Share the Hope That Is in You
First B Jackson
2026-01-04

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Good morning, everybody. Happy New Year. Happy '20 '26. We're glad you're here. We're gonna start by singing holy, holy, holy.

Yeah. Would you stand with us and join us in song? Here's an encouraging word from first Samuel two two to lead us into worship. There's no one holy like our Lord. There's no one besides you.

There is no rock like our God. Join us in singing.

Alright. Good morning, everybody. Have a seat. Welcome to First Baptist Church. We're delighted you're here.

It's gonna be a little different today. Pastor Ray is driving Van Jones or Oh. That died. Alright. Nice.

See you later.

Look at that. So

Look at the hey. I wanted to be over here anyway. This is what we meant to do. Hey. Welcome to First Baptist Church.

Pastor Ray is bringing Van Jones and his family up. They're our new associate pastor. So it's gonna be a little bit different today, but we have some announcements for you to let you know what's going on. Things are kinda starting back up. Awana is back on tomorrow.

It's our kids program. It's a delight. Please bring him on by. If you haven't registered with him, you can register on the website. But January 5, we're back on already.

The men's lunch study is gonna be back on on the eighth, and we're gonna have an announcement about that in a second. So we'll come back. And since Van Jones is coming in, we're gonna need some helpers to help him unload. If you're available tomorrow or Tuesday, we're not sure quite when they're gonna get here yet. Would you sign up with Jeff and myself?

We'd love to have you help us unload their moving van and get them settled and a nice warm welcome. So if you need something to do tomorrow or Tuesday, let us know. We'd love to have you. And for missions moment, we like to highlight some of the many missionaries that we have here at First Baptist. And Eric and Becky Watt run a ton of ministries throughout the world at runministries.org, and we just like to pray for them.

They work with a lot of persecuted people in a lot of dark places in the world. And if you don't mind, let's let's bow our heads and pray real quick. Lord God, thank you so much for what you're doing around the world. And Lord, that no one is forgotten even in what seems like the darkest, most lonely situation, Lord God, you are there. You are available and you are with him.

Lord Jesus, we just pray that you would be with the Watts and their team with Run Ministries. Would you hide them from the bad people, Lord God, but would you let your light shine even to to anybody who's even rejecting you, Lord God, and that they would come to know you, that you would soften those strongholds of the enemy. And Lord God, would your would your name be victorious in this world, Lord Jesus. In your holy name, amen. And if you're ever interested, we're always looking for people to join the missions team.

They met this morning to pray for our missionaries around the world. And on Wednesdays, we meet in the church office at 07:00 sorry, 07:30 in the morning to to pray through all of our missionaries and individual requests that we have too. We have one last minute request. The women's community Bible study is starting back up again on January 14, 10AM to noon at Gateway, and it's about Joseph in Genesis. So that should be really exciting.

And Bobbie Daily, who's one of the parishioners who's been going here forever, she's doing kind of a rewatch in the evening. So if you can't make it in the morning at 10AM, stop by her house from six to 08:30. The information should be on the website as soon as I do that. So hopefully in the next few minutes, we'll we'll get that posted for you. And can I have you come up here, John, real quick?

He's gonna let you know a little bit about the men's study. This is John Hammond, everyone.

Thank you, sir.

Well, happy New Year, everybody. The beginning of the New Year often gets us in a place where we're thinking about what we wanna do differently. And I wanna invite all the guys here to come to our men's study. Like we said, it's ten of ten to noon on Thursdays. It's only an hour.

Christianity is a team sport. This is a great chance to join the team and meet lots of other different guys from around the valley, different ages, different life stages, different points of view, and we keep it super easy. Alright. We have a sheet. Come.

It's a drop in thing. If you can come this week, but you can't come for three weeks or you can come every week, please join us because I think it's an incredible opportunity to meet other guys who are trying to figure it out as husbands, as fathers, as business people, how we show up in the world. So we'd love to have you. Again, no homework, but if you're interested, we're it's in the gospel of John, so that's what we'll be doing. And let's have everybody stand up and greet one another.

What wondrous love is there so my soul oh my soul. What wondrous love is there so my soul. What wondrous love is this that cause the Lord of bliss. To bear the curseful curse and sinking down, sinking down. When I was sinking down, beneath God's righteous frown.

Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul. Christ laid aside his crown for my soul. To God, to the lamb I will sing. To God, to the lamb who is the great I am. While millions join the thing I will sing, I will sing.

While millions join the thing I will sing. And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on. And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on. When from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful

We did want to correct one thing. The men's, lunch, it's not ten to noon. It's, ten minutes to noon until one. So just so

you know. Let's sing. Worthy of every song we could ever sing. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe, we live for you.

And going

in the

none beside you. Open up my eyes and wonder, show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me. I will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken. I will build my life upon your love foundation I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken. Holy, there is no one like you.

There is none beside you. Open up my eyes and wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me.

We're gonna sing Take My Life and Let It Be.

Take my moments and my days let them flow in ceaseless praise let them flow in ceaseless praise Take my hands and let them at the impulse of thy love. Thee. Take my will and make it thine. It shall

Amen. You can have a seat. We're gonna enter the time of worship through giving, and we're gonna have, I think Jeff Brown's gonna maybe pray for us, maybe? I'll pray for it. We're gonna sing Speak O Lord, the and in Colossians three it says, let the message about Christ and all its richness fill your lives.

And let us pray. God, we just come before you as a church. And as we bring our gifts, our talents, our time to you, we just acknowledge who you are in our lives, the giver of peace, the giver of hope. And, we just thank you for everything that you do for us, Lord. Help us to give back to you and the people who need it.

And, we just thank you for your love and your mercy that you have on our lives and what you're doing in this world, Lord. We know you're in control, and it's in your name we pray. Amen.

Speak oh Lord as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word Take your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in your likeness. That the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith speak oh Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory. Speak, oh Lord, of time that will let go down through eternity. And by grace, we'll stand on your promises, and by faith, we'll walk as you walk with us. Speak, oh, Lord, till your church is built

Time for children's church. So for our message today, we're gonna look at first Peter three thirteen through 17. And we'll put that up here on the screen. Now who is there to harm you for if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed.

Have no fear of them nor be troubled. 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 this with gentleness and respect. Having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. Good morning, church. Good morning. Well, there's a great new movie out on streaming that I would recommend to all of you. It's called Light of the World.

It's like new Jesus film made in a way through the eyes of the Apostle John, helps you understand Jesus' life. After my son saw it, he said he understood Jesus in a whole new way. Or perhaps another recommendation, if you really want to kill this six seven thing, every time your kids do it, just go wild. Because as soon as the adults buy in, it's gonna die. Now while both of those things are true, what I'm really doing is making a point there.

We are all evangelists for something. Your gym, your favorite restaurant, a book, a movie, a diet, even the best way to drive to Salt Lake City depending on the time and the place. Basically everything except for that special hunting or fishing spot. But the point is that when we think something can help someone, we tell them. We love sharing our opinions with the people that we know and often with those that we don't.

And yet we're also hesitant to share what matters most, Jesus. We have all in some measure bought the lie that faith is personal and private. Because yes, it's personal, but no, it is not private. What a clever tactic by the enemy to hinder us from sharing. We're so afraid of conflict or of offending someone that we don't realize that eternity is at stake for everyone around us.

If you had a deadly disease, and I had the known cure for it, how much would I have to hate you to not share that cure? Or if I saw a kid chasing a ball out into a busy street, whether it's my kid or not, would I not go running like a maniac after them, shouting for them to stop? Even if it's not my kid? Of course, I would. And there's lots of excuses, and I use them too.

Maybe we don't want to bother someone, or we feel like it's somebody else's job. We don't want to appear to be judgmental. We don't want to be like that guy with the sandwich board and the bullhorn standing on the street corner shouting about sin. Or maybe we don't feel equipped. Or maybe we ourselves don't have confidence in the truth.

That's what we're gonna look at today. Now for context, as we're looking at first Peter three, we're parachuting in on this verse today. So you have to remember that this is the Apostle Peter writing sometime around sixty three AD to followers of Jesus that are scattered by persecution throughout Asia. But Peter doesn't tell the believers to hide or to rebel against a wicked government. Peter tells them to be willing to accept persecution for doing good, if that should be God's will.

That we should even expect that to be the outcome. Peter offers that Christ's life was an example of how to live in light of his own resurrection. That we are set free, not so that we might pursue worldly whims and fleshly desires, but so that we can truly live for the God who bought us. Who gave us the eternal hope that is accomplished and secure in Jesus. So let's look at our key verse again for today.

We're gonna hone in on verse 15. We're gonna break this down. But in your hearts, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. But do this with gentleness and respect. So we noticed first thing today that these are instructions for how to honor Christ as Lord in your life.

And that leads to an important caveat here that we need to spend a few minutes on. Because there's a lot of imperatives in the Bible saying do this, don't do that. They're imperatives. Roughly one in three verbs in the New Testament epistles is an imperative, telling us what to do. They're not to be ignored.

And yet, because of our sin and our self righteous tendencies, we can also over index on them and make the opposite error. From an internal perspective, this is like thinking, I'm a good boy because today I had a quiet time, or I gave money to the church, or I didn't give in to my lust desire. We can also make the opposite and we can go, man, there's no way God can accept me. Because today I did that thing that I know I'm not supposed to do, or I didn't do that thing that I know I'm supposed to do. Our adoption is not contingent on our performance.

And we tend not to say that out loud or even think it consciously, but it can be this underlying pervasive thought that helps drive our operating system. So just like in middle school math, we have to get the order of operations right. We have to always be cognizant of the fact that we are adopted, each and every one of us, as sons and daughters of God. That we do not earn our salvation. That you don't do anything to become adopted, and yet it inevitably changes us.

If you experience that transformation in life, but it doesn't produce change in your life, I'm arguing you're not aware of what has occurred. You're not aware of the ridiculous inheritance that you have received. We are saved by faith alone, by grace alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone. I'll say that again, because it's kind of pregnant. We are saved by faith alone, by grace alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.

It inevitably produces the fruit of righteousness, what the Bible often calls works. So we always start at the cross and at the empty tomb. We dwell on God's love for us every single day until it becomes more and more of our default operating system. That's sanctification, and we never outgrow that. You have to preach it to yourself and to those around you every day.

And I've said it before, but you have to recall that most of the time when the gospel is preached in the Bible, it's not preached to unbelievers. It's preached to those that are already committed followers of Christ. But then scripture also gives us instructions to follow. So you wanna know how to love God in light of this transformational adoption. This tells us how.

So with that in mind, let's hop back into the text. Now we're going go a little out of order from the English translation here, but bear with me. We're going look at three points. Yes, I did the alliteration thing again. Forgive me.

We're going look at attitude, answer, and aspiration. Attitude, but do this with gentleness and respect. Answer, these are some basic apologetics crash course, and aspiration, the hope that is in you. This is your testimony. And then we'll sum up with an application.

So our first point, attitude, But do this with gentleness and respect. Like so many things in the Christian walk, this is really simple and really difficult. Recognize that everyone around us is made in God's image, and that you are saved not because of your own merit, but because God chose you and loved you. Recall that you yourself were even an enemy of God according to Romans five. You are not a neutral party.

You are not Switzerland. You are an enemy. You are actively making war, and I was too, against God whether we were aware of it or not. And he went and laid his life down for us anyway. And we can now, in that freedom, do the same for those around us.

And if we get trampled on for doing what is right, Peter says throughout this letter in verse 14 before this, but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. That's kind of hard to hear in America. Philippians one twenty nine is a parallel text on this. It says, for it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. It's not super exciting.

But in my flesh, I can get so wrapped around the axle, making sure that I'm getting mine, that I get what I deserve, that I lose track of my Christian calling. I've had to work so hard in this aspect of my life because this does not come natural to me. I want to make sure that I get mine before I work on helping you get yours. It's the American way. It's what's saturated into our culture.

And yet, Peter says to us that we should expect to do to suffer for doing what is right, that we should expect it. And that only makes sense in light of eternity. If we trust God and not ourselves to ultimately sort out good and evil in his ultimate righteous judgment, then and only then do we stop worrying about defending ourselves, and then we can truly focus on loving God and loving others like we're commanded to do. So when our text today says, do this with gentleness and respect, think about how radical, just basic kindness and respect is in our culture with people we disagree with. You can look to Jesus the way that he interfaced with those that had no part in the kingdom of God previously.

You don't have to be combative. In discussions with people who don't know God, we are ambassadors for Christ. You are a representative of a kingdom, not of this world. It's like being a foreign dignitary. You have a passport.

You have an allegiance. You have a heart for a country that is not the country you are currently living in. You will never win an argument with somebody by badgering them into the ground with facts. Even if you could, that would be winning the battle but losing the war. So instead of trying to win an argument when we're in a discussion, we are trying to win our brother or sister.

So we be patient, we see the person for who they are, and we love them as God loves them. And you can keep that in mind. When we're providing a defense for the faith, the word that we're translating today, defense, is apologia in the Greek. It's it's where we get the root word for the for the Christian discipline of apologetics. It's more of of making a legal case for something than it is like a modern apology for something.

We aren't saying that we're sorry for the faith, because the faith needs about as much protection as a lion does. If you're so unfortunate as to have to go to a zoo, there is usually a barrier between you and the animal. Now sometimes, that barrier is to protect the animal from you. You don't need protection from a penguin. It needs protection from you and your incessant need for the selfie.

You've all done it. But when you go to see the lion, there's no doubt who needs the protecting, right? You feel it, you go. And that's what we're protecting. We're not protecting the faith, let me clarify that.

We are presenting the Lion of Judah. So when we present a reason for the hope that we have, we're saying, come and see, and we let God do the work from there. We're introducing them to Jesus. When people have an authentic encounter with Jesus, they're inevitably changed. Similarly, in the parable of the scattered seed.

What seed do we scatter? How do we defend? It's only our job to scatter seed. It's God's job to grow. But what seed are we going to scatter?

Well, that's our second point, so I'm glad you asked. Answer. Be prepared to give an answer. Before we get into this, I want to let you know that I am not going to do this part justice. I'm just giving you the trailer to the movie.

But at a high level, I want each and every one of you to leave here today knowing that faith is not the abandonment or absence of reason. That is a cheap straw man continually propped up by freshman philosophy professors that always seem to smell like patchouli oil. But it's a cheap shot at the faith that does not withstand any scrutiny. And it's so common in our culture that I've even heard stand up comedians repeat it as if it's an assumption. It's obvious.

And it's just not true. And this is a bit of a passion of mine because this idea is a lot of what brought me to take the faith seriously when I was in my twenties. Previously, I thought that faith was just something that we held on to, to look at the big unanswerable questions in our lives and make ourselves feel better. And maybe you identify with that today. Statistically, somebody here is in that camp.

But if this is something that you want to dive into further, here's six great resources, maybe it's seven now, that I would recommend to all of you. These are easy reads. Yeah. Take out your phone. Don't be shy about it.

It's totally fine. But these are a great place to start. More Than a Carpenter. If you've never read anything about the historical foundation and philosophical foundation for the Christian faith, Than a Carpenter and Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Let's start with More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell is great.

If you're interested in learning to share your Christian faith, Tactics by Greg Kochel is amazing. These other ones are awesome as well. Gotquestions.org, there at the bottom, I would commend to anyone. If you just want to learn how to answer hard questions or you're researching for yourself, it's an amazing place to start. But I'm going to give you a crash course very briefly on some of the stuff these guys cover.

And if you recall nothing else from today's message, I want you to know this. Everything starts and ends with Jesus. Radical thing to say from a pulpit on a Sunday, I know. But Christ is the foundation of our faith. And yet for those that do not believe, he and he alone is the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense.

And actually, Nick just flashed in the back. He's got copies of several of these books. So you don't even have to buy them on Amazon. You can just swing by the office. But Paul says in first Corinthians two, that when he goes to the church in Corinth, he professes to know nothing but Christ and him crucified, and that can be our goal as well.

But there are some basic facts that you need to know. And what we do with these is where people disagree. I I remember this as three easy steps to get you to a decision point. These are three basic facts that pretty much all reputable historians, secular or Christian, when they take a look at this, agree that these are true. The first is that Jesus was a historical person, biographically similar to the gospel accounts.

Second, that he was crucified for claiming to be God by a conspiracy of the of the religious Jews and the ruling Roman authorities. And third, that his followers claimed that on the third day, in accordance with centuries of prophecy and with Christ's own warnings to his followers, that he rose again. Not in resuscitation, not in healing, his followers claim that he was resurrected. Every single person needs to take a look at these three facts at some point in their life and make a decision. Because every single one of his followers died proclaiming this truth.

11 of the 12 of them were brutally murdered for this. That would be entirely unique in history. It would be the weirdest conspiracy of all time, because you generally don't agree to a lie that doesn't benefit you materially and gets your head cut off. Now, plenty of people have claimed to be God. Don't get me wrong.

And they often accrue followers, but never have the followers kept it up after that proclaimed Messiah was killed, and never has resurrection been claimed. Jesus even showed himself to over 500 people after his resurrection in accordance with first Corinthians 15. So we have to do something with this. Because all of us, we tend to want to take the claims of Jesus and make them a little less serious, so that we can have just that little more semblance of control over our lives. Jesus told us this would be the case in Matthew seven.

He said, the road is narrow and the gate is small that leads to eternal life. What I mean is that most people, even when shown a rational basis for belief, will not willingly submit to Jesus as Lord. That can be true for many who attend church their entire lives. And that can sound harsh to say, but I think Paul says the same thing in second Corinthians thirteen five when he says, to examine yourselves and consider the possibility that you might not be a Christian. Are you really considering the weight of Jesus' claims?

This is good for each of us to consider. Because I believe that one of the things keeping so many people away from an eternity with Christ is that they already believe they are a Christian when actually they are not. C. S. Lewis popularized this notion about seventy five years ago in mere Christianity when he he called the paradigm lord, liar, lunatic.

Basically, looking at these three historical facts, he can only be lord or he was a bad guy. He could not be have been a good teacher. He could not have just been a good example. He's Lord of my life. That means if I'm convinced that something is of Jesus, I'm going to pursue it with all my might until I'm convinced otherwise.

If he's not your Lord, you're effectively living as if he's either a liar or a lunatic. And I say that to challenge each and every one of us today, and also to prepare us for when we're sharing the faith with others. So start there. Learn these truths. And when someone asks me for the reasons for the hope that I have, I point to Jesus.

I don't have to know every bit of minutiae about the dinosaurs. I can say, what about Jesus? And there's tons of other great arguments. But if I'm having a conversation with someone, and I say, what do you think about Jesus? If they say he was a good teacher, I can just go, that's interesting.

What kind of good teacher says that if you don't eat their flesh and drink their blood, you have no part with them? What what kind of good teacher says, I am the way, the truth, and the life? What kind of good teacher claims to be God? So we be kind, we be gentle, we ask questions, and we focus on Jesus. Now, I also want you to know as you leave here that there is rational explanations for several of the scientific and philosophical disciplines as well.

There's a common narrative in the culture that faith is somehow opposed to science and reason. Things like the big bang, evolution, objective morality, the fine tuning of the universe for existence, the history of the church, the archaeological proven accuracy of the Bible. These are entire fields of study that have plenty of room for discussion and are fascinating rabbit holes to go down. But that's not our core purview for today. These are all basically questions around why is existence the way that it is.

I've heard it said that Christians believe in the believe in the virgin birth of Christ, and atheists believe in the virgin birth of the universe. You got to pick which miracle you believe in. My favorite analogy on this is, let's say, you're on a beach vacation, which sounds pretty nice when it's raining ice in January. But you're walking on the beach, you got the warm sand on your toes, and you see a beautiful and functioning Rolex just right there on the ground. Maybe you've heard this analogy before.

You notice that the second hand is perfectly accurate. You see the complexity of the time and date functions. You notice that the bezel and the band are perfectly polished and in complementary colors, and that there's 12 luminescent markers at every spot for where an hour should be. Would you logically conclude that time plus matter plus chance brought that watch into being? No.

Or would you assume that someone had intentionally built that watch in a dedicated factory with craftsmanship and care. Yeah. Christians hold that the divine watchmaker is not just a watchmaker, but has shown himself to us over thousands of years of revelation, and given himself to us in the Holy Spirit and in his perfect son Jesus. And existence, as science understands it, is infinitely more complex than a watch. If the big bang is science best understanding of of the model of creation, who set it in motion?

Who's the big banger? If we're only products of evolution, well, who's there to say what's right or wrong? Or that there's good or evil? Why is it that archaeology has only ever reinforced the claims of the Bible? These are big questions.

They're really interesting discussions. And we as Christians don't need to be afraid of them. But even if you were to have mastery over these disciplines, you're unlikely to argue someone into the faith. It's been said if you can argue someone into the faith, can argue them out. Because several of these arguments are actually more about theism generally than they are about biblical Christianity.

I just want you to be prepared to know that there is a rational, historical, scientific basis for belief from several different academic disciplines. Have confidence in that for sure, but don't ground your faith in a philosophy grounded in a person, Jesus. And more commonly, the person in front of you is going to trust the Christian before they trust the Christ. So that's where they where you share the hope that is in you. And this is our third point.

So we did attitude. Right? Gentleness and respect. We did an answer looking at basic apologetics. Now we're looking at an aspiration to share the hope that is in you.

Because God has put a hope in you through the Holy Spirit, so that you might share it with those that are around you. Share your story. Testimony is so simple. I use a three step outline. Because if you haven't noticed, I like things in threes.

Who you were before Christ, how you came to Christ, and what your life has been like after. It's very hard to argue with personal transformation. Like the blind man healed by Jesus in John nine already works for pretty much everyone, and it's really helpful to be able to articulate it, not just for the person there, but for your own heart. So by way of example, here's mine in about a minute or less. I grew up attending church, but I couldn't have told you what it meant to be a Christian.

If somebody had asked, I would have said something about Jesus and the 10 commandments and being a good person. I was successful in all the ways that the world told me to be. I made money, had lots of friends, traveled, generally lived for the flesh. But deep down, I knew that I was not happy, that I was missing something fundamental. But God put friends into my life that loved me enough to show me the real Jesus.

So I dove deep into apologetics and philosophy in church history. I studied God's word for the first time and realized that Christianity was not a religion, it was a relationship with the creator, God. That Jesus died for my sins, not so that I could be a moral conservative, but so that I might have inheritance with God. That I could be transformed by him. Now since then, the circumstances of my life have not become more easy.

But I have a durable joy that I am loved by God and accepted by him because of his provision. I can now rest as a child of God instead of seeking meaning and success. And I still make mistakes all the time. I still blow it. But I'm met by the love and grace of Jesus.

So that's my three step testimony. I hope you guys could see how the outline works there. And here's the thing, no one's ever gotten angry with me for sharing it. Learn a 30 version, learn a thirty minute version, start with the short one. But the worst thing that can happen when you share that testimony is somebody says, good for you.

And frankly, that's the most common response. Just preparing you so that you're not

like, oh.

But you never know how God is going to use your faithfulness down the road. Because we have to remember in all of this that God's timing is perfect. Ours is not. God is sovereign. We are not.

So I would ask you, take out your phone right now and write yourself a little note. Just reminding yourself, write a three step outline, And then share it with somebody close to you, and then share it with somebody that doesn't know Jesus. And you're gonna need to practice it a few times before you're comfortable sharing it. But ask someone that doesn't know Jesus about their life. Show interest in them.

And then when the conversation naturally transitions to your turn to talk, you go, hey, can I can I share with you what's been most important in my life? Nobody says no to that. So remember those three steps for your outline. Who you were before Christ, how you came to Christ, what your life has been like after. So those are our three main points for today.

We looked at an attitude of gentleness and respect. We looked at some basic answers and apologetics. And we looked at our aspiration to share the hope that we have. Now application. I always want to send you guys out the door with something practical.

I don't know when I'm going to do this the next time, so I'm going to give you a lot. Okay? But I also know from personal experience that any motivation that you're feeling right now internally is very likely to fade by the time you get to lunch, or even by the time you pick up your kids and get into that parking lot. So pick something and focus on it. In light of the new life you have in Christ, what can you put into practice today?

One, know that there is a rational basis for faith. It starts with Jesus. We aren't following a myth. We're not following the writings of one man's dream like Muhammad or Joseph Smith. We are following the fulfilled prophecy of 66 books of the Bible, written over two thousand years by about 45 human authors, most of which did not ever meet each other.

And it all tells the same story. It's John three sixteen. God loved you so much that he gave his one and only son that whoever might believe in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. That's the story of the Bible. Two, be prepared to share your testimony.

Prep a one minute version of who you were before Christ, what brought you to Christ, and what your life has been like since. Sharing your testimony is not just for the person in front of you. It's for your benefit as well. It's like renewing your marriage vows or celebrating a birthday. Third, ask questions.

Greg Kochel's book, Tactics, that I mentioned earlier, is the best for this. But here's the basic idea of the book. Just keep asking questions. Ask someone what their cross necklace means to them. Ask them if they celebrate Christmas.

Ask them what their coexist bumper sticker means. Ask them, hey, if you were to die today on a scale of one to 10, how sure are you that you would go to heaven? Why? Why should God let you in? Hey, would you like to be a 10?

Would you like to know how to be a 10? When somebody says something like, well, I'm not religious, but I am spiritual. You just ask them what they mean by that. Hey, what does that mean for you? Can I share what that might mean for me?

Fourth practice. You can role play this with a friend, Or if that's too daunting, this is the most redemptive possible use of an AI model. I have a really funny back and forth with Grock right now where I practice sharing my faith in light of Greg tactics. I'm not sharing it with you, just so you know, but you can build your own. Five, ask if you can pray for them.

This is my go to in everyday life. It's so easy. There's no onus for me to be like academically perfect. I'm sitting with a group of guys who are about to have a meal or I'm talking to a guy on a plane or it's a hockey parent that I'm standing next to yet another rink. And go, hey, how how can I be praying for you?

Nine times out of 10, they're going to stammer. It's going to be a little bit awkward. But they're going to know two things. One, that you're a Christian, and two, that you care about them. And then pray for them, and follow-up with them.

And when they have hard times in their life, who are they going to who are they going to look They're gonna ask you. Six, be kind. Living with the truth in mind that this world is not our home, that everyone was made in the image of God, it helps me overcome my anxiety. When I think about what's at stake, all of a sudden my social anxiety becomes way less. That fulfills the great commandment.

When we share our faith with someone, we are loving God and loving others in a way that very little else can do so directly. Seventh, live. And this is more from first Peter as a whole than from our specific text today. But when people that know you look at your life, do they want what you have in Christ? Do they understand a little bit just by looking at you of the blessing that you've received?

Or do you look the same as everyone else you just happen to come to church Live differently and sacrificially and with the aroma of Christ and be willing to suffer for it. Eighth, pray. Before, during, after sharing with someone. Ask God for help. You aren't doing this alone.

You would be astonished at how often God uses the least likely evangelist and objectively bad messaging to make incredible transformational change. Jonah is my favorite example from the Bible on this. Changed an entire city by saying, repent or in three days, God's going burn this thing to the ground. That's it. That's all he said.

God is sovereign, and yet he invites us to share in the blessing of the expansion of the kingdom by allowing us to be faithful in sharing it. Ninth team up. Here's my email address. If something's burning in you right now and you want to partner up and you want to do something a little bit more officially about this, I'm working on putting some people together around Jackson to take advantage of the unique opportunities that are here. Just because you email me doesn't mean I'm putting you in the sandwich board and the bullhorn on the corner.

Okay? But I just I'm trying to get people together who might be interested in this sort of thing, and we've got some cool stuff in the works. Tenth, just start. It's okay to make mistakes. My friend Caleb says that awkward is infinitely better than silent, because awkward is faithful.

And have confidence that the Holy Spirit goes with you wherever you go. Luke 12 says that wherever we go, the Holy Spirit goes with us and will give us the words that we need. But I'll tell you, starting to share your faith, it will bring a depth to your spiritual life that you've not had before. If you don't feel close to God right now, he didn't move away from you. You've moved away from him.

So start sharing your faith, and you will feel so close to God so quickly. Share the hope that you have. Because it's the hope that we have in apologetics, in our testimony with gentleness and respect. It is the hope that gets believers through another week where sin, and despair, and brokenness, and depression seem to rule all around us. What hope do we have?

It's that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We were enemies of God now adopted as children. God loved you so much that knowing everything you would ever do, he came and died for you and for me. You want victory over anger, selfishness, materialism, porn, drunkenness, licentiousness, whatever it might be. You want victory over that?

Give it over to Jesus. For that thing that you did last night or last week that you swore you would never do again, God knows about it, and he died for it. So I'll invite the band back up, and I'll close with this. Because the very God that made you out of love, he saw you running away from him. You were like a little child, hell bent on rebellion, running away from a parent, but God chased after you with love in his eyes.

He took on flesh. That perfect, strong and gentle Jesus, the humblest man that ever lived, he also told us that he was God and we killed him for it. All of us. He had nails driven through his wrist right here. And then he was spread out on the cross for all to see.

And when he needed to gather a shallow breath on the cross, he could push just enough off the nails that were in his feet so that he could get a breath. And he'd already been tortured and beaten. His skin lay open and bleeding. He was naked and ashamed for all to see. And that was God on the cross that day.

You wanna fall more in love with Jesus? Imagine you're the one driving the nails through his wrist, and he looks at you and he says, it's okay, Brad. This was always the plan. I still love you. Because the death wasn't the end.

That's the hope in the Christian life. Death was not the end. Death has been defeated because on the third day, he walked out of that grave. And we get to walk out with him if we would but make him our Lord. So we go and we share the hope that we have with those around us, and we do it with gentleness and respect.

We have a great week of worship. Thank you so much, church.

There is joy in the morning springing up in my soul. There is life worth living because it calls me his own. There's hallelujah after sweet victory. There's no sound louder than the captive set free. You

are

my deliverer, the crying mom living in. You are my deliverer. You are my promised land. You are my deliverer. The freedom I'm living in.

You are my deliverer. You are my

For a benediction today, we've got Romans fifteen thirteen. And hear this church, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. Go forth to love and serve the Lord.