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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
My goodness, I didn't know. You can clap for that. I'm sure he's you're not allowed to say be quiet to the kids for a while though, as long as they were gone. You gotta you gotta take it. It's great to have, everybody, here this morning.
John Gunter:It's just a pleasure to worship together and have time together and and all the relationships that are, just continue to grow here. Amen? Amen. Last week, we started, this evangelism mini series. It's call it a mini series just in how many sermons I have, not in how long they go.
John Gunter:So just in case you were wondering. But I've titled it go, and I put the green light up there because I said last week, you probably yelled that at somebody this week, behind them. So we live in Lakes Of Champions, and so we have to, we have to come out by, Papa John's at that red light, you know, across from, Shipley's and you are the Shipley family. Right? Yeah.
John Gunter:The donut people. Okay. But there's a big drop off from Lakes Of Champions down to the red light. And it seems like every time, like, I'm I'm behind people, like, I just want to go because you kinda have to slow down. You can't speed through there like I'd like to.
John Gunter:Right? Or or you're gonna fly off that hump. Have you ever seen that? Y'all just mind your business. Okay?
John Gunter:I'm getting somewhere. But, yeah, we we see this and we know, hey, go. Right? Green light, you need to be going. And so, that's a lot of what we talked about last week.
John Gunter:We talked about the relationships that we have with one another. We we talked about how, what we present to the world, right, should be this this, example of Jesus and his love and his grace and his mercy, but oftentimes it's not, is it? Oftentimes, we talk a big game, but then we don't really act like it. So we're gonna cover we're gonna cover some scripture this morning, like we've been, doing. We're gonna begin with, one scripture we talked about last week, in Matthew nine.
John Gunter:When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Now, one thing I was I got to have a lot of great conversations after last week, and one thing somebody came up and said is, like, I'm I'm so thankful you said, you know, we're all supposed to be going. Right?
John Gunter:I've heard before that it it's just some people. And this passage can sound a little disassociated. You know, pray for the lord of the harvest to send out these workers. But what I want to point out to you that I didn't point out last week is is Jesus is talking to the people who are going. He's talking to people looking at them.
John Gunter:Hey. Pray for more workers because you're going to work. And we don't like that word work, do we? You're gonna go do this thing, right? You're gonna go be my image bearers.
John Gunter:You're gonna go be my example all over. Pray for more. It's not like I'm I'm glad to sit at home and pray, Lord. Somebody else will go. Right?
John Gunter:I always hope that somebody else but me. No. We are supposed to go, and we're supposed to continue to pray for workers to go out into the harvest. You know there are people that you can reach that I can't reach, right? There are people that I can reach that you can't reach.
John Gunter:You understand? We all are in different circumstances. I was told this morning of a circumstance at HEB where somebody took advantage of a time to serve. And they were so moved by it, they said, Where do you go to church? They said, Well, Eagle Community Church of Christ.
John Gunter:Well, guess what? When you are conscious of going, and going does not mean you have to go to some foreign country somewhere, it doesn't even mean you have to move to the great state of Arkansas. God's country. But it means wherever you go, you are an example. You are taking the gospel message.
John Gunter:You are showing people what God has done for you in your life. Amen? Now, what we can do is we can you should have been here for class. Thank you, Valentin, for saying that. We can live with this superficial sense of what I'm going to do is keep everything surface, I'm going to keep everything hidden, and I'm just going to project who I think you want me to be.
John Gunter:And we'll all go, man, he's a great guy and you don't know anything about me. Right? And and sometimes, family a sits over here and looks at family b and says, man, I wish we had it together like them. Wish we had the donut money like the shippies. Right?
John Gunter:And because we don't grow those relationships, because we're just kind of apart, we're worried about, like, projecting, right? When it talks about going out and harvesting, it doesn't mean you're going out, we talk about shining the light of Jesus, being his hands and feet, it does not mean that you're going to do so in perfection. You understand that? Again, I asked you before, who in here is perfect? If you are, stick around, we're going to have a Q and A session, right?
John Gunter:But what it is, it's not showing perfection because Jesus was perfect, right? It is showing what Jesus in his perfection did for you. You know what you've done in your life? You know what you need forgiveness for? Again, we're not coming to show people that we're perfect.
John Gunter:If we were perfect, we wouldn't need a savior. I need a savior, amen? Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Jesus, in the great commission of Matthew 28, Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.
John Gunter:And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We said last week, we love that baptizing section of that. We don't like as much the go section.
John Gunter:Right? You go. You be the witness. You be an example. I haven't heard the term witnessing a lot lately.
John Gunter:That's what we're doing. Right? We are being a witness of what Jesus has done. Alright? In the name of the in the in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the end.
John Gunter:End. Now, Jesus was sending imperfect people out into a imperfect world to tell them about the perfect Jesus. That's tough. And again, what he didn't say was you go show them to be, you know, being perfect yourself, right? You go and witness to the people, so that you can tell them about the gospel, the good news, so that they can understand what what God is doing in their lives, so they can be baptized pledging allegiance to God in that moment saying, I'm going to follow you and not something else.
John Gunter:And that's how we be witnesses out in the world, and that scares us to death sometime. But, again, it's not about as John comes, John's gonna introduce how to just have conversations with people. I don't I don't think I've not I've not gone through everything, but this is not gonna be some complicated system. Right? This is just having a conversation when it's available.
John Gunter:But I think a lot of our issue is we go out into the world and we never expect to have a conversation. We never expect to actually witness to people, and so we don't. But what if we thought about it? What if we prayed about it? What if we expected God to move and to put people in our lives?
John Gunter:Would that scare you? It's like the prayer of Jesus. Right? Not my will, but yours be done. That I'm gonna step back.
John Gunter:Yeah. There are things I'd like to have, but, God, if it's not your will, let's just go with your will. Right? In, Romans one, Paul says this, he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.' This is a story of the gospel right here.
John Gunter:This is a story of what they were waiting for. They were waiting for God to do something in the world. And Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God for salvation. This is what God has done to save you. Now, often we've kind of gotten off track, I think, at times in church, we think about going to heaven, going, going, going, going, going.
John Gunter:But the story of Scripture is not going. God created here, God created in Eden, God's design was to be with us. Even even in Revelation, you see the new Jerusalem, not up there somewhere, but coming down. And so our job as image bearers of Jesus is to, a, tell people about that, but to bring pieces of heaven here. That we're not waiting just for a day when we'll, get to heaven wherever that is in the cosmos.
John Gunter:Right? But we are, right now as image bearers bringing heaven to earth. We are showing people what it should look like in heaven. To worship God in all that we do. Man, that's tough sometimes.
John Gunter:Right? Sometimes it feels like your calendar is so full, you can't come up for air. Right? Yeah. And so we've gotta keep this at the forefront that as I go, I, like Paul, am not going to be ashamed because the gospel is what god has done in the world to save everyone.
John Gunter:It says, for in it, the righteousness of god is revealed from faith for faith, for you to believe in it because god god's not asking you to believe in something that hasn't happened or is hard to believe. He's he's asking you to believe something that he has proven to you. Jesus didn't die away in a tomb and nobody ever saw him again. Right? Paul said, well, 500 people saw him after that.
John Gunter:And so this is something that could be verified. This is something that happened. It's like, okay. Well, from faith, this is the righteousness of god. This is god.
John Gunter:You wanted god to show up and here's what he did. Now, it may not have been exactly the way they wanted it. You may want god to show up right now in your life and handle some people. Yeah. Person in the back talked to you at work this week?
John Gunter:Cut you off in, you know, driving there? Whatever? Yeah. You'd like God to show up. And that's kind of like how they were.
John Gunter:They wanted God to show up and do away with the Romans. God showed up in the form of a baby saying stuff like turn the other cheek. You might not show up the way you want him to, but God will show up in the way he wants to change the world. And the example that god gives to us, we should give to the world. We should be those same kind of people because we have we have this idea often of how we should be.
John Gunter:And sometimes that is based on scripture. Sometimes it's based on some kind of fairy tale. We we have an identity because of where we live, where we grew up. I said in class this morning, you know, I'm a, raised in Arkansas. I'm a country guy.
John Gunter:You know, I can skin a buck. I can run a trot line. Right? Part of that identity. Right?
John Gunter:Well, that's great. And that that none of that is necessarily bad. Right? But we should find our identity in Christ, who he is and and what we should be about. Oftentimes, those things are skewed to where it's masculinity that I need to worship.
John Gunter:Right? Well, if some nowadays, you know, if somebody offends you, you better get yours. You better get them back. Right? How how much can I get them back?
John Gunter:Had a great conversation, this week with with Logan about how to, live with other people and we don't get them back, right? He said the one kid, slapped his arm or something. He's kind of sensitive to those things. He might have just said, good morning. I don't know.
John Gunter:But we we live with people in a way that that shows Jesus, right? Now, I don't know who is his teacher this morning, but he drew a beautiful picture that, God and an angel were fighting people earlier. Somebody was stealing a truck. So I don't know what y'all talk about in class. I will say this.
John Gunter:God had abs, which were fantastic. So it was interesting. The angel was pulling a sword, it looked like a sword in a stone type of moment, but, they were going to battle. But there's a way that Jesus affects every single part of our life, how we interact with people, how we love one another. Amen?
John Gunter:Yeah. Continue on in one Peter. Peter says it this way, he says, For even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. You hear this, this theme, right?
John Gunter:I'm not ashamed. I'm going, I'm going to do it. Don't have fear. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Always be ready.
John Gunter:Right? And that that may be if you're an introvert, especially, you may have gotten some anxiety just now. Again, that's not something special. That is just be aware of the opportunities. Be ready.
John Gunter:Because you may be able to talk about your faith. You don't have to come up with some complicated system. Man, I haven't memorized enough verses. I don't memorize a lot of verses. You know that?
John Gunter:There is stuff I've been over so many times that I know back and forth. At Harding, we had to learn the Sermon on the Mount. We had to memorize it. Matthew chapter five, six and seven. Right?
John Gunter:Not verses. Okay. That was a lot. That was way too much. But we have a lot of times, we have people who can actually memorize tons of scripture, but they live like they don't know anything about it.
John Gunter:And we hold up this fact, and we kind of idolize, oh man, brother so and so knows a lot of scripture, and brother so and so is living like he doesn't know Jesus. One of those is outward appearance. One of those is from the heart. Okay? Be ready, Genuine.
John Gunter:Okay? You can present yourself as a person who has flaws. You know, people really, they're okay with that. Because the person you're talking to, guess what? They have them too.
John Gunter:They may be different, they may be the same. You may connect over some of the things that you struggle with. But you come in genuineness and authenticity, but you are ready. He says, Do it with gentleness and respect. You're not yelling at them on social media.
John Gunter:I've told you I've lost Christian friends, good people who have been very influential in my life because they have decided in the last few years to start yelling at people on social media and calling them idiots and still not having the awareness that they might not want to come to church with you after that. They might not see you as a great Christian example after you've called them an idiot because they voted this way or whatever. Right? So you should do so when you talk to people, you should do so with gentleness and respect, Having a good conscience so that when you are slandered boy, I highlighted that. That's a tough one.
John Gunter:What does that win word mean? Not if, but when. Because guess what? Anybody not been slandered in here? Anybody never had anyone say anything about you that just wasn't true?
John Gunter:I shared I shared some of that with you and I get it quite a bit. And almost every time it is so crazy, so outlandish that you just go, okay. Whatever. When you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. You should live a life, not that you've put in work, but you should have given your life over to Christ.
John Gunter:You should have stepped back so that when people slander you, because you're going to get some slander, other people can say, man, uh-uh. Nope. He's a good guy. And we talked last week about how much we are drawn to the negative, we are drawn to the dramatic. Again, sister so and so does something, and we really want to know what it was.
John Gunter:Unspoken prayer request. Oh, I know she's been doing something. Well, no, it's not about that, is it? No? No.
John Gunter:We need to come to Christ. We need to act like Christians. Okay? And when people slander us, we should be able to hey. No.
John Gunter:John's a good person. John's not perfect. But John lives a life modeled after Christ. That when I fail, I'm not embracing that. Sometimes, I've heard people say over the years, I'm a Christian, but I cuss a lot or I cuss a little.
John Gunter:You heard that before? I'm a Christian, but I cuss a little. Yeah. I've heard people say that. And and listen, part of that is okay.
John Gunter:You what you heard this morning is John says, find a cuss. I didn't say that. What I said was, it's fine to acknowledge you have faults. Okay? You understand that?
John Gunter:What's not fine is to embrace it as part of your identity. I'm a Christian, but I cuss. That's just who I am. Right? No.
John Gunter:Okay. I have faults, but I am giving those things to Christ. I don't want to do those. I'm trying to reject those. I'm not making that my identity.
John Gunter:When you talk to me, I'm probably gonna drop some some words you don't like. Okay? Alright. We're giving that up. Now, I may confess that to you.
John Gunter:Right? That's okay. Because we are fallen people. But I'm going to live a life that shows something different that when people slander you, they can be put to shame. He says, for it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will than for doing evil.
John Gunter:Which is interesting, isn't it? Suffering seems to be a part of everything and we avoid it at all cost. And nobody, I don't think is drawn to it but scripture says over and over, you are going to have to persevere. We don't like that word because I've told you before, you don't persevere through the good times, do you? Yeah, last Monday everything went my way, I just had to persevere through it.
John Gunter:No. You persevere through tough times, and that's what you get a lot of times, and what Peter is saying is, okay, it's better to suffer for doing good. You're going to suffer. You're going to have some things. People aren't going to treat you right.
John Gunter:Because guess what? They're fallen too. They're sinners too. But it's better to suffer as a good person because why? I can hold my head up, I've got a clear conscience.
John Gunter:Just because so and so said that about me doesn't make it true. I know it's not true. And so because of that, I can live a life that's very, very different. In Romans 10, starting in verse 14, Paul says this, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
John Gunter:And how are they to hear without someone preaching? How and how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News? Now, just spoiler alert, I do not have pretty feet, if that's what you're wondering this morning. My toes are crooked.
John Gunter:It's not good. Okay? But this whole verse, these whole verses, Paul is saying, okay, you need to take the word to people. Because if they don't know, how can they respond? That's what he's saying, right?
John Gunter:If they've never heard, they never understand, and back to what Peter said, alright? If you're not prepared for a defense, if you're not prepared to just tell people about why your life is different, how do you get to this, right? If they've never heard it, they never know why, how do they respond, okay? He says, but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
John Gunter:And how does someone respond to the news of Christ if they've never been told about it? In second Corinthians five, starting in verse 11, Paul says this to the Corinthian the church in Corinth, he says, therefore, knowing the fear of the lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to god, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We're not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearances and not about what is in the heart. Oh, he said the quiet thing out loud.
John Gunter:Because, again, we we enjoy or we lift up the outward appearance. Well, people saw me at church in my nice clothes today. I wore my vest. Getting a little hot right now. That's okay.
John Gunter:But it's an outward appearance. Right? Unless my life is changed, what does it matter where my rear end is sitting on Sunday morning? Yeah? Okay.
John Gunter:And that's what he says. Okay. There are going to be people who lift up this outward appearance, who boast about outward appearance. Those are those kinds of things. I'm a, we we used to did y'all grow up and had daily bible readers in church?
John Gunter:Like, we had people that that walked by and got attendants and daily bible readers. We had the whole system put it outside on the clip and all that stuff. That's fantastic if you read your Bible every day, but we could even lift that up as an outward appearance. What does it matter, again, if you can read Scripture daily or even quote it? If at the end of the day you don't know anything about who Jesus is.
John Gunter:Jesus hasn't changed your life through the word of God, you have just lifted up. Well, I've been a daily Bible reader for thirty two years. I remember I had a a teacher and she was a fantastic example for us because she was so open. But I remember one day that she came to, like, this this crisis in her life. It had been so many years that she had read her Bible daily, and there was one day during the week she could not remember if she had actually read the Bible.
John Gunter:And so she did not put it down that she was a daily Bible reader. You could tell that just hurt her. And in that moment, I thought, well, I wish it broke my heart as much to wonder if I read the the Bible this week or not. But again, is it for something or is it not? For her it was.
John Gunter:She was a fantastic example. But often we can, pursue something else. He says in verse 13, for if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us.
John Gunter:Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who might live no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. There are plenty of people walking around today that you're gonna eat lunch next next to that don't know this. They don't know what God has done for them and how he sent his son to die for them for salvation, to be saved from those very sins. You need to be ready for that.
John Gunter:In verse 17, it says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
John Gunter:Amen? Do you need to not have your sins counted against you? I do. That's what I say. This is this is the story that we have been given.
John Gunter:This is a story that we can tell that we no longer have sinned because of what Christ has done for us. Verse 20 says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. You know what that is? I don't know if you've ever been an ambassador before. What does it mean to be an ambassador?
John Gunter:You're gonna be, again, this example, you're you're in there for Jesus. Right? I am representing Jesus, right? If you were an ambassador to another country, right, you are there as a part of this other country, alright, I am you need to talk to someone about this country? Yeah, you can talk to me.
John Gunter:That's who you are. We are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. This is what Jesus has done for us.
John Gunter:This is what God, has done for us. In Acts four verse eleven and twelve, This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Universalism is is prevalent in our world today. It's, we're all going to the same place.
John Gunter:You've got your way. I've got mine. When scripture says something else, no other name under heaven that saves us other than Jesus. Right? And that's the message we carry.
John Gunter:In Ephesians six, Paul says, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all, oh, I hate that word, perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador, in change well, that's that word again, ambassador, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. Paul says, pray for each other. He says, pray for me. Can you imagine the apostle Paul who who wrote so much of our New Testament, asking people to pray for boldness so he can say what he needs to say.
John Gunter:How many of you have prayed for boldness this week because you anticipate something happening? I don't do that nearly enough. And I don't walk around feeling like I don't have anything to say, like what would happen. No, I don't. But I don't pray for that enough.
John Gunter:And I want to say, hey, let's start doing this for each other, right? Pray for me. I'm gonna pray for you to pray for boldness that I could open my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador, and we're not in chains. All the more so, we should take advantage of our freedom. If Paul sees himself in chains boy, if I was in chains right now, I'd be praying for y'all because I feel like I'm locked up.
John Gunter:We can't do anything. Paul saw himself, even in the situation where he's in chains, I am an ambassador for Jesus. Alright? Let's pray that for each other. In Romans 10, he says, but what does it say?
John Gunter:The word is near you, in your mouth, in your heart, that is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved. Now one thing I want to point out here, we we've talked about, things that are just outward appearance versus in the heart. Do you see what he said there?
John Gunter:For with the heart, one believes it is justified. That which is true. Right? Not just outward appearance. Paul will say in first Corinthians 13, we call it the love chapter, but in that chapter, he talks about all of these things, even miraculous things.
John Gunter:He says, you can do all of these things, but if you don't have love, if it's not genuine, if you don't actually care, it's nothing. It's worth nothing. So don't think even if you could do those things, like, you should be lifted up on a pedestal or something. Right? Because genuine love doesn't care about that.
John Gunter:Genuine love cares about the people. For with the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same lord is lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved.
John Gunter:And that's a genuine confession of faith that, again, this obedience that we claim during baptism that, God, I want you. In Matthew five, he says, you are the light of the world. This is Jesus talking. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. But on a stand, and it gives a light to all in the house.
John Gunter:In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. There is no Christian that should be coming to worship on Sunday, and as you go about life during the week, keeping your head down going, you know, nobody's going to know I'm a Christian now. No one lights a lamp and then puts a cover over it. You are supposed to be the light of the world and so as we go, we are this example shining to others. And again, not always perfectly because I think that's what holds us back because we allow those those moments of self talk, self doubt to get in there, and go, well, I'm not perfect, I'm not the one that should be doing it.
John Gunter:No, you should. And you should take, again, the example of what Jesus has done for you as a broken person. Now he's brought you from where you used to be to where you are now. Now we are striving to continue on, we are striving to allow God to change us and to move us towards perfection, but there's never gonna be a time on this earth where you come to me and we have a discussion where I have achieved it. Paul will say that as well.
John Gunter:He said, not that I've already achieved anything, not that I've already won anything, I keep pressing on. I keep going. So what can I do? Alright. Number one, invite someone to church.
John Gunter:Look for an opportunity to invite someone. Now this doesn't have to be, you go door knocking and as soon as they open the door, you say, hey, when you got to church with me? You know, it get real awkward real quick. This is setting up a conversation with people you know, hey, I'd love for you to come to church with me. Okay?
John Gunter:But maybe even, more personal than that, bring them to your small group. And if you're not in a small group, get in a small group. Is it too late to get in a small group? Absolutely not. You can walk into one this week.
John Gunter:Get into a small group where you're building these relationships. Okay? Where there are people there who love you despite all of our flaws. Right? Bring them to your small group.
John Gunter:It's one of the first things that happened when Katie and I attended church in Texarkana. Somebody invited us the first night to a small group. And I thought, oh, I don't know about that. That sounds too personal. And we still love those people to this day.
John Gunter:Because of the relationships we grew. Bring them to your small group. Take someone to lunch. Love being here together. Love singing together.
John Gunter:Singing was wonderful this morning. Love opening up the word, I love all the things we do, but this time is not, set up in a way where we grow deep relationships with one another. We don't get to know one another personally, like right now, do we? Okay? Take someone to lunch.
John Gunter:I said in class this morning, somebody last week was so happy that I finally finished preaching, they took me to lunch and paid for it, so that was good. I think my sermons are gonna get longer. I'm gonna have to get Yeah, okay, okay. Take someone to lunch, build relationships. Build relationships with people.
John Gunter:Put out the effort. Right? We're all going 90 to nothing every which direction. Put out time in your calendar. Schedule it.
John Gunter:Francisco is not here today, but, Francisco is a good person. If I ever say to Francisco, hey, we ought to have lunch, he will not say, okay, that sounds cool. He will say, let's schedule it. And that's a lot of pressure, by the way. But if I don't do that, I won't do it.
John Gunter:It'll be three years from now, and me and Francisco will be saying, hey, we ought to go to lunch together. Right? Schedule it. Right? Make time for building relationships.
John Gunter:And I saved the best for last. Give your life to god. Get out of the way. Quit telling yourself you can't do it. Quit making excuses.
John Gunter:Get out of the way. Give your life to god. Don't make excuses for yourself and why are you doing this. Let me step out of the way, God. I I repent of what I've been doing.
John Gunter:I'm gonna give my life to God so that I can do all of these other things better. That I desire a better relationship with God and with my brothers and sisters in Christ. In John thirteen thirty five, by this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. We read this last week. You can think about all kinds of ways.
John Gunter:Well, they'll know I'm a Christian because I go to church, and I told them I went to church. I saw my vehicle out in the parking lot. No. People will know that you're a disciple of Jesus because of the way you love other people. Now, again, we can talk a big game, and every church I've ever been a part of calls themselves a loving church.
John Gunter:You ever known one that said, you know, we're kind of stick in the mud. We don't really even though that's the truth, right? Even though that is the what's actually happening, everybody sees themselves as a loving church. What I would like to do is to actually have a loving church. And what does that mean?
John Gunter:Well, that's loaded. We talked about some of that last week. That's loaded because you gotta act like, oh, we're family, not your messed up family relations. I understand. We've gotta act like family and that we care enough about each other that when we find out about sin about somebody, all right, we can get through this.
John Gunter:We find out so and so said something about me that wasn't true. All right, we can get through this. Because my love, A, I've given myself to God, and my love for you is stronger and greater than whatever that thing is. But often we say that and then when it comes to practicing it, we throw it all out the window. This is the way people are going to know.
John Gunter:This is an example. This is a way as you go, this is what people should see. And if we can't do this, if we can't do this, what are we showing the world? I'm gonna show you a couple of tough scriptures this morning. I want you to just keep in mind.
John Gunter:Leviticus nineteen thirty four, you shall treat the stranger who sojourns. Sometimes you'll see stranger translated foreigner. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. If I can't love the people I'm sitting in a comfy seat beside, if I can't show them grace and mercy as God has shown me grace and mercy, how in the world am I going to accept and show grace and mercy to someone I don't know, who is this stranger or foreigner?
John Gunter:And that may be a well, they're theoretical. I don't have a face to picture, so it does it doesn't impact me. Well, what about this in Matthew five? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. So that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven, for he makes his his sunrise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
John Gunter:That if you want to show that they were big about saying, hey, we're sons of Abraham. I'm son of Abraham. I'm the son of Robert Gunner this morning. That doesn't mean anything to y'all. He's a good man.
John Gunter:Watches a little too much news, gets negative about it, but he's a good man. Said, if you wanna be a good example, if you wanna actually be sons where you hold up, I am an example of, okay, this is who you need to be. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Well, if I can't love, again, the people sitting in the pew beside me, in the chair beside me, how in the world am I gonna love the foreigner, the stranger, or the enemy who persecutes me? And I don't even know that we know what persecution means.
John Gunter:Because every little thing, because we have lived in such freedom, every little thing becomes, well, we're persecuted. Starbucks changed that cup that year. When I was at Walmart checking out, they said Happy Holidays. Do you believe that? Persecuted.
John Gunter:No. Says, the example God gives us is that, okay, he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Just because people some people are good, some people are evil, I'm not gonna withhold the blessing. Now we think way different than that. If you've done something to me, I gotta get you back.
John Gunter:I gotta treat you differently. Said if you wanna be a son of god, god treats people the same even when they we might say don't deserve it. Well, guess what? We're in a room full of people who don't deserve it. And god gave us while we were still sinners, God sent His Son to die on the cross for us.
John Gunter:And I'll finish with this in Acts one:eight, But you will receive the power you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. When he was looking at his disciples in the eyes, he told them, you're going to go with the power of the Holy Spirit. That's how you're going to do it. And I know that self doubt, that self talk comes in, and you think, not me. I could never do it.
John Gunter:I really like my peace and quiet. You know, I wanna go home. I told you guys a lot of times, one of the things I do on Sundays, after all of this, it feels like my body needs to recoup and take a nap, and I do. When we were first coming here and we weren't moved here yet, we were staying a lot with the McCartneys. And I remember one Sunday where Rebecca just laughed and she said, you know what, I think we're going to be really good friends.
John Gunter:I said, why is that? And she said, because when we got back to our house, nobody said a word, everybody started getting in their pajamas and went to bed. There were no niceties, we just know, hey, this is what's going to happen. We're just going to do life together. We understand one another, right?
John Gunter:Alright. Well, you're gonna go in the power of the Holy Spirit, but you need to expect to go. You need to you need to be praying boldly to go. You need to pray that there are opportunities this week. You need to be praying for everyone else.
John Gunter:That through everyone, even that person you're thinking about that you're not on good terms with right now, that even they are given the opportunity to share Christ with someone and bring them to salvation because that's what God would do. Oh, Even that person that said that thing about you. Well, that's who God is. That's the example we have, and that's the example we should be. And so, we're gonna offer invitation.
John Gunter:We're again, we want to invite you to our seminar coming up next week, where we're gonna talk about having those conversations, opening up those avenues to bring more people to Jesus. That's what I want, for my life. When I die, I wanna say, hey, I was prepared. I was ready to tell people about Jesus, to think about all the the the mental images of people that I have met that I didn't know because of Jesus. And so if you straight from the path, we'd love to pray with you this morning.
John Gunter:If you'd like to put on Christ in baptism, we'd love to do that as well. Would you come with me?