Sermon Brief
Date Written: April 26, 2010
Date Preached: April 25, 2010
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: Evangelism 101 – A Course in Obedience
Sermon Title: Sizzling Evangelism
Sermon Text: Psalm 34:1-8 [NASB]
Introduction:
This morning I want to start out by asking you to close your eyes and imagine with me for just a moment. I want you to imagine ‘going home’… going home to mama’s house!
She knows your coming and she knows what you like and she has been in the kitchen most of the day getting things ready for you… when you get there, you step inside the door and it hits you… the aroma of ‘mama’s cooking!
Depending on what your mama cooks… you may smell fried chicken and all the trimmings,
You may smell fried pork chops smothered in gravy…
It may be thanksgiving and you may smell that wonderful Turkey in the oven, with the aroma of sweet potatoes, fresh baked bread, and that delicious pecan pie that she makes every year…
Are you hungry yet? Now imagine walking into your favorite steakhouse… mine is Texas Roadhouse… I love walking into their restaurant and smelling the roasted peanuts, the fresh baked bread and the sizzle of the steaks on the grill! My mouth begins to water just thinking about it!
Are you hungry yet? Now I use this illustration today to illustrate a point in Evangelism! You see there are many people today who do not know Jesus Christ, and have NEVER experienced the sweet aroma of His grace and mercy in their lives… they have never had the opportunity to TASTE of His goodness and love! And because of that they just don’t know what they are missing…
This year, I visited a Hibachi grill for the first time. I had heard about it, and had seen some TV shows about, but it was Michelle’s witness of her own personal encounter that peaked my interest! She described to me the atmosphere and the ambiance of the Hibachi experience and it made me want to check it out! I went and now I LOVE the Hibachi grill!
For many, Christianity and knowing Jesus Christ is just like that… they have heard about it, they may have even seen something on TV or heard something on the radio about it, but they have never experienced it in its fullness!
It is OUR job as believers to wet their appetite… it is OUR job as believers to make them hunger for what we have! We are called by God to be witnesses and what better witness than one who totally ENJOYS what he is doing!
Today’s passage is from Psalm 34:1-8 [NASB], let’s read it and see how this applies to us in spreading the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ around to those God places in our path! READ SCRIPTURE HERE…
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
God has called us to be a witness for Him, and a good witness is going to paint a good picture of what they believe in. What sort of picture of Christ are you painting with your life? What Jesus do people see when you are around?
When you believe in a product or believe a place of business is worthy of your business, how do you tell others about it? Do you say, Well, I guess its alright, I mean you may not feel that way but I guess it will do?
Now think about that as it pertains to your walk in Christ. How do you portray your walk with Christ to others… is it a Sizzling witness or is your witness sad?
This morning I want us to look at Scripture and discover what Sizzling Evangelism is all about:
1. Evangelism is about Thanksgiving – v. 1-3
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
There is NO greater witness to good cooking than word of mouth! Restaurants seek the praise of the local food critic! And when you ask others about a place to eat… you ask, what places do YOU like, we don’t want to go in sight unseen or without prior knowledge!
In witnessing to others this is a very good way to introduce them to Jesus Christ and that is to be a great witness FOR Jesus Christ! To tell the world about how wonderful Jesus is to you.
In the first 3 verses we find the Psalmist raving about God and sharing with those who read and sang his psalms that God was the most wonderful thing in his life.
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
The psalmist has NO reservation about his love for and adoration of God, and he is going to sing God’s praises to anyone who will hear him. ALL the time, continuous praise coming from his mouth!
This is what it means to be a great WITNESS for Jesus Christ. Out of our mouth should come blessing, honor and praise for Jesus! For what He’s done in defeating death and sin, for what He accomplished in opening a door to heaven and eternal life for all who will accept Him.
Jesus is WORTH our praise, and we should be giving Him the praise with our voice, in our actions and it should be evident in our lives to ALL who know us and all who see and hear us!
2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.
Here the psalmist continues his praise of God by boasting to those around him about God… the soul is considered to be the very essence of who we are and from the very essence of who he is; he is bragging about God!
He wants all those who are around him to hear how wonderful God is… and for those who already know God and have humbled themselves in service to God, the psalmist is saying REJOICE because you know what I am speaking about! He wants ALL to know and wants those who already know to rejoice with Him in the wonderful glory of God!
I believe we can learn a lesson in effective evangelism here… I believe with this approach our evangelism begins to move past simply getting someone’s attention and it begins to become something that makes people sit up and take notice… and desire to know what it is all about!
When Jesus says I want you to be My witnesses, He wants us to TRUMPET what He has done with every breath of our being… We are called to shout it out… to tell all we know how wonderful God is, what a great thing Jesus has done for us.
For all of us who know Jesus as our Savior, for all of us who have humbled ourselves to submission to His Lordship. We who are saved can be truly glad because of what He has done! Rejoice and trumpet the news!
3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
The psalmist tells us to join with him in his praise of God and let’s all make a joyful sound to let others know about His surpassing greatness and love!
Like the psalmist, we too should band together with our voices and with our efforts to trumpet the name of Jesus to those who do NOT know Him! We are called to be His witnesses… let us be the loudest and proudest witnesses of Christ we can be… let us BOAST about all He has done. Let us rejoice with abandon and tell the world how wonderful He is!
Thanksgiving is a very critical part of the evangelistic process… when others see our joy, sincerity, thanksgiving and rejoicing over Jesus, they are going to want to know what we are celebrating and that is going to open many doors for us to share that same joy with them!
Do you want evangelism in your life to absolutely SIZZLE and really irritate and sabotage Satan’s plans?! Then get excited about Jesus, and shout it out to the world what He has done for you! Be joyfully and exuberantly thankful in your life and in your voice… and the evangelism in your life will begin to sizzle!
But thanksgiving is not the only action of evangelism, I can also see that true evangelism for the believer can only start with the realization of where we have BEEN, and where we are going
2. Evangelism is about Realization – v.4-7
4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
The psalmist knew that there was a reason that he could rejoice! He knew that there was a reason he could boast and brag about God… it was because God had delivered him! God had answered his prayer and delivered him from the fear he had in his life.
We all have fear in our lives and most of all we have a fear of the unknown… a fear of that we cannot wrap our minds around. When we come to know Christ, our fear of death and what happens after this life are calmed and we can focus on living in this world to please God.
Some people have a fear of aimlessness and they don’t see purpose or a reason for their existence, but in Christ we have a purpose and a reason for being here and it is to serve and love God, and to serve and love our fellow human beings!
You see, the only way we can truly be thankful is when we come to the full realization of WHAT God has done in our lives… We realize that God has delivered us from death… or should I say the fear of death because of His promise of eternal life with Him.
God has delivered us from an aimless and purposeless life in setting our course and ordering our steps and giving us a reason to live here in this world… Jesus promises an abundant life and we can celebrate when we know this!
5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.
The psalmist describes those who have met God and have come to know Him on a personal level. Here he describes them as having faces filled with joy and hope, and they live a life of rejoicing and are not ashamed of their lives…
So often in life we find people who are searching and unhappy and have come to be somewhat ashamed of how they live their lives! They don’t want to admit their shame and they try to hide it thru deflecting blame away to circumstances or how they were raised or on other people, but the fact of the matter is… we are all sinners and we have all fallen short of God’s kingdom and with that sin comes the shame and guilt that sinners must bear!
For those who have looked upon Christ in submission and surrender and have confessed Him as Lord and Savior, that guilt and shame is removed and it is replaced with an outlook on life that never looks back and never hides its joy in Christ!
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
Here the psalmist describes us as we are BEFORE coming to know God… we are POOR… without hope… on the outside looking in! Poor here equates to a spiritual poverty… one that is mired in sin and lostness! One that leaves yearning for something better, seeking to rid ourselves of this poverty!
We cry out and God hears our cry… we confess our sin to Him and Scripture tells us that He forgives us and saves us from our sin and brings into our lives an eternal life… a life where death no longer holds us captive or hostage, but a life that is free of the worry and anxiety we had once had…
When we come to know Christ as Savior, we come the realization that we have been delivered and it causes us [or it should cause us] to rejoice… but not just rejoice but EXCEEDINGLY rejoice, letting all around us know of the deliverance we have experienced and the love and forgiveness we have received!
When we come to that realization, sharing our faith is not a matter of obligation but it is a matter of joy, boasting in Christ and a sense of obedience and thankfulness to Jesus for what He has done!
When we come to the realization that we have been delivered, we can get serious about evangelism, we can begin to sizzle in our approach to sharing our faith! We can share with those around us how joyful and free we are now, AND how God has made all this possible when we confessed our sin and surrendered to His Lordship! We sizzle in sharing our faith when we understand what we have been delivered from and our sins have been forgiven and the guilt we had is removed!
Evangelism is all about thanksgiving on our part…
Evangelism is all about realization on our part of what Jesus has done for us…
But finally this morning I want to share with you that once we have realized where we have been delivered from… and once we begin to reveal our thanksgiving to those around us…
Evangelism is all about sharing what we have experienced with those God places in our path… sharing it with abandon and excitement!
3. Evangelism is about Sharing – v. 7-8
7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
In v.7 the psalmist tells us that the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, but I want us to understand what he means by fear in this passage! He was not speaking of a fear in the sense that they are scared that God will smite them or kill them for mistakes or sinful lives…
It is more of a fear that is about being in AWE of His presence in our lives… He is the God of the Universe and yet He cares enough to share our lives and have a personal relationship with us.
The fear we have OF God before we come to know Him as Savior is removed and we are delivered from that fear! This means we begin to live our lives in such a way that the Enemy can do nothing to cause us to run away from God! We become fearless in the presence of our enemy and in the presence of sin… not that we do this on our own, but that God does it IN us!
8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Here the psalmists lays out our reasoning for sharing our faith with others… God is GOOD and we should desire for others to come to know His goodness in their lives!
I love the way the psalmist uses the analogy of tasting God to see if He is good! You see when we eat something we come to the conclusion in our minds whether or not we like it or that we do NOT like it… there are things we eat that we come to savor and long for… and there are things in our lives that we simply do NOT like!
Spiritually speaking the psalmist is urging non-believers to taste of God and see for themselves how wonderful His love, mercy and grace are in their lives! He calls on them to ‘taste’ the salvation that only God can provide and see if it is GOOD!
Finally the psalmists reveals that those who are willing to give God a taste are not going to be disappointed… but they are going to find refuge in Christ… they are going to find a shelter from the storms of life… they are going to have an advocate who will offer them refuge from this world and a permanent refuge from the sinful nature of their own souls!
We are called to share Christ with others because we have tasted the sweet mercy and grace of God.
We are called to share Christ with others because we are in awe of what He has done for us and what He has delivered us from.
We are called to share Christ because He offers us a shelter and refuge from the evil and sinful nature of the world we live in.
Today you are called to be the messenger of God to the world… sending out the message that God has done great and mighty things… that you are so thankful TO God and relieved that God has chosen to deliver you from your sinful nature…
Are you ready to cut loose today? Are you ready to share your thankfulness of what God has done for you with the world around you?
Are you ready to begin to boast in the Christ you serve and the Christ that has delivered you from sin and Satan! Are you ready to lift up God in such a way that people begin to develop an appetite for Him! You live in a world where God is all but ignored are you ready to bring attention to the Savior who has saved you?
Today are you ready to be the evangelist you are called to be? Are you ready to share what you have realized? Are you ready allow God’s love shine thru your life… are you ready to stand UNASHAMED in this world for the Savior who has answered your prayer and delivered you from your sin?
Today are you ready? Ready to share what God has done for you… what God has delivered you from… what God is still doing IN your life?
Conclusion:
The young salesman was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.
The manager replied, Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty. So it is with evangelism. Our lives should be so filled with joy of Christ and what He has done for us that IT creates a thirst for Jesus in everyone we meet!
Today I call on every believer in this room… I call on you to begin to live a life that is openly thankful and joyful about what God has done! I call on you to come to the realization that God has delivered you and has provided an eternal home for you and has forgiven you… I call on you to begin to share with joy and excitement… the God you so love… the God who has encamped around your life and has brought peace and deliverance?
Today are you ready offer to those God places in your path a taste of God’s goodness and mercy? Are you willing to live in such a way that those around you will see that you have something special in your life and it a very good thing… Today are you ready to take refuge in God’s great and loving hand?
I call on those today who have never ‘tasted’ of God’s goodness and mercy… I call on you to surrender to Him this morning and submit to His Lordship… I call on you to confess your sin and receive the salvation that only HE can promise and provide!
As Bro Steven comes to lead us in our hymn of invitation… I call on you to come, and open your heart to God this morning, come as we STAND and begin to sing!
