Fruit of Evangelism

My name is Will Taburen, and I'm one of the pastors here. And it's a great honor to be with you here on Father's Day, and so let me go ahead and say to all of our fathers, we celebrate you today and are very thankful for you and for the investment that you make day in and day out with your kids. And so let me encourage you dads, if you want to have a good laugh with your kids and do something fun, I would encourage you today to take a few minutes and ask them about a time when you really, really embarrass them. Just a time where you really embarrass them. I did that with my kids a couple of days ago, and I was a little bit disheartened by how quickly they thought of examples of things that I had done to embarrass them and how they just kind of popped them off really quick. My daughter, who just graduated from high school last Sunday night, she had about a thousand examples of the ways I embarrassed her, but she said, Dad, do you remember? Do you remember that time you bought us that high school musical CD? Now, some of you are judging me right now for buying my kids a high school musical. Just stop, all right?

Because you know it's great. All right? So I said, yeah, I remember that. And she said, I remember that time where you had to borrow mom's van as if that weren't embarrassing enough and go run some errands one night, and it was late. And then the next morning, mom had to take us to school. And so when we got in the car, you had cranked the radio and you were rocking out the high school musical.

I was like, yeah, I remember that. So I'm confessing to all my brothers and sisters in Christ and the Summit Church that I enjoyed watching high school musical with my daughter. So ask your kids today, have a little fun with it. They'll get a kick out of it, and so will you. I have the joy this weekend of teaching the second message in our series on bearing fruit. Pastor Rodell started us off extremely well last week as he shared with us about the fruit of repentance and how important it is for us to live lives of continual repentance as he challenged us from Psalm chapter 51.

So if you didn't get a chance to hear it, I would encourage you to go back and to listen to it. I assure you, you'll be really, really blessed by it. So this weekend, as we continue in our series, we're going to study and we're going to take a look at bearing the fruit of evangelism. Now, I don't want to assume that everybody here knows what I mean when I use the word evangelism, so I want to take just a second and I want to define it for you.

So if you have notes, I want to encourage you to write this down. Evangelism is simply this. It is talking to others about the gospel. It's talking to others about the gospel. When we talk about the gospel, we use four words around the Summit Church. It's Jesus in my place, the good news that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

Jesus came to live the life that we should have lived perfectly and without sin and died the death that we were condemned to die in our place. And so that is the good news of the gospel. We want to talk to others about the good news of the gospel with an aim to persuade them. With an aim to persuade them, our role as Christians is to help others who are far from God come to know the hope that resides within us.

We believe that what every person needs is to have an encounter with Jesus Christ and to respond to His grace and to His love and to His mercy, knowing that Jesus is all satisfying, right? Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians that we are His ambassadors and that God is making His appeal through us. We're the means of grace that this gospel message is going to go through. We're the ones who are His mouthpiece of His goodness and His awesomeness. Now I know as soon as I mention evangelism, it conjures up for you a wealth of different emotions.

A wealth of emotions. Some of you, you get a little bit excited about it. You've had some really good experiences with evangelism. We've seen people respond to the gospel. But for others of you, and probably most of you, your experiences with the gospel haven't been all that positive. And so when you hear the word evangelism, it strikes in you a spirit of fear or you get a little timid or there's some anxiety there.

It just brings up a little bit of trepidation because your experiences haven't been all that good. And the very idea of having to kind of be out there as it relates to your faith is a little bit, you know, it's just a little bit challenging. Well, here's what I want to ask you to do. This weekend, I want to challenge you to enter into me with the study of God's word with a willingness to kind of let the Holy Spirit lead you as we look at an encounter that Jesus has with the woman at the well, the woman from Samaria. So if you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn with me to John chapter four. And we're going to start reading here in just a minute in verse seven.

But before I do, let me give you a little bit of context. At the beginning of chapter four, we see that Jesus is making his way from Judea down to Galilee. In order to do that, you realize that he would either have to go around Samaria or he would have to go through Samaria.

To go around it would add about five or six days to his journey. So to go through it was much quicker. But the problem is the Jews and the Samaritans hated one another. The Jews hated the Samaritans for a couple of reasons. First of all, the Jews saw them as an inferior race.

When the kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the northern and the southern kingdom, the northern kingdom was taken captivity by the Assyrians. When the Assyrians came in, they moved a lot of the Jews out, they moved foreigners in, and the Jews that remained intermarried with these foreigners. And so over time, the Jews began to look at this group of people just as an inferior race, and they hated them because they had intermarried with foreigners. But there was a second reason that the Jews hated them, and that was predominantly because they believed that the Samaritans held false religious beliefs. The Jews believed that they worshipped the wrong things, and they worshipped in the wrong places.

And so the Jews hated them. So as we pick up our story, Jesus is making his way through Samaria, he's tired from his journey, and he sits down at a well where he has an encounter with the Samaritan woman. So let's pick up our reading in verse 7.

And Jesus said to her, Or have to come here to draw water. But the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. And the woman said to him, And then in verse 28, So this is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together and let's ask the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts as we dive into this text together. God, we love you, and we thank you for these opportunities that we have as brothers and sisters in Christ to gather around the teaching of your word. And Lord, I pray that in these moments, Lord, your Holy Spirit would speak to us. Lord, I pray, God, where there needs to be conviction, Lord, I pray that there would be conviction. Lord, where there needs to be faith, Lord, I pray that you would open up eyes to see how all satisfying you are. Lord, I pray that we would respond by faith and obedience to what you're calling us to do in these next few moments. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Now here's what I want to do with us this morning. When we look at this narrative, this encounter that Jesus has, we see what faithful evangelism really looks like. And so I want to draw out from the text for you five characteristics of faithful evangelism that we see from this. We see from both Jesus and we see from the Samaritan woman.

The characteristics, the first two we're going to look at more are disposition, how we are to do this, how we are to relate with people who don't know Christ. And then the second three are going to deal more with the how or the what, the content of what we're trying to convey. Okay? So let's jump in. If you're taking notes, I want you to write these five things down. The first is this. Faithful evangelism requires boldness.

Okay? Faithful evangelism requires boldness. And what's interesting is you see that not only in Jesus, but you also see it in the woman.

First, you see it in Christ. You see his boldness in the very fact that he talks to her. And when he talks to her, it so surprises her that it shocks her. Look with me at verse seven.

Give me a drink, he says to her. And the Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? Now, I don't want you to miss all of the cultural implications that are found here, because when we understand the cultural implications, we see just how bold Jesus is being, right? There's three cultural implications that we see, three massive barriers that Jesus just presses through.

First, he presses through the barrier of her being a woman, right? It was extremely rare for a rabbi at that time to talk to any woman, much less a woman from Samaria. In fact, it was so shocking to the disciples in verse 27 that when they walked up on it, they were just kind of flabbergasted by it. They didn't say a word to Jesus. And it wasn't because they were trying to be nice and courteous as he was having this relationship. They were looking at it going, he should not be talking to this woman.

Jewish thought of the day said this, one scholar said, Jewish thought held that for a rabbi to talk much with a woman, even his own wife, was at best a waste of time, and at worst, a diversion from the study of the Torah, which was a study of the law, and therefore potentially a great evil that could lead to hell. So this is kind of the thinking of the day, and Jesus just presses right through that. So he presses through this gender barrier, but not only that, we see he presses through this cultural, societal, political, race barrier by talking to a Samaritan woman. We've already seen that there was great disdain, but Jesus just busts right through that.

But then thirdly, he busts through another barrier that I think is really important. It's the one that blows me away the most. And that's this. This woman was a social outcast. And we know she's a social outcast, one, because she's coming to the well alone, and she's coming at noon, right? For most women of the day, they would have come to the well early in the morning.

And they would have come with a group of women, they would have come together and they would have enjoyed it, it would have been a communal time, they would have drawn water together, and then they would have gone out because they needed water for most everything that they use during the day. But here, this woman, she comes out alone, she comes out with no one else, and she's drawing water at the heat of the day, which reveals to us that this woman was seen as an outcast of her society, she was looked down upon, and she wasn't welcome where other people were welcome. And yet Jesus engages with her at an incredibly high level. Jesus boldly speaks to her, totally disregarding the implications because Jesus is radically convinced that what he has is what she needs.

So he's incredibly bold with her. But we don't just see it in Jesus, we see it also in the response of the woman, right? Here she is. She's an outcast. You can only imagine based upon her sexual sin, and the number of marriages that she's had, you can only imagine what it was like for her to live in that context, right? She experienced shame, embarrassment, ridicule, all these things were a part of her everyday life. Imagine what it must have been for her to go back into the town, to go back into the town and proclaim to anyone who would listen to her, come and see a man who has told me everything there is about me, who's told me all about my sexual past, who's told me all about my failures, and yet loves me anyway.

She was opening up herself for more shame, more ridicule, more embarrassment, and yet she was so captivated by the love of Christ that she went and did it anyway. Incredible boldness. You see, listen, the reason most of us aren't bold, the reason most of us aren't bold, it's really driven by fear. We listen to that little voice in our minds that says, what are they gonna say? What are people gonna think? What are people gonna do when they find out that I believe that Jesus is all satisfying and He's the only hope in this life and the life that is to come? We listen to that little voice. Well, some at church, I want to tell you, we need to start listening to a louder voice. We need to listen to a voice that says, listen, go into all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I've commanded you. Behold, I am with you what, church?

Always, always to the end of the age. I'm with you. That's the voice we need to be listening to. Listen, I've shared with you before that my youngest son, Alex, is autistic, and we often struggle with the best ways to lead him and to lead him spiritually, and so we're always trying new things. So the other morning, I'm having my quiet time, and I see Alex in there, and Alex comes over to me, and I invite him over to me, and I take him by the hands. I say, Alex, look at me, because he struggles with icon. I said, look at my eyes. I said, Alex, you're a sweet, sweet boy, and you're a blessing to me, and you're a blessing to our family, and I love you up to the heavens. I said, but you know who loves you even more than me? And he said, me? And I was like, yes, this is my pagan little son who's just so self-centered, right?

He worships himself. I said, no, no, no, not you. I said, Jesus. Jesus loves you even more than me, and he said, Jesus, and he walked away. Then a few hours later, I called him back over to me.

I wasn't still having my quiet time, but a few hours later, just in the hustle and bustle of the day, I called him back over to me. I grabbed him by the hand and said, Alex, look at me, and he looked me in the eyes, and he said, Alex, you're a sweet, sweet boy, and you're a blessing to me and to our family, and I love you so much up to the heavens, but you know who loves you even more than me? And he said, Jesus. And I said, that's right. That's right. I was like, yes.

I kid you not. A few hours later, Alex walks up to me, and he grabs my hand, and he says, Daddy, talk to me. I said, talk to me? I said, well, what do you want me to say?

Because he never initiates that kind of conversation. He says, Daddy, talk to me. So what do you want me to say? He says, say sweet boy, and blessing, and love me, and Jesus.

And so I took him by the hands, and I said, Alex, you're a sweet, sweet boy, and you're a blessing to me and to our family, and I love you so much up to the heavens, but you know who loves you even more than me? And he says, Jesus. And then he says to me, we'll talk soon? And I'm like, yeah, we'll talk soon.

Now, because of his repetitive nature, we've had this conversation like a million times since then, so it really is wearing on me a little bit. But isn't this, listen, isn't this exactly how I should be coming to my Father? I should be coming to my Heavenly Father and say, Dad, talk to me, because I'm so easily forgetful. Talk to me and remind me. Remind me of the promises that are mine in Christ Jesus. Remind me who I am in you.

Remind me that you are with me and nothing can frustrate the plans of God. Listen, there is a direct correlation between your boldness and the confidence you have in the one who sent you. The more confident you are in who you are in Jesus, the more bold you will be in proclaiming that message to a lost and dying world.

And so we have to listen to him, listen to that louder voice that he is declaring you over and over again, and that will result in the boldness we need. Number two, faithful evangelism is relational. Again, you can tell that he cares about her personally because he's willing to engage her in spite of the massive chasm that exists between them, socially and through gender and through race and all of those things. But again, notice how Jesus engages with her.

He simply slows down and takes advantage of the environment and circumstances that are right there in front of him. Listen, as Pastor JD reminds us all the time, evangelism is doing everyday life with gospel intentionality. That's what he's doing here.

He's just getting a drink of water, but he's turning it to a spiritual conversation. I was reminded this week of an illustration or of a story that was told to one of our pastors by one of our members who attends our Blue Ridge campus. And she's really been working and focusing on trying to slow down and create margin in her life in order to share with other people. And they have a garden on the side of their house that she and her husband have worked for like the last 20 years. And she told one of our pastors, she said, I'm just really trying to be more intentional. So what I'm doing is when I see people walking down the street or coming by the garden, she said, I just kind of move my way up to the edge of the garden near the road. And as people come by, I'll offer them fresh vegetables, I'll offer them some flowers. And she said, it's amazing what I've learned. She said, I've learned that there are three widows who live right around me, one across the street, one down the street, and one behind me.

And we've begun to strike up this relationship. And now I'm keeping a little prayer journal there so when they walk by, I can write down things that I can be praying for. Do you see what she's doing?

She's living life with gospel intentionality, taking advantage of the opportunities that are right before her as people walk by and she gardens and does the things that she loves. You don't have to go searching for evangelistic opportunities. You just need to have your eyes open to see the ones that exist all around you.

They're right there and it comes and it takes place when we're highly relational. Listen, that's why we've been talking to you all year about who's your one as we enter into this year of disciple making. We've been talking with our small groups, helping them have a rubric to think through, and we've given them a simple fish acronym. The F stands for friendship. The I stands for initiating to the spiritual. How do I take this conversation from just around general things to spiritual things? The S stands for sharing the gospel, teaching and equipping everyone with a simple bridge diagram that helps us see our sin has separated us from God. But God demonstrates His love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and He has bridged the gap between us and the Heavenly Father.

And when we respond to Him through faith and repentance, we can be saved. And then the H is helping them make a decision to follow Christ, just one step forward towards trusting Jesus. Listen, but see that it all starts with friendship. It all starts with friendship. And listen, people need to see that they are more than a project to you.

They need to see that you care about them, that you listen well, that you care about who they are and what they're going through. And as you do, of course you want to get to the gospel. But listen, it's as Rezi Joyner said, people will never believe you love them if they don't believe you like them.

They'll never believe you love them if they don't believe that you like them. And so be intentional. A way that you can know whether you're doing that or not is ask yourself, when you look at the last three months of your life, how many times have you intentionally spent time with people who are non-Christians just because you want to develop friendship with them? Or when you look at your phone and you go back over the last month and you look at the phone calls that you've made and the text messages that you've sent, how many of those are sent or made to non-believers for the sake of building a relationship with them?

Let me chase a little bit of a rabbit right here too and say one other thing. When we talk about evangelism at times, we think about it like it's always in a one-on-one. And yes, we always should be prepared to do that. We always should be prepared whether we're on an airplane or at a restaurant or interacting with the cashier at the grocery store.

We need to be prepared to give a defense. But listen, evangelism won't just take place one-on-one. One of the most beautiful ways evangelism takes place is when you do that in the context of community. In John 13, 35, Jesus reminds us that they will know that you are my disciples by your what?

By your love. How are they going to see your love? They're going to see that when you invite them into your community. That's why we encourage our small groups to do missional hangouts where they're creating environments, informal environments that are natural that everybody enjoys doing, which can be a great way to invite people who don't know Christ into that.

And people can use their gifts. Not everyone is real talkative. Not everyone is real outgoing.

You've got introverts, extroverts. You've got people who have the gift of hospitality. People who have the gift of encouragement. People who are really great evangelists. When you bring them into that context, the body of Christ is able to leverage the gifts within the body. And people see that. They see the way you love one another. And they're able to understand more fully what a life with Christ really looks like.

So it can be done in community. So know that faithful evangelism is not only bold, but it's deeply personal and relational. Number three. Now we're going to kind of get into the meat of it. The what. What are we trying to communicate?

Now listen. Faithful evangelism shows how Jesus is all satisfying. Faithful evangelism will show how Jesus is all satisfying. In verse 10, as he introduces the idea of living water, Jesus begins to gently help her to see that what she needs more than anything in the world is him.

The one who can truly satisfy her every longing. Look with me at verse 13. Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

So do you see what he's doing? He's saying to her, listen, I love how Tim Keller said it. He's saying to her, my salvation is as necessary to you spiritually as water is to you physically.

He continues to say to her, I am what you're looking for. The deepest longings of your soul can only be found in me. And there and only there will you never thirst again.

I love, I love how Bill Hybl said it in his book Just Walk Across the Room. Jesus is the only one who can say to those filled with shame like this woman, grace and forgiveness can come your way. To those who are bound up in destructive habits, when the sun sets you free, you shall be free indeed. To the weak, the strength from God, the strength giver can be yours for the asking. To the weary, Jesus promises you, rest for your weary soul. To the poor, richness of spirit.

To the lacking, provision in due time. To the grieving, consolation in comfort. To the sick and dying, eternal life and new bodies in the life hereafter. Listen, come to that well and you will never ever thirst because Jesus is all satisfying.

He's all satisfying. But you know, as Jesus is conveying this to her, we really begin to see in verse 15 that she still, she still doesn't get it. She says, okay, well let me have this water so I don't have to come back to the well and draw it again. And so in order to help her understand it a little bit more, Jesus turns it for her, which leads us to our fourth characteristic of faithful evangelism and that is this. Faithful evangelism confronts sin. It confronts sin. In order to show how all satisfying Jesus really is, he helps her to see clearly that her sin and how she's trying to satisfy the deepest longings of her soul through relationships just isn't working.

Look with me at verse 16. He says to her, in what has to be one of the most awkward turns of any conversation, right? He's like, well go and call your husband and come here. And the woman answered, huh, I have no husband. And Jesus said to her, you're right in saying I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband.

What you have said is true. It's an incredibly awkward moment that is so poignant because here's the truth, Summit Church. We're all thirsting for something. Every one of us here is thirsting for something. She was trying to quench her spiritual thirst through relationships, through intimacy, believing that the next guy, the next sexual encounter would really finally quench her thirsty soul. Yet after every encounter, she wakes up thirsty again. She wakes up disappointed.

I've heard it described like this. It's like you're trying to bail water out of a boat with a strainer. You're just trying over and over and over again and you're not getting anywhere. Nothing is changing.

You keep bailing but nothing ever changes. The same is true for us spiritually. The thirst is never quenched when that thirst is not found in Christ, when we're not drinking of the living water. She's in a dry and weary land and listen, she's drinking the sand.

And she's so thirsty. For her, it was relationships and sexual intimacy. So the question for some of you here this morning, what's it for you? What is it that you are trying to be satisfied with?

Is it that promotion? Is it finally getting married? Is it that financial stability or the new home or the car?

Is it the acceptance and the approval of people? What is it that you believe will finally give you that satisfaction that you're longing for? Listen, faithful evangelism, don't miss this, faithful evangelism will show how Jesus is all satisfying by comparing it to the cosmic disappointment that is found when we turn good things into ultimate things.

The way we're going to show Jesus is better is by comparing it and showing how these things over here are disappointing. And let's be honest, that is a hard thing to do. But that's the most loving thing to do. To love someone is to show them there is a better way. To love them is to show them, yes, Jesus is all satisfying and you're trying to find it here and you've got to turn and lift your eyes up onto the one who can actually save you and give you that. Now here's what's so beautiful to me about this encounter. Jesus confronts her sin. He confronts her sin while extending her grace. One of the things that's so amazing to me as you read through this encounter is that Jesus offers her the all satisfying living water knowing full well what her sin struggles were.

He doesn't say to her, listen, go get your life all cleaned up and then come back to me. Or you can have the living water, but you're going to have to earn it. That's what every other religion says. Every other religion says, listen, you've got to do these things to earn the favor of God. But Jesus is saying to you, you can't earn it, but I am going to earn it for you. I am going to do it for you.

I am going to die in your place. And some of you, some of you need to see this morning that the living water is a free gift of God, that grace is freely given and extended to her and grace is freely given and extended to you. It's extended to you.

It can't be earned. But you're asking yourself, some of you are asking yourself right now, well, how can it be that? How is it that he cannot judge and keep shame and condemnation upon her?

Well, I want to tell you how, which leads to the fifth characteristic. Faithful evangelism points directly to the cross. It points directly to the cross immediately, notice, immediately after Jesus confronts her.

There's this awkward moment where he knows that all she's ever done, and she realizes that. And so in that really weird moment, she's kind of like, well, I'm going to try to change the topic, and I'm going to ask a theological question. And so she says, I can tell that you're a prophet, and so she asked him, which of these mountains is the true place of worship?

Is it the one here in Samaria or is it the one in Jerusalem where the temple is? And Jesus helps her to see, don't miss this, that it's neither. He says, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You see, when Jesus speaks of the hour here, the hour that is coming, when Jesus speaks of it in John, it's always a reference to his death. It's always a reference to the coming crucifixion. It's a reference to the moment when Jesus would be taken to a different mountain, when he would be taken outside of Jerusalem where criminals are persecuted. He's pointing to the moment where he would die on the cross.

He's pointing to the moment where he would lay down his own life for her and for you and for me. Now I want you to think back with me for just a moment as Jesus is hanging there. You think about all the physical and emotional pain that Jesus experiences as he's laying down his life on the cross. While he's up there, you remember he cries out and he asks for something, right? He says, I'm thirsty.

Can I have something to drink? See, it wasn't just physical thirst that Jesus was experiencing. It was a deep spiritual thirst because in that moment, in that moment Jesus was taking the cup of God's wrath and he was drinking it and he was drinking it all the way down to the dregs.

He was fully satisfying the wrath of God towards you, towards me and towards this woman. You see, here's what Jesus was doing. Jesus became thirsty for you on the cross so that you would never have to be thirsty again.

He became thirsty for you so you wouldn't have to be. The way that you drink of that living water is to come to him through faith and repentance. It's to acknowledge that you're a sinner and that you have a need for a savior and that you're believing that Jesus has done everything necessary to save you and that you're willing to go and do whatever he's calling you to do because he laid down his life for you.

Faithful evangelism points directly to the cross and shows that Jesus did for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. And so I want to say to you, for those who have never drank of the water, come. Come and drink today.

Come and drink and be satisfied. And I want to give you an opportunity in just a moment to make that decision to trust Christ. But before I do, let me share with you, to those of you who have already trusted Christ, for those of you who are Christians, some of you have already experienced the living water that Jesus has had to offer.

But there's a challenge for you here. You've trusted Christ through faith and repentance, but now God is calling you to this mission, to faithfully evangelize. And until you do, listen, until you do, you are never going to fully experience the fullness of joy that God has for you in this life.

And here's how I know that. When the disciples came back to find Jesus talking to the woman, after she left, after she left everything, she drops her water jar and she goes back, she trusts him. After she leaves, the disciples are encouraging Jesus to eat and what does Jesus say to them? He says in verse 32, I have food to eat that you do not know about. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

You see what he's saying? Jesus is saying, I'm nourished by people who are being transformed by the gospel. Therefore, we as Christians ought to be fully nourished when we fully engage in faithful evangelism. Jesus said to his disciples, look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.

Some it's harvesting time. And we want to help you with that. We want to give you resources. In fact, if you go to our website today, you'll find on there ways that you can lead evangelistic studies with people, tools and resources. I'll tell you exactly how to do that. Resources that you can use to accomplish that.

We'll give you resources that will help you do one on one and within one on one environments. 30 day studies that you can do with people that will encourage you and encourage them to trust Christ. Listen, let this be our heart. Charles Spurgeon said, if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees.

If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let no one go unwarned or unprayed for. Let that be our heart. Let's be nourished by and experience the fullness of all God has for us by being faithful in our evangelism.

Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I pray that we, your people, would be found faithful. Lord, I pray that we would see the fields are white for harvest and God, let us be so captivated by your love and so confident of who you are that we can't help but be bold and proclaim the excellencies of Jesus who's brought us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Father, right now, Lord, I want to speak to those who have gathered in this place who have never, never tasted of the living water that Jesus offers. And to you, I want to say today can be the day of your salvation.

If you realize that you've been trying to quench your thirst in all sorts of things, good things that you've turned into ultimate things, good things that are intended to point you back to the Creator, today can be the day of your salvation. If you want to trust Christ, then I want to encourage you to pray this simple prayer. Pray this silently in your heart to God.

There's nothing magical about these words. This is just a posture of your heart. Pray this, God, I realize that I am a sinner. And I realize my sin has separated me from you.

But I believe that Jesus came and died in my place to satisfy the wrath of God towards me. And I believe that you have done everything necessary to save me. And I'm willing to go and do wherever you call me to go and do whatever you call me to do.

Be Lord of my life. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, if that's the prayer you pray, then we want to rejoice with you. We want to talk with you. We're going to give you an opportunity to talk with us at the end of the service. So God, what I'm asking now is you let us be filled with your Holy Spirit and go and passionately lead others to Christ. Not for our glory or the glory of the Summit Church, but for the glory and fame of our Lord and Jesus, we pray. Amen.