Why Share?

[0:00] Well, good evening, and thank you for the invitation to come and to share with you. Before we start, let me thank you as well for your partnership in the gospel this past year.

[0:15] Our church, Holyrood Evangelical, has been meeting in your upper hall for our midweek prayer meetings, and that has been a tremendous blessing to us, and just a really tangible partnership.

[0:27] So we are grateful to you. Let me also apologize in advance. There's a lot of illness in my house. My wife and three daughters have a cold.

[0:37] I appear to have caught man flu at the same time, and so my voice is a bit diminished. So I pray your forbearance tonight. Listen to these words of Rico Tice.

[0:52] I find evangelism hard. Rico Tice, probably the foremost evangelist in the United Kingdom today, I find evangelism hard.

[1:04] We all find evangelism hard. I find it much easier to be here just now giving a talk on evangelism than I would actually doing the work of evangelism somewhere in Edinburgh.

[1:15] So we're going to come together tonight to think about this topic and how we might be encouraged in our evangelism. And I was really challenged exactly a year ago when I was on a trip to North India, and I was walking through a park in Delhi, and I got completely lost.

[1:37] And I found these two gentlemen, and I said, excuse me, I'm very lost. Could you help me get to this particular road I was going to? And they said, well, we'll take you where you want to go, and Max Muller-Marg, and off we went.

[1:50] And as we were about to part, out of nowhere, this chap produced a little booklet called The Meaning of Your Life. And he said, I'd like you to have this. And I thought, wow, I'm being evangelized. And I said, that's great, thank you.

[2:02] And are you a Christian? He said, no, I'm a Muslim. And I run this charity, and we produce resources for children and for the work of mission. And I thought, isn't that incredible?

[2:13] Well, here is a man who is so passionate about his faith that he takes every opportunity, even helping a stranger through a public park, to give him a piece of literature and to try to talk to him about Islam.

[2:26] And I thought, do I have the same enthusiasm about the gospel that I would be so willing to do that with people I meet? Well, the Apostle Paul had that passion for the gospel.

[2:40] And if you have a Bible, if you could open it to Titus chapter 3. Paul writes a letter to Titus, whom he has left on Crete, to put the church into good order.

[2:56] And as we read Paul's letter to Titus, we see that throughout he is passionate about the gospel. Paul introduces himself, chapter 1, verse 3, as a preacher of the gospel.

[3:10] Paul is concerned that the leaders, the elders of the church, are those, chapter 1, verse 9, who hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught.

[3:21] People who love the gospel, who can articulate the gospel. People who can defend the gospel. And in chapters 2 and 3, there are these sort of lengthy ethical exhortations.

[3:35] And yet all the way through, Paul is always pointing them back to the gospel. So in chapter 2, he talks about the need for godliness, for self-control. And the reason he says, chapter 2, verse 11, is for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

[3:52] It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness, and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

[4:16] The gospel, the grace of God, teaches us to say no to ungodliness, and to wait that when Christ appears, we will be holy.

[4:29] And as we come to chapter 3, I want to look with you at chapter 3, verses 1 to 8. He's encouraging the people to be rich in good works, to be model citizens, to be kind to the people around them.

[4:41] And again, he gives as the reason for this exhortation the gospel. Let's read chapter 3, verse 1 to verse 8. Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility towards all men.

[5:06] At one time, we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

[5:22] But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

[5:32] He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

[5:51] This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

[6:05] We have in chapter 3, verses 4 to 7, one of the richest, most concise, most beautiful summaries of the gospel that we have in all of Scripture.

[6:18] It is so rich. It is Trinitarian. We see God the Father taking the initiative, sending his Son into the world, God the Son dying for our sins, being raised to life and exalted to the right hand, and Jesus sending the Spirit.

[6:36] And it highlights for us the great benefits of the gospel in our past, in our present, and in our future. Chapter 3, verses 4 to 5, Paul talks about the past, the kindness and love of God our Savior has appeared, saving us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

[6:59] Verse 7, having been justified by grace. Paul talks about the mercy of God shown to us while we were still sinners, the love of God while we were still sinners.

[7:11] And the word mercy is the same word that is used in the parable of the Good Samaritan. You know, the story of the man who's traveling along the road and he gets assaulted, and he's lying, dying, and bleeding by the roadside, and along come the religious rulers, and they sort of cross over and ignore him.

[7:32] And then comes the Samaritan, and he sees this man unconscious, puts him on his donkey, and he takes him to the inn, and cares for him and pays for his treatment.

[7:43] And Jesus says, which one of these men had mercy? God looks down on us in our sin, and our shame, and our weakness, and he has mercy upon us.

[7:59] Paul says, because of his own mercy, God has saved us. It's a wonderful picture, isn't it? The language of Ephesians 2, not this half-dead man lying on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, but us dead in sin and trespass.

[8:16] He says, all of us lived at one time gratifying the cravings of our flesh, following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath, but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions.

[8:33] It is by grace you have been saved. And the people of Crete needed that mercy. Look at the description of them. They were foolish, deceived, disobedient.

[8:45] They were enslaved. They hated one another. And yet God in his mercy reaches down to them and forgives them their sin and wipes away the shame. It's an incredible thing, isn't it?

[8:59] The forgiveness of sins. The psalmist says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he separated our sins from us. If you live in Glasgow, the east does seem very far away, doesn't it?

[9:13] But the psalmist says, it's even further than that. He's taken it an impossible distance, casting our sins into the very depths of the sea. We often take for granted, don't we, the forgiveness of our sins and the cleansing of our conscience.

[9:30] The other day, I was walking my daughter back from the bus stop at school and there was the window cleaner and he was being swooped by a seagull. Interestingly, I said to him, this is like something out of a Hitchcock film and, you know, what have you done to this bird?

[9:45] And there was a nest or something. And we got talking and after a while, we go on to the subject of the gospel. And just out of the blue, he said, you know, I'm really troubled by my conscience and sometimes I can't sleep at night thinking of all the things I've done.

[10:00] Isn't it interesting, a man who spends his whole life cleaning things and yet cannot cleanse his conscience. And yet here, Paul says, God is willing to save us, not because of righteous things, but because of his mercy to cleanse our consciences from dead works, to forgive us our sins and to put a new spirit within us.

[10:25] Verse 5, he saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. One translation has regeneration. Regeneration. It's a word we sometimes hear, isn't it, if you're a Doctor Who fan?

[10:40] It's okay. You're allowed to be a Doctor Who fan. You can admit that. But regeneration is what happens, isn't it? It's when the doctor sort of dies and then he's changed. Externally, his face changes.

[10:51] But regeneration in the Bible is an internal change, a transformation. God putting a new spirit within us, a new heart within us, making us new people.

[11:04] Look at the difference it made in Crete. These people who hated each other, now loving one another, these people who were foolish and deceived, now walking in the truth of the gospel, being made wise unto salvation.

[11:19] The transforming power of God in their lives. We had a couple of months ago a 20th reunion of our class at school.

[11:30] It's amazing, isn't it? I mean, time flies. 20 years, who'd have thought? But one of the chaps I was really looking forward to because at school he'd, like most of us, I suppose as teenagers, been a bit of a troublemaker.

[11:43] And yet a few years back a friend of mine was at Akili and he did the strip, the willow, you know, they ran up the tunnel and at the end of the tunnel he met this chap from school and they got talking and it transpired this other fellow had become a believer.

[11:57] And my friend said, it was as if he had a new heart, completely different. And I said, well he did have a new heart because God had washed him, it caused him to be born again, he'd renewed him by the power of the Holy Spirit, poured out generously on him through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

[12:13] wonderful freedom, being set free from sin, being set free from walking according to the flesh and now walking according to the Spirit of God, bringing forth fruit unto him.

[12:31] The gospel deals with our past in giving to us the forgiveness of our sins. God deals with our present, giving us power and strength for life, pouring his Holy Spirit into us, that the love of God may dwell in us.

[12:46] And verse 7, that we might have hope for the future, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. I've only known one heir in my life, university, the chap across the corridor from me, I thought he was a bit posh, I didn't realise quite how posh he was.

[13:06] And I googled him a few years ago and found out he's inherited this massive country house in England and I wish we'd spent more time together and become firm friends. He was an heir, he had something wonderful that he was to receive in the future.

[13:20] And as Christians, we are heirs, we have the hope and the promise of eternal life, a glorious inheritance kept in heaven for us, being shielded by the power of God.

[13:35] Makes all the difference, doesn't it? Makes all the difference between a humanist funeral and a church funeral. Made all the difference a few weeks ago sitting for the last time at the bedside of an old friend of mine.

[13:50] As he said, I'm looking forward to heaven, having the hope of eternal life. The gospel deals with our past, it deals with our present, it deals with our future and Paul was so excited by the gospel.

[14:06] He rejoiced as people turned from the worship of idols to the worship of the living God, as people were freed from their sins to know the forgiveness of them, as they ceased walking according to the flesh and kept in step with the Spirit of God, as they moved from objects of wrath to children of blessing and salvation, as they went from darkness and death to life.

[14:30] He was passionate about it because he'd experienced that mercy in his own life. First Timothy, he gives his testimony and he says, even though I was once a blasphemer and persecutor and violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief and the grace of God was poured out on me abundantly along with the faith and love and love there in Christ Jesus who came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst.

[15:00] Paul believed the gospel and he knew it to be true. He knew its power in his own life and he was passionate and he wanted to share it with people that they might know the power and the freedom that comes in Christ.

[15:19] Why share? Because the gospel is true. Because it's good news. Because we've come to know the Lord and experience the many benefits of living by faith in him because we have been forgiven our sins.

[15:34] We are born again of the Spirit of God because we have hope for the future. So many reasons to get excited. I hope you're all going to be hanging out in the meadows tomorrow looking for lost people. Giving them literature.

[15:46] Why share? But of course it is hard to share isn't it? Rico Tice finds evangelism difficult. And I wanted as our second heading to ask well why not share?

[16:00] Why are we not sharing? Why am I not sharing the gospel? And Rico is very perceptive in this book which I commend to you Honest Evangelism. And we'll see in a second that he points out the hostility that can come.

[16:17] Before we do I want you just to look at this quote by Michael Gove. He's had an interesting year but last year he wrote an article for The Spectator and he said this To call yourself a Christian in contemporary Britain is to invite pity, condescension or cool dismissal.

[16:34] In a culture that prizes sophistication, non-judgmentalism, irony and detachment it is to declare yourself intolerant, naive, superstitious and backward.

[16:44] hurt. Rico Tice says it maybe a bit more accurately. He says if you're going to talk to people about Jesus you're going to get hurt.

[16:55] It is going to sever some relationships. It is going to provoke people. Not every time and depending on our circumstances, friendship groups, workplaces and so on our experiences will vary but we will face rejection enough of the time to give us second thoughts.

[17:10] everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Rico says there is hostility.

[17:21] Some people will take exception. They will take offense at you sharing the gospel with them. But with the hostility there is also hunger. And he goes on to say something else is going on too.

[17:33] There is increased hunger. The same rising tide of secularism and materialism is proving to be an empty and hollow way to live. And that means excitingly you're more and more likely to find people quietly hungering for the content of the gospel.

[17:48] So we live in a situation where there is hostility to the gospel. Maybe you've experienced that. But there is also hunger. And the difficulty is we never know quite what we're going to meet.

[18:01] Evangelism is a risky business. And whenever we seek to say a word about the Lord there is always a risk isn't there? It may go badly. Someone may be hostile. But there's the risk the person may be hungry.

[18:15] And we might be given a tremendous opportunity. We don't know. We can't second guess. And therefore the Lord calls us to step out of the comfort zone into what one writer describes as the zone of the unknown.

[18:31] And to take a risk. It's a risky business. But it's an exciting business. Normally at this time of night on a Sunday or just before I usually stand on the street outside Portobello Town Hall and try and sort of bring people into the service.

[18:47] And a couple of weeks ago this chap walked past in a huge black cape. And I thought, well this is interesting. He's either a Jedi Knight or is Harry Potter going to the beach or something. I wasn't quite sure.

[18:58] And I said, would you like to come in? It turns out he does the ghost tours on the Royal Mile. And he was very interested. And he said, who are you? What do you do? And we began to talk about theology.

[19:09] And he'd done a few modules at Edinburgh University. And who'd have known that this chap dressed all in black wandering around was actually asking deep and philosophical questions.

[19:21] It's a risk, wasn't it? A risk to strike up a conversation with him. It is a risky business. Rico says, you will get hurt. You will face ridicule.

[19:32] You will face rejection. Painful rejection. From friends. Perhaps from family. You may face difficulty in the workplace, particularly in the public sector.

[19:45] But it is a risk worth taking. What I want to do next is have a little think, maybe a bit more practically, about how we can take these risks.

[20:00] Maybe think through in our own minds how individually and corporately we can think about sharing the gospel. This is something we've been working through as, God willing, we hope to be in a new building in a few weeks.

[20:12] And we've been wondering how we're going to share the gospel with people in that area of Edinburgh. And I've got really three headings for you. I have the four G's, the four S's, the four C's.

[20:25] And what I've done, you can see why I dropped standard grade art at a very early stage in school. Here's some graphic design that I put together. And this is what I call the four G's.

[20:37] And you've got up there glorifying God. This is what I think Paul is teaching in Titus. What is the purpose of the church? At one level, we are to glorify God.

[20:48] How? Well, by living godly lives, being holy, as God is holy, by being rich in good works, as we adorn the gospel and silence the criticism of a cynical world.

[21:00] And as we proclaim the gospel, that others might turn from idols to worship and to glorify God. I've put it in a sort of circle. It makes it quite hard to read. So that's it in bullet points.

[21:11] Paul wanted the church in Crete to glorify God by sharing the gospel, by being holy, being godly, and doing good works. And I think that's quite a handy grid as we think about what we're doing each day.

[21:24] God wants us to be holy. He wants us to adorn the gospel by our lips, our conversation, and our lives, by our conduct. He wants us to do good to people and to seize the opportunities as and when they come.

[21:40] And you say, well, who can I share with? Well, to help you, I've got another indecipherable picture, and this is what I call the four C's. I'll just put it there. And who do I know?

[21:52] Who am I in contact with? Well, we all have, I trust, close friends and family. There's people we know regularly and have known for many years and often very hard, in fact, to share with close friends and family, but there are opportunities.

[22:06] We have colleagues and acquaintances, people in the badminton club or the crochet society, whatever we do in our spare time. There are those people we're always encountering day by day, week by week.

[22:18] There are opportunities to get involved, to engage with the community. You could join the community council or join a club. And there is, of course, cold contact, that is, complete strangers, people in parks, knocking on doors, giving out leaflets at bus stops, all sorts of ways in which to come into people.

[22:43] So we have the four G's. We know what God wants us to do in our lives day to day. We have the four C's. We have all these people we're sort of encountering and rubbing up against, but how can we communicate the gospel to them?

[22:55] Well, we have the four S's. And actually, it's really one S, but I've repeated it four times. And it's all about sharing. And how can we share? Well, in theory, it's quite simple.

[23:08] We can share a resource with somebody. Somebody could read the message of the gospel or the text of scripture. Somebody could watch something that communicates visually the eye gate.

[23:22] Somebody could hear or listen to an MP3 or a CD or a tape. Remember them? We can communicate the gospel through the eye gate, through the ear gate. We can share.

[23:33] Give somebody something to take away, like the man in the park. We can share one-to-one. And hasn't it been encouraging to see the growth of the Uncover project in UCCF, where they've had the gospel of Luke, they've had the gospel of John, and their vision is you invite a friend to sit down and have a coffee with you and you read a short episode in the gospel and discuss it and you lead them to a presentation of Christ and who he is.

[23:59] You can share one-to-one, sitting down with people that's borne tremendous fruit in recent years. We can share in a small group. Christian Explored, Life Explored, exciting new resource, house group, youth group, student group.

[24:15] Wonderful to invite people along, informal setting, just be able to talk about the things of the Lord. And of course, we can share in a service, guest service, or week by week as the word is systematically expounded.

[24:28] expounded. And we pray that God's spirit will take that word and apply it to the hearts of the hearers, awakening them to new life. Four S's.

[24:39] How can we share getting the Bible into people's hands, getting it into their ears and their eyes, getting it into their minds, and ultimately into their hearts?

[24:50] Well, that's the theory, isn't it? And the practice is, of course, much more difficult as Rico Tice and all of us know.

[25:02] I think I spoke here a few years ago just about conversational evangelism and there were nine points and John remembers all nine, so if you want to know what they are, you can speak to John afterwards.

[25:15] But I think, really, I've only got two points to say about conversational evangelism now. And I'm no expert, but I've learned some lessons over the years. And really, my first heading here is simply to speak in a way people will listen and listen in a way people will speak.

[25:31] And I have found it just a tremendous help, a lesson I learned from an older Christian that if we genuinely take an interest in other people and inquire as to their interests and their work and so on and ask them questions, there comes a point where they stop wanting to answer questions and start asking questions.

[25:52] Instead, you can ask a window cleaner about a seagull and end up talking about the cleansing of one's conscience. I think as Christians, we have to be outward looking, we have to be engaging people in conversation, talking to natural people about natural things in order to move the conversation onto spiritual things, listening in a way that people will speak and speaking in a way people will listen.

[26:21] And I think listening is very important because, as I've said, we can't second guess. And everybody has a story, don't they? Everybody has some kind of understanding of the gospel.

[26:34] And it's interesting to try and get at what people are thinking. We're speaking to somebody and we discover they're not a Christian. Well, we have to ask, well, why is that? There must be a reason.

[26:45] Is it simply that this person has never heard or understood the gospel? And that's very likely, actually, in Scotland as in many other parts of the world. They've simply never held a Bible in their hands, never met a Christian, never had somebody talk to them.

[27:01] Is it that they have questions about the gospel like my Jedi Knight friend the other day, obviously a deep thinker, and yet just looking for somebody who could discuss these things with?

[27:13] Are there questions people have? Genuine, intellectual questions that they want to explore? I don't know if you heard Tom Devine on the radio a couple of weeks ago.

[27:25] Sir Tom Devine, the historian, in a fascinating interview on the Sunday morning programme, and he said his biggest stumbling block to faith, though he is himself a Roman Catholic, was why there is only life on earth when the galaxy is so big.

[27:40] That isn't a particular issue for many people I meet, but a genuine intellectual question. Has God got a purpose for this universe beyond this one planet? Or are there issues, moral, ethical, lifestyle issues, that stop people believing the gospel?

[27:59] They might understand it, they might know it to be true, but something is holding them back like the rich young man. One thing they lack, something they're not willing to give up in their lives.

[28:13] And as I mentioned, I really only have two tips in terms of conversational evangelism, and it's both to wait to be asked questions, and then to ask questions.

[28:24] And as John would remind you, I've got two headings for these, both borrowed from other people, of course. And the first is really to shake the tree. And that is in the course of conversation, simply to throw things out there that identify you as a Christian.

[28:39] So tomorrow at work, when folks say, what did you do at half past six last night? You say, well, I went to church. Or we're going to have a prayer meeting this week, or one of my children's getting baptized, just to put things out there.

[28:52] And it's amazing how often people will come back to you. I was pushing my daughter in a swing in Portobello, and this other lady appeared next to us, a sort of middle-aged American lady, and she was pushing her granddaughter, and we got talking about swings or something, and she asked me, I can't remember what it is, I mentioned I'm a minister in a church or something, and she immediately began talking about a book she'd be reading by an Episcopalian in America, and the questions that she had from reading this book, this Christian book.

[29:20] Just throwing things out there and waiting to be asked questions. But of course, sometimes we need to be a bit more proactive and to take the initiative, and sometimes we need to ask the question.

[29:32] Enrico Tice, again, this tremendous book calls that crossing the pain line. Don't know about you, but I find it incredibly hard to ask people personal questions.

[29:44] I used to work as a doctor, and I used to ask people incredibly personal questions, and yet, I find it very difficult outside of that professional bubble to ask people personal questions about their lives.

[29:59] And yet, sometimes we just need to say, do you have a faith yourself? Do you get any church connections? You ever read the Bible? As I walked to get my daughter from school last week, there was a chap waiting in a taxi.

[30:12] He was the driver just waiting for a fare. He had his window down. He obviously enjoys the cold. And he was just sitting there, and I had a sort of evangelistic newspaper, and as I walked past, I said, would you like a paper, mate?

[30:22] And he said, what's this? And I said, well, it's a Christian newspaper. And he was a kind of tough-looking guy. And he said, oh, it's really interesting. Oh yeah, my brother's a Baptist pastor in Manchester. I said, oh.

[30:33] And he said, and my wife goes to the local church. And I said, what about yourself? Do you have a faith? And he said, oh, no, but I'm really interested. Crossing the pain line, just asking that personal question.

[30:46] Shake the tree, cross the pain line, two points, and it's incredible what the Lord can do with those two little questions. What and when to share. So how do we put this all together?

[30:58] Well, the four G's, the four C's, and the four S's, the four G's, we want to glorify God, we want to be godly, we want to do good works, we want to share the gospel. Who are we going to share it with?

[31:08] Well, we want to share it with close friends and family. We want to share it with our colleagues, we want to share it with people in the community we sort of have some connection with. We want to share it with complete strangers. How do we share it?

[31:21] Well, you can give somebody something to read or listen to or watch. You can invite them to sit down with you and have a discussion over a coffee. You can invite them into a small group.

[31:31] You can say, come along on a Sunday evening, there's some tremendous biscuits and coffee and we'll listen for an hour and then we'll have a conversation. Simple in theory, very difficult in practice.

[31:43] But friends, my prayer is that we would all be passionate about the gospel, that we would be patient and persistent in prayer and of course that we would apprehend the tremendous power of the gospel.

[31:58] Think of the difference it's made to your life, knowing the Lord. Think of the difference it made in Paul's life. Think of the difference it's made in your family's life.

[32:10] At the end of my trip, I ended up in Bangalore and I had a friend from Bangalore who I knew from church in Glasgow and I texted him and said, we'd love to come and see you and he said, that's fine, come and visit after church on Sunday and we got there, it transpires, he actually was on holiday and he lives in London and I thought, well, it would have been cheaper to go and visit you in London but here we are and he was there, he was having a family gathering, Christian family, Indian Christian family and we sat and we had tea and sort of cakes and things and I said, you know, you're Christians, you're India, how did all this happen?

[32:48] And the father said that in the 19th century, an evangelist had shared the gospel with one of their distant ancestors, some kind of great, great grandfather and he'd believed, been baptized and made a profession of faith in Christ and that changed the entire direction of that family such that over a hundred years later instead of worshipping idols and being held captive by the fear of spirits, generations of that family had come to faith in Christ and had been brought up in Christian homes and had served in their local churches.

[33:26] Think of the remarkable things that can happen when you share the gospel with an individual, fruit being born hundreds of years from now, perhaps in faraway lands.

[33:38] God is glorified when people are godly, when they believe the gospel and when they share the gospel. Well, friends, I trust that you and I will still find evangelism difficult tomorrow morning.

[33:53] But I pray and I suppose this is my prayer that the Lord will give us opportunities just to pray, Lord, somebody this week, let me just share something of the gospel with somebody this week.

[34:03] maybe carry in your pocket a little booklet like that chap in the park, just something you can give to somebody and be willing to take the risk and to say, I don't know what's going to happen here, maybe I'm going to be ridiculed, maybe I'm going to face rejection, but maybe the Lord is going to give me an opportunity and maybe in a hundred years' time there will be people worshipping God because I was willing to step out of my comfort zone, into the zone of the unknown and to say a word for Christ.

[34:33] What a privilege. May we be passionate about that privilege. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your mercy and your grace that in Christ you have forgiven us all our sins.

[34:56] You have renewed us by your Holy Spirit you have given to us hope and a future. Lord, that we have in him every spiritual blessing and we do not forget all your benefits.

[35:12] We think of the blessings it is to be part of this church family. For many of us we think of the great benefits of being raised in Christian homes, having Christian parents or grandparents, Christian friendships, and how grateful we are for all these things and yet we find it so hard to share that blessing and to risk our reputations and our comfort in order that others might come to know every spiritual blessing in Christ.

[35:44] Forgive us, we pray, when our hearts grow cold and yet, Lord, may your power be made perfect in our weakness though we might go out in fear and trembling that we will hear your voice saying to us, you know, keep on speaking for I am with you.

[36:06] We pray, Lord, that this week each of us will have the great pleasure of speaking to a friend or a colleague or somebody at a bus stop about you that there might be rejoicing in heaven even if only one sinner repents.

[36:21] and, Lord, that you would give us a holy boldness and a humble love to say a word for Christ. So we thank you for this time.

[36:33] We pray that we would encourage one another now and that you would go with us as we continue on into the evening. But we thank you for this time together in Jesus' name.

[36:45] Amen.