says, Greater love has no one than this. Then someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

Verse 16, you did not choose me. But I chose you and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. That's so that your fruit should abide.

So that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it. See you. There are three things that Jesus teaches us in this verse. That if you really believe then. If they intimately captivate your heart.

will produce a fervency admission. I do not want you to leave here with a guilt complex because it is very simple to understand that if you are not fervent in mission, it goes back to something that you don't believe.

So let's keep our focus not on how much we stink in our behavior, but let's keep our focus on how belief in the gospel produces these things. Three things that I see, I'll give them to you all up front and walk them one at a time. Number one, God's plan. Number two, God's promise. Number three, God's love.

God's plan, God's promise, God's love. Let's start with number one: God's plan. Verse 16 says, He chose us for a purpose. He had a plan for us. And this was a big part of it, mission.

that we were to go and bear fruit in the world. This is not something for a few of us. This is for all of us. If you are chosen... And the way that you know that you are chosen, by the way, is you're a follower of Jesus.

According to the Bible, you would never have sought God on your own.

So the fact that you love Jesus and know Jesus and walk with Jesus is the sign that you have been chosen. If you are chosen, then one of his major purposes was that you would go and bear fruit and that that fruit would take root in others. And that you would be successful in mission. We are God's plan for accomplishing His mission of reconciling others to Himself. We are God's plan A.

There is no plan B. We are how God said he was going to bring about the completion of his mission on earth.

So let's leave there, go back one chapter to John 14, and let me show you where Jesus goes at a little more depth here, saying the same thing he's saying here in 15, 16. We're going to go a little more in depth and show you a truly astounding statement that Jesus makes. I mean, it's the kind that if you really take seriously, it almost makes you like, what? Are you here? All right, look at it.

John 14, 12. Truly, truly, I say to you, by the way, when Jesus has to preface what he says with truly, truly, you should know he's not lying because he's the Son of God. But when he says, and I just want to throw in a truly, truly, just so you know, I'm not lying or exaggerating, because this is going to be really hard to believe. Truly, truly, I say to you: whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do. And greater works than these will he do, because I'm going to the Father.

Whatever you ask in my name, this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Verse 14: if you ask me anything in my name, I'll do it. Like, can we be honest for a minute and admit? That sounds like a completely absurd statement, does it not? We will do greater works than Jesus.

Seriously? Anybody here raise the dead? Anybody? Anybody ever taken five loaves of two fish and fed 15,000 people? Anybody done anything that comes close to that?

How can we possibly do greater works than Jesus? How can you do something greater than raise the dead? How can you preach with greater clarity than Jesus preached? How can you preach with more anointing? How can you have better fellowship with the Father?

How can you receive more and better answers to prayer than Jesus had? How could we do greater works than Jesus did? What's he mean? Greater is not greater in their quality, it is greater in their quantity. You see, he answers it in the context there.

Jesus is about to go to the Father. When Jesus was on earth, the Holy Spirit resided on him. And what Jesus is saying is that when he goes to the Father, the Spirit's gonna come and it's gonna reside in all of his followers. Listen, and the net effect. Of all of those followers ministering in the power of the Spirit would be greater than if Jesus Himself remained on earth.

Would you think about that for a minute? What if Jesus had stuck around? Where he preached every weekend and healed people. I think he'd probably be pretty effective. But even that, even Jesus personally staying and pastoring his own church would not have as much potential as 6,000 members of the summit church full of the Holy Spirit ministering in his power.

Isn't that astounding? Even Jesus himself would not be as powerful as all of us in the power of the Spirit, taking the power of the Spirit to those places. I think there's a question in that for our church. And I think there's a question in that for you as an individual. Here's the question for our church, and I'll just kind of let you behind the scenes.

This is a question we as a staff ask together. Here's the question. Are we structuring our church in a way that recognizes the reality here in John 14, 12? You see, I feel like a lot of churches are set up as if the Spirit of God resides in a few gifted leaders. And the rest of you are supposed to come and sit in the audience and just awe and bask in the anointing of these.

Gifted, anointed few.

Now, you guys know that I don't want to take away from the fact that God has specially gifted a few of us in the church to bless you. Paul says in Ephesians 4 that God would do that. He appoints apostles and pastors and teachers. But that said, okay? Even after recognizing that the whole point of John 14, 12 is not that the Spirit of God would reside only or even primarily in a handful of leaders, but that he would reside in every believer.

That means if we really believe this verse, We are going to structure our church so that the focus is on equipping you for ministry, not just gathering you in here to listen to me minister. Our greatest effectiveness is not what I do in here, it's what you do out there. I've often pointed out to you that Paul in Ephesians 4.11 says that God gave pastors and teachers for the, you know this verse, Ephesians 4.11? God has appointed pastors and leaders and teachers for the, for the what? Equipping, right?

The equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. According to that verse, Who does the ministry? The saints, that's right. Who were the saints? You are, that's right.

You are the saints. I'm not the saints. I'm not the saint. You're the saint. You do the ministry, which is why I often tell people that when I became a pastor, I left the ministry.

People always say, I went into the ministry. That's actually exactly the opposite. I left the ministry because I became an equipper who would equip you for the work of. The ministry. It happens through you.

Because God's spirit is in you. Here's a really practical consideration on this. You know that people who start searching for God today don't usually start in church. Do you realize that, right? Most people today are seeking spirituality outside the church.

So the place where the power of Jesus first intersects with them is not through me in here, but through you out there. They are likely never to come and hear me in here until you have intersected with them in the power of the Spirit out there. Here is the question for you. How much do you see this verse being played out in your life? Are you seeing God speak through you to others?

Have you seen him answer huge prayers through you? This is why God chose you. See what it says? He chose you to do this. He's like, I've heard it described, he's like a spiritual tornado.

You see something get sucked into a tornado, you know one thing, it's coming back out. With almost equal velocity, what he got sucked in. If you get sucked into the vortex of God's power, his whole point is to send you back out. What God does is he enters and blesses so that he uses you in ministry. That is what God has put on you to do.

And if you are not living that, you are not living the plan of God. That's not a few of us, that's all of us. Because it's not about what happens through me in here, it's what happens through you out there. I want the Summit Church to raise you up, its members, to be filled with the Spirit, to change your world where God has placed you, because that's what Jesus promised. He shows us God's plan.

Number two. He gives us God's promise. That's number two, God's promise. When Jesus says, I chose you to bring forth fruit, that's an implicit promise, isn't it? I will bring forth fruit in you.

I love that. Because that gives me such confidence. John 17, if you flip over there for a minute, you'll see he even prays for that. John 17, verse 18, Jesus says, As you sent me into the world, Jesus talking to the Father, as you sent me into the world, So I have sent them into the world. Then he goes on to pray for him.

Do you understand that Jesus is praying for you about this? That you would be fruitful in the context in which he has placed you. That gets me fired up. Because right before I got up here to preach, Jesus. kicked off in heaven, praying to the Father that I would be successful.

How can I fail? Because Jesus is praying for me. Boldness and mission come from believing the promise that Jesus attached to it. Here's another way of looking at this. Question.

Christians talk a lot about the Great Commission, right? What word begins the Great Commission? What word begins the Great Commission? We all want to say. Go!

That's not what begins in the Great Commission. The Great Commission begins in Matthew 28:18, and it goes like this: All authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth. Therefore, That's an important word, therefore. Because you've heard this before. Anytime you see the word therefore in scripture, you always look and see what it's there for.

and it's always pointing you backwards to the previous verse. All authority is given, therefore go. The great commission begins with a great promise. And the Great Commission, you'll only have boldness in it when you actually believe that promise. The reason is because when Jesus says, all authority has been given to me, And when Jesus says, I will build my church of every tribe and tongue and nation on earth, we believe him.

Because he's got that kind of authority. In fact, let me show you something else here. Go back to chapter 15, verse 16, our kind of anchor verse. Jesus said, I chose you. This gets me super fired up.

I chose you. To that, whatever you ask the Father in my name, He gives it to you. Isn't that amazing? God has appointed you to be in places where you will ask great things, impossible things, in his name. And in response to your faith, He will give it.

He put you there and said, ask me great stuff. And in response to that, I'm going to pour out my power. There's a concept we teach at our church called intercessory faith. Intercessory faith is basically this. We understand, you study the New Testament.

that God's power is poured out in response to faith. Study the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You'll see how many times Jesus is going somewhere, minding his own business.

Somebody comes up to him with a need. And Jesus will do something almost rude to them. I'll give you a great example. One of my favorite stories: Luke chapter 9: Gentile woman, Syro-Phoenician woman, comes up to him and says, Jesus, I need you to heal my daughter. Jesus looks at her and says, woman, It is not right to take the bread that was intended for children.

and give it to the dogs. What he was saying is not right for me to take the bread, which was intended for the Jews, and give it to Gentile dogs. How rude could you possibly get. Right? I mean, I've read commentators who try to point out that the word that Jesus used for dog meant little puppy.

Maybe so, but it still means dog. And that's just never a compliment. Especially in that day, it meant you were unclean. The woman's totally undaunted. Right?

She looks back at Jesus and she says, yeah, that's right. But you know what? In a rich person's house Even the dogs get to eat what falls off of the master's table. Translation: There is so much grace and mercy in your heart. There is so much bread of grace that it overflows off of your table that there's enough even for a dog like me.

And Jesus says, I've never seen faith like that. You have your miracle. Because she understood how gracious God was. Intercessory faith is us being in a place where we understand God's compassion. And we stand between God's infinite compassion and somebody's infinite need, and we bridge the gap.

You see, God only pours out his power in response to faith. And where there is not faith, he's not gonna pour out his power.

So he puts us places to ask on their behalf. That's intercessory faith. People talk about intercession and prayer sometimes like they think we're God's tattletale. Like we're telling God some stuff that he doesn't know. Like we're God's CNN news ticker reel where we tell God stuff.

He's like, oh, I had no idea that was going on. Thanks for telling me.

Now I'll go fix it. That's God knows what's going on. God puts us in places to believe in his compassion and by believing to release his compassion into a situation. That is intercessory faith.

So what if the reason, here's the question, what if the reason that God is not working in your context? is because there's just nobody there to believe him. and his willingness to do so. Matthew 13, 58. And he did not, Jesus did not do many mighty works there.

There's Nazareth because of their unbelief. What if the reason God was not working in your family, in your workplace, in your suite, in your dorm? On your campus, it's because there's just nobody there to believe him and thereby release his compassion and power into. the situation. You see, God's command for us to go is shrouded in promise.

The reason that many of you have never been bold or consistent in your witness and your involvement in mission is because you've never believed that promise. Jesus said, I chose you. I put you in that place. In that work situation, in that dorm, in that family, I put you there to believe me on behalf. Of an unbelieving group, and by believing, release my power into the situation.

Does that not fill you with a sense of power that would give you the ability to speak even when they are completely closed to what you have to say? You are listening to Summit Life with JD Greer. You can always find more resources online free of charge by visiting jdgreer.com. We'll return to our teaching series in just a moment, but I wanted to let you know about our latest resource. At Summit Life, our mission is to help people everywhere dive deeper into the gospel and live it out every day.

That's why we create resources like the Gospel Prayer Catechism, a simple scripture-saturated tool to help you grow in your prayer life. Built around the four core truths of the gospel prayer, this e-book includes short Q ⁇ A prompts, biblical reflection, and real-life application to help you internalize the gospel and let it shape your daily walk with Jesus. Whether you're looking to jumpstart your own devotional rhythm or lead your family or small group through gospel-centered prayer, this tool was made for you. We'll send it to you by email immediately as a thank you gift. You can make your donation today by calling 866-335-5220.

That's 866-335-5220. Or visit us online at jdgreer.com. Thanks for being with us.

Now, let's finish up our teaching for the day. Once again, here's Pastor JD Greer. I hear people say sometimes, like, oh, well, you know, people 100 years ago were so much more open to the gospel. No, they were not. People apart from Christ are spiritually dead.

Anytime somebody believes in Christ, it takes a miracle of resurrection. Right? God always has to use Resurrection power, and he is no less willing and able to do that today than he was 100 years ago. You see, the gap is not in his compassion or power. The gap is in the fact that there's just nobody here to believe him.

What if that was your role where you are? Wouldn't that give you a sense of confidence? Think about Peter walking on the water. You know that story where Jesus calls Peter and says, Peter, come to me on the water? Imagine if that had been Peter's idea.

So, Peter, you know, oh, there's Jesus. I bet he'll help me walk on the water.

So, he hops out of the boat, starts taking two or three steps, and then he has this thought: what if Jesus didn't want me to do this? What if this was like, you know, a little egotistical? Then all of a sudden he starts to doubt and he sinks. But the fact that Jesus was the one who told him, get out of the boat and walk to me, should have sustained him in the moment of doubt by saying, you know what, if Jesus chose me to be out here, Jesus will give me the power to stand up. What if you understood that Jesus had placed you in a situation?

and chosen you to be in that situation.

So when you're in that situation, You're like, I'm not here because this was my idea. He chose me and put me here to speak in his name and to pray in his name. And he would not have put me here if he did not have the intention of holding me up and blessing me. Do you see how that would give you a sense of confidence? I know I've shared a lot of letters with you this.

Series, but I gotta do I gotta do one more. Um I preached at a middle school camp And I remember one of the messages one night was about something about like being a champion for God, David and Goliath, and they'd be a champion for God.

Well, this girl that was at the student camp somehow gets my. address and she sends me this letter. And basically, it comes back, and she sent me this letter that tells me that she's going to go be a champion for God. She's going to share Christ with some of the kids in her neighborhood.

So I write her back a little note of encouragement, four lines long. You know, it's like, hey, just want you to know I'm praying for you, proud of you. God wants you to use you as a champion for God. Blah blah blah, send her this little letter. I get back this letter right here, five lines long.

Let me read it to you. Dear JD. I really don't think I'm going to be a champion for God. I told the kids in my neighborhood about Christ and they just didn't believe me. They laughed at me and I felt like a jerk, a fool, and a stupid coward.

I didn't know what to do. What really made me look like an idiot was when I cried, got on my bike, and left. And every time I think about this situation, I feel so bad. And I don't ever want to do that again. When you wrote back to me, I felt like all of this was going to go okay.

It didn't. Your friend, and then she signed her name.

Okay, so You know, I jotted back a little note, little handwritten note as Roadback says, hey, and I remember saying some stuff in it about like, Hey, you know, be encouraged. God is the one who does this. Your responsibility is just to be faithful. You know, I went back to the Dave and Goliath thing. I was like, keep tossing the rocks at Goliath.

And when God wants to knock the giant down, God will do it. That's not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to be faithful. And I gave her some verses to think about. I get this note back: Dear JD.

I read the scriptures that you said in your letter in 1 Samuel was talking about David and Goliath. David defeated Goliath with no armor because he knew he was protected by God.

Well, when I went up to those people, I didn't feel that. Before I went up there, I wanted God to help me. I prayed to God. I wanted God to give me the strength, the courage, and the power to witness to these people. And I felt it.

I felt in my body that God was working inside of me. But JD, I went up there and I lost it. I mean, I lost all of that feeling inside of me. I was scared. I freaked out.

I'd given her 1 Corinthians 1, 26 to 31. She said, I also read 1 Corinthians 1, 26 through 31. What does that mean? Yeah. When you said, keep tossing the rocks and let the giant fall when God chooses, never give up.

Are you telling me to go back up to those people again? I don't think so, JD. I mean, if I try to go to another person and witness, I'd probably just mess that up too. The lesson that was in your letter: we go and people laugh, but we don't care because the power comes from God, JD, like I said, I didn't feel it. And I don't think I will witness to anyone ever again.

I'm sorry, JD, I'm a loser. That's how she ends that letter. Seventh grader. I had every intention of writing her back. But, like, four days later, I get this final letter.

Let me read this to you. Dear JD. All caps, it is a miracle. You will not, underlying all caps, believe what just happened to me. JD, I don't know what just happened to me 30 minutes ago, but I know God had to do something to do with it.

JD, the people that I witnessed to came to me and I didn't even know why they were at my house. But one of them said something like, Laura Beth, I want to tell you first that I'm sorry that I laughed at you because you were talking to us about your God. But when you got into that part about hell and stuff, it kind of freaked me out.

So I kind of want to know about this God.

So I said, great. And I ran upstairs to get my Bible and I showed them Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And I explained that once you accept Christ as your personal Savior, he'll never kick you out of heaven. If you steal, drugs, kill, any of that stuff that is bad and wrong, but you ask him for forgiveness, he will forgive you. But you can just do whatever you want that is bad, like the examples I've given you and then say, I'm sorry, God, forgive me, amen.

And then do the same thing the next day. Let's say you just lied to someone and don't confess. When you're in heaven, you're going to come before God and he's going to say, why did you do that? And you won't get an award, but if you do get an award, you're going to kneel down and place it at Jesus' feet. And I went on about hell, and I saw that she was crying, and these tears were running down her face, and I knew she needed somebody.

So I hugged her. And she said and called her name. I want to be saved. I don't want to go to hell. And I said, God won't send you to hell if you'll accept him as your savior.

So we said a prayer, and I made sure that she understood what I just said to her, and she did. JD, I owe you one, man. If you didn't get me back on track with God, I don't know where I would be right now, and that girl wouldn't be saved today. P.S., thank you, JD. You are the best friend that I've ever had, and I don't think I could ever ask for a better one.

Isn't that awesome? There is a confidence. That you get. Because you know that you've been chosen. You're not out there because it's your idea.

You're overseas serving in an unreached people group. You're in the unreached people group known as the college dormitory. It's God's idea. And God is able to do it. to make the rocks praise him if he wants to, he can work on your roommate's heart.

If you'll just obey him and believe him. He delights in taking the people that appear to be the most closed. and transforming them into his greatest followers. He loves to do that.

So, why don't you get in that place, speak boldly, and ask God for a miracle and watch what He does? The last thing that Jesus shows us. In verse 16, that gives us boldness and fervency and mission. All right, verse 16, look at this. God's love.

God's love. Jesus said, verse 13, you are my friends. And I laid down my life for you. You know, we've all heard all these stories from 9-11. 314 firemen who went back into the world trade centers at the peril of their lives to save somebody.

Jesus didn't go into a burning tower to save us. He stepped between us and God's judgment. He didn't just risk his life, he gave it up. More than that. At that point, that he came to rescue us, we weren't even his friends.

We were his enemies. We were the ones who were crucifying him. We weren't looking for him. That's why I used the word chose. Chose means that we weren't searching for him.

We were crucifying him. He came after us. And he chose us when we had no interest in him at all. How could we possibly believe that? And how could we understand what the fate of others is without Christ and do nothing?

You see, what it means to be changed by the gospel is that you begin to love others in the same manner and to the same extent that you have been loved. That's the question I always ask you to consider. Where would you be? Where would you be had Jesus chosen not to die on a cross for you? Answer, you'd be in exactly the same place.

that people in our world are right now who have not heard about Jesus. Because it's like Martin Luther used to say, it don't matter how many times Christ died on the cross, if nobody ever heard about it, it wouldn't do anybody any good. Because salvation is a gift that has to be received. And to be received, it has to be heard about.

So, Romans 10:14, how are they going to call on the one they've never heard about? And how are they going to hear unless we preach to them? You see, in this sense, the salvation act, God's salvation act, is not complete until we preach it to the person so that they can hear it. In that sense. How could we understand that?

How could we understand what Jesus did for us and understand that there are millions more around us, around the world? that are just like we were and do nothing. Church, we are God's plan. We're the only way they'll ever hear. I know it's very fun to sit around and fantasize about other ways that God might have of preaching the gospel, but I'll just tell you this: you go study it this week: Book of Acts, the only recorded church history volume that we have.

Inspired by God, the book of Acts, not one time, not once. Does anybody preach the gospel in there who's not a human being? God sends angels. God, you know, transmogrifies people by means of the Spirit. He does a lot of wild stuff in there.

But the one who preaches the gospel is always a human being. We are the only way that God The only instrument God uses to preach the gospel to the world. How could we believe that and do nothing? I remember sharing Christ one time with a girl. I was a college student.

Who, I mean, she's a total skeptic. And after I shared the gospel, she just looked at me and said, There's no way I can believe that. I was like, why? She said. Because if I believed that, that would overwhelm me to where I went to my friends.

On my hands and my knees, we've been saying you have to listen. She said, you talk about this like you're talking about politics. How could you believe that? and not do anything about it. and not say anything about it.

But what if I looked out the window and I saw my daughter playing in the road? She's got her headphones on and she can't hear anything. And I see a tractor trailer coming at her, about to run over her. And am I not going to go outside running and screaming? To get her to move.

Is our situation any different? Are the people around us in any different situation? How can we do nothing?

Somebody asked Charles Spurgeon one time, they're like, hey. What about people that have never heard? Can they have a chance to be saved? And Spurgeon's answer back to them was so important. He said, He said, You know, that's a very good question.

We ought to consider it. But a bigger question to me is how can those of us who have heard and do nothing to take him to people who haven't heard, how could we possibly be saved? How could we say the love of Christ is in us? And we look around at people who... Just don't know.

And we don't even speak a word to them. Parents, do your kids know? Kids, do your parents know? Do your roommates know? Your workmates know?

Do your teammates know? How could we say we actually believe the gospel and do nothing? When I was in Indonesia, I served over there. This was my screensaver on my computer. That was a graveyard about half a mile from my house.

Those are Muslim graves. That means every one of those people in those graves died without Christ. Everyone. Kids in my neighborhood live two or three houses down from me. I played soccer with him probably three times a week out in the little community soccer field.

That's my screensaver to remind me that. Unless somebody preaches the gospel to them. There's no chance that they won't end up here. Why do we go all over the world? Because you believe that.

And where there is no fervency of mission, it just goes back to the fact that you don't really believe it. You just don't really believe it. Mission is an act of obedience, but it's just an act of love. That would happen if you really believed. This is not something, by the way, for a few of you.

It's for all of you. It's not something you start doing after you go to seminary. This is something that God has given to you. You know why many of us don't do it? I'll just be real personal with you.

These are the reasons I don't do it sometimes. When you care more about what people think about you. Then you do about the state of somebody's soul. There are situations that you won't speak into because you are so worried about what people will think about you. And I just ask you, just to think about this.

How could you? How could you be so Self-centered. That you would keep your mouth shut. Just because you were afraid of what they would think or say. Even more than that.

We care more about what people think about us than we do the Jesus that gave his life to die for us. For some of us, the reason we don't is because we don't really believe the gospel. You say that you believe it. You say that you believe it, but how could you? Your casual apathetic approach to mission speaks much louder than whatever creed you say that you espouse.

You wonder the reason that they don't believe that heaven and hell are real? Because we don't act like it's real. They're like with your mouth, you're saying that this stuff is real, but with your Apathetic lifestyle, there's no way I would believe that. The way you preach the gospel preaches louder than the gospel you preach. We don't really believe it.

Here's another reason I put down.

Some of us don't know anybody who's unsaved. You live in a Christian bubble. A very simple step for many of you. In obedience to what God is saying to us, it's just to have somebody that's Not a believer over for dinner. Expand your circle to include people outside of the church.

Here's what I know. If you know lost people and you know Jesus, you will tell them about Jesus. If you are not telling people about Jesus, one of those two things is broken. Either you just don't know anybody that's unsaved. Or you don't really believe the gospel.

If you have both of them, you will be sharing Christ. If you don't know anybody who's unsaved, I don't know how in the world you could follow a savior who said he came to seek and save the lost and you not know anybody who's lost. And if you know somebody who's lost and you believe the gospel, you'll tell them about it. Here's another reason people give. Lack of training.

Honestly, I'm just going to tell you this. I don't buy the whole lack of training excuse. I don't buy that for very long because if it's important to you, you'll find a way to get trained. If you knew that one of your kids was trapped in a burning building and nobody else was around, would you use the fact that you're not trained as a fireman as an excuse to not even try to help them? Would you would you would you be okay with that?

And how honestly, how hard is it anyway? I mean, let me just switch the analogy. If you were trapped in a burning building, And right before you got engulfed in the flames, a man burst through the door. Picked you up, carried you down 10 flights of stairs, and set you in safety on the sidewalk. And somebody walks by and says, what just happened?

You may not know the man's name. You may not know a lot of stuff about fire safety, but you don't have to know that much to say. I was dying and that guy saved me. The gospel is simply that Jesus stepped in the way of the wrath that we deserved and suffered the penalty for our sins, and He saved our lives. You just don't have to know that much to be able to tell somebody, I was dying, I was condemned to my sin, and he paid the penalty in my place.

You know Jesus, you know lost people, you will figure out a way. Listen, this is why God saved you and put you here. This was his plan. He gave you his promise. He demonstrated his love.

Have you begun to follow him here? This is part of what it means to follow Jesus. Are you all in? Are you all in? Are you just playing a game?

Because if the gospel has really transformed you, this will come out of you. And if you're not doing this, I would just ask you to consider whether or not you're really his follower. Are you all in? You're either following him here. Or you don't really believe this stuff.

Because it's impossible to believe it not do it. By the way, one more thing I'll say to you that are not believers.

Some of you come and you're like, well, this is exactly why I'm not a Christian, because y'all talk like this, and I hate this. Want to leave her by alone? How could we believe this? and not speak about it. I'm not saying this because I think we're better than you.

I'm not saying this because I think we're more righteous and we're judging you and. Looking down on you. I'm just right. We're not. I'm just doing this because We believe what the gospel says, and we believe that Jesus saved us when we had nothing.

So now we offer it to others and just say this is what we've seen and heard. We want you to be saved. Why don't you bow your heads with me if you would? Let me pray for you. Would you just think of somebody that you know?

Who's lost? Would you pray? You pray for that person that's on your mind right now. Have you received Christ? You understand that this gets to the heart of what we believe, why we do what we do.

Father, I pray in Jesus' name. for all these names, thousands of names that have just went out before you. God, give us opportunity this week and give us courage to step into these situations and to speak words of life. God, when you open the door, help us to go through it. God, use us to seek and save the lost.

We pray in Jesus' name. How will you respond when the door is open to share your faith? That's a powerful challenge from Pastor JD here on the Summit Life podcast. At Summit Life, you'll often hear the phrase, deep and wide, but what does it actually mean? Going deep means the gospel isn't just something we hear.

It's something that changes us. It reshapes how we see God, how we understand ourselves, and how we live each day. the gospel moves from information to transformation. But when the gospel truly goes deep, it never stays there. It naturally goes wide into our relationships, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, and ultimately to the world.

God's design has always been that changed lives would lead to changed communities. That's why Summit Life creates resources that help people grow spiritually and then live missionally right where God has placed them. Whether you're new to faith or have followed Jesus for years, this mission is for you. If you want to grow deeper in the gospel and be part of advancing it wider, we invite you to come explore Summit Life at jdcreer.com. We'll see you next time.

Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries. Yeah.