Sharing The Big Picture

Introduction

And we’ve got lots of material to share. Um, I do want to mention this research to you that impresses me. Manta Research does uh studies on different groups, religious groups of all kinds, including churches of Christ, but uh they found that um 85% of churches are plateaued or declining, and only 15% are growing, and of the 15% that are growing, um, about 10% of those are because they’re in areas where people are moving to. In other words, it’s they’re in areas that are growing demographically, and the the only 5% of churches are really growing through conversions, and uh that just ought not to be. And they found out why are churches so typically not growing in the United States. They found three reasons. One is a lack of vision, really good, solid long-term visionary planning.

I tell churches, dream no small dreams, for they have not the courage to stir men’s souls. Gotta have a really good sense of vision. And secondly, you need to have good leadership. If you don’t have good shepherding, good leadership to help articulate the vision, then the church kind of flounders and just marks time. But the third thing is even if you have a decent vision and good leadership, which I believe the church here has, the third thing that it characterizes churches and aren’t really growing is they don’t have an ongoing organized plan to reach out to the community, reach out to those that are lost. And I know JR is doing some pretty amazing things in that regard, and uh Sean is very good at that.

But I’m really hopeful that this weekend will help the leadership here to kind of tweak their vision and to provide some of these things, particularly the big picture tool, as a way to consistently reach people with the gospel. See, we typically think, well, invite your friends and neighbors to a service. Well, you’ll get some growth that way, and it’s important to realize that churches grow on visitor flow. That is true. But a lot of people will never come because they’re number one satisfied with where they’re at, or they don’t believe, so why should I bother? And those people need to hear the gospel straight up because they don’t know why they need the Lord. They don’t know perhaps that they think they’re saved, but they’re not.

1. Can I Share This Presentation With You?

And so you need to have a two-pronged approach. One is meaningful invitation events and an opportunity to invite people to you know get to know you by visiting your worship services, but a big chunk that’s often overlooked is just directly teaching people the gospel before they even step foot in the building. So here in Florida, about 57% of people are committed to some sort of religion, and 43% are unchurched. And so you want to reach out to those 43%, and one of the best ways you can do that is through the big picture. So I hope that makes sense. So it’s amazing what a difference having the right kind of tool makes. Now, this may sound a little counterintuitive, but I want to recommend that you don’t focus on having a Bible study, but simply can I share this presentation with you?

Now, obviously the presentation is about the Bible. But people are much more likely to say yes if they can hear a presentation rather than you invite them to a study, which they may assume is some sort of debate. You know, it wasn’t unusual. I’d ask people for a Bible study, and they’d say, Well, you know, you’re a preacher, I’m not. I go, how about this? How about if I invite my preacher over and I can sit and watch the two of you argue? That’s not going to be very productive, is it? So you want to make sure that you keep it from appearing confrontational. This is just information, it’s just a presentation that I just think you’ll love. It’s all these inner relationships that people often miss in the scriptures, and you have all these aha experiences as things begin to fit together.

You’re just going to love this presentation. I’d love to share the presentation with you. 2 Timothy 2, 24 and 25, the Lord’s bond servant is not quarrelsome. One translation says it’s not argumentative, but kind to all, apt to teach, patient when wronged. And with gentleness, you’re supposed to correct those who oppose themselves, that they might eventually come to repentance. Every soul winner needs to memorize, 2 Timothy 2, 24 and 25. We’re not going to be very successful trying to argue people into heaven. When I first started trying to do soul winning, I meant well, but I would kind of start at the acute angle, and I would say, Well, you know there’s no authority for instruments of music in the New Testament, don’t you? I mean, I’d start off with, you know, telling them where they’re wrong and then try to prove that I was right and they were wrong.

I wasn’t very effective in those early days. I’ve learned that that’s not the way you can effectively reach people. But instead, avoid the acute angle and just look for an opportunity to establish a rapport and share the gospel with them. And you tell them, you know, I need to get this done in an hour or less. And so, in order to keep my word, if you’ve got questions, jot down on a sheet of paper your questions, then when we get to the end, if you’ve got some questions, we’ll deal with them at that point. And a lot of times people will write questions down and then they’ll start crossing the questions off because later on in the presentations their questions are answered. Well, it’s another reason why you don’t want to kind of go off into the weeds and get caught, you know, trying to deal with a bunch of questions and you can’t get through the material.

2. Learn It Well Enough to Explain It

Come and join one of our ongoing small groups at your convenience. Again, at some point you may want to have a bunch of small groups meeting where they go over the big picture and you can invite your friends. That’s what happened to Chrissy Bottomly that I mentioned earlier. But make sure you keep it to one hour. Now, the initial conversation and some of those things you do at the beginning, that doesn’t count. The one hour is when you start the presentation and then when you end it. Okay? Alright. Take a copy of the booklet and read it over in one sitting. By the way, a bunch of extras of these have come in. Thank you, JR. If you haven’t read this before or you don’t have a copy, please pick a copy of this up on your way out.

And I like it because it’s about the right size, it’s not that thick, and you can fit it in your Bible. And so take it home and see if you can’t read it in one setting. Very compelling, very well organized, and you need to get familiar with it. It’s kind of like hearing a sermon you really like, and you go, I really like that sermon, but that doesn’t mean you could go out and preach that sermon the next hour. Just because you get it doesn’t mean you know it well enough to share it. And so get one of these and get really familiar with it. There’s two levels of learning. First, you understand it, you follow it, agree with it, and then you have to learn it well enough so you can explain it to someone else.

And that’s the level of learning you need to have to be effective in sharing this material. You can listen to the lessons online. If you go to YouTube, you’ll find lots of places where I have delivered this to congregations. You’ll find lots more where Ken Craig has delivered this. He told me recently on the phone that he has been to 400 congregations since 2009 all around the world, sharing the big picture of the Bible. The problem is that he shares the material, and a lot of most people don’t do anything with it. And what I’m trying to do is to show you the good material and then show you how to put this to use so it can be something that will hopefully be planted in the hearts of those that are open to the gospel.

Now, my contribution to this, I brought one of these with me, is this study guide version of the flip charts. And you’ll notice at the bottom of the PowerPoint file, you’ll have little notes. I call those cliff notes. And so this kind of serves as training wheels and it takes away fear, and you learn about 10 pages at a time, and that’s not most people can handle that really easily. And so you you look at the basic what you might say in connection with this slide, and you kind of get it in your head, and then you practice it, and then you go to page two, and you look at what it says underneath that, and then you practice it, and you just come together in these classes, and it takes about eight to ten weeks, and over time you help each other and you role play and you just practice using these cliff notes.

And a lot of people feel really confident when they’ve got this, and if they think they’re going to forget something, it doesn’t matter, it’s right there underneath the slide. And so that’s my contribution is trying to figure out how these can better be taught to others and take away the fear. The key is to practice sharing and role playing, kind of make it your own. You’ll notice when I give the presentation tomorrow, there’s a few little things I throw in there. That’s not in the book, that’s just kind of me making it my own, and you may want to do the same. Remember in part one, we talked about the five stages of evangelistic maturity. One of the things that’s so exciting, and Ken and I have talked about this, is you’ll take somebody that has been in one or two, they’re in the avoidance or the reluctance category, but once they see how easy this is to present, and they start, you know, asking people, would you like to have me present this presentation to you?

Or would you like to go with me to my friend who’s teaching me this presentation? You want to join me, you want to learn it together. Suddenly they can go to four or five. And their mindset’s completely changed. So it didn’t take years to go from avoiding it altogether to just excited about sharing it and making it a big part of your life. And by all means, use these business cards. Now, these have been ordered, they’re going to be here shortly. And the front of the business card is very simple. Like I would talk to a waiter or waitress or a friend or whatever, and I say, Have you heard about this? And show them the front of the business card. Most people say no. I’ll go, really?

This has been sweeping the globe, it’s been translated into seven different languages. It is one of my wife and I’s just favorite little short explanations of the gospel and what the gospel is and how you can apply it to your account in heaven and how you can know for sure that you’re saved. It’s just an amazing presentation. And my wife and I love to get together with folks, takes about an hour, and share it with them. Would you be interested? What’s that? 35 seconds, 40 seconds? You’d be surprised how many people say yes. It’s not that hard. And it’s kind of a numbers game, folks. If everybody’s out there using these cards and asking people in a very nice way, would you like to hear this presentation?

You’re gonna get a bunch of yeses. And the more seed that you sow in the heart of seekers, the greater harvest you’re gonna have. You don’t have to be some big high-powered professional salesperson for this to work. And on the back of the business card, understand how the Bible fits together and what the true gospel is in less than one hour. And so then you put your information on the back. Now, I highly recommend that you know you give them the card for reference, but that you ask them, well, if you are interested, let me have your something I can text or maybe an email, and we’ll figure out a time that’s convenient for both of us. Will that work for you? And then if they will give you their contact information, much more likely to respond positively and successfully versus somebody just being polite and you leave them and you put the calling on their back.

3. The Alpha: Get Their Salvation Experience Up Front

Very important. Okay. Now, let’s I call this the Alpha and the Omega. I hate to have to rush through this. I have more details about this in the handouts that I’ve given you. Thank you, JR, for running all those off for us. The alpha, of course, is the beginning, the start. When the person comes to your home or you meet them in a Fanara Bread, or maybe you go to their home, whatever’s most convenient for them, always get their salvation experience or spiritual journey up front. And so before you begin the study, so appreciate your interest in spiritual things. Is your spiritual life to the point where if the Lord were to come this very night, would you be ready to meet him? Or if you were to die tonight, do you think you’d go to heaven?

Nobody gets offended. And people just kind of, you know, give you some sort of answer. And by the way, if they say, the kind of life I’ve lived, uh, the kind of stuff I’ve been involved, are you kidding me? No, I’m not. If they’re seeking the big picture because they know they’re lost and they’re seeking salvation, you’re about 95% sure that when you get to the end of the big picture, when they learn what they need to do, they’re gonna obey the gospel. And so that’s exciting when they say no. But most of the time they’re shooting, they’re choosing this lesson because they already have some spiritual interest. Probably they’ve already done something to cause them to think that they are saved. And so if they say, Yes, I believe that I’m saved, then you say, Well, it’s good to have confidence.

Tell me about your salvation experience. But you’ve got to write this down, what they tell you. And I love to take the three by five card with me and say, Can I write this down? This is important. People are flattered. Yeah, you can write it down. And so, okay, so you got to know the Lord, you know, you were taught the Lord when you were a kid, that’s good. And maybe, you know, they’ll say, I asked the Lord to come into my heart when I was 13, I went forward at a Baptist church, okay. And uh, so you believed you were saved, your sins were forgiven, you were heaven bound, and you write those three words on the card at that point when you were 13.

Is that correct? Yes. Were you ever baptized? Oh, yeah, about a month later, a bunch of us got together and we were baptized. That’s a typical response you get from maybe somebody from a Baptist background. You say, okay, so I’m just curious. So you weren’t baptized in order to be saved, but you were baptized because you felt you were saved already, that it was an outward show of an inward grace or whatever? Yes. Okay, so you write that down. Not baptized in order to be saved, but become a member of the Baptist church, whatever they tell you. Then you take it and you put it in your pocket and you just kind of put it away in case it’s helpful to have later. Why is it so important to get their salvation experience up front if they have one?

JR, you know.

Yes, because you know, I I used to share the gospel with people, and at the end they’d say, Well, I did that. And they told you before they hadn’t done that. And I used to think, another dishonest person. Man, this is this is really sad. They’re not being dishonest. The devil is the deceiver. They practice mental gymnastics and they apply this new knowledge back to this prior act, and they really convince themselves, yeah, well, that’s what the Bible teaches, and that’s what, so that’s what I must have done. And trying to argue with the person when they’ve already determined that’s what they did is a fool’s errand. So it’s really important to get it out front before they’re taught the truth, what they feel like their current status is, what they did to be saved if they think they’re currently saved, and the role of baptism in that salvation.

So now, if that happens, and it happens about 85% of the time, by the way, you just say, really? You just you’re puzzled. You take out the card and say, remember, we went over this earlier? And you said you were saved, you were heaven-bound, that your sins were forgiven, and that was a month before you were baptized. How could you have been baptized for the remission of sins if you believe your sins were forgiven a month prior? I don’t understand that. And if the person is honest, they’ll go, oh, they’re reminded. And they’ll go, well, I guess I wasn’t baptized for the remission of sins. Well, would you allow the same sincerity that years ago caused you to be baptized in the Baptist church? You just sincerely believe what you were told that that’s all you needed to do was just ask the Lord to come into your heart.

But now that you’ve learned the full truth on the matter, won’t you allow that same sincerity to cause you to be baptized into the Lord’s church to be just a simple Christian, nothing more, nothing less, nothing different. Would you allow me to baptize you into Christ so you might have all the spiritual blessings found in Jesus? See, it’s so important to know how critical it is to get their salvation experience up front and tuck it away. And then you begin with prayer. Now I highly recommend you consider these three elements in your prayer. Thankful for this person’s interest in spiritual things. So many people today are not interested in spiritual things. I really appreciate getting to know John or Jill or Sue or whatever. And Father, we ask that the word from the Holy Spirit that we study today will have free course in our lives.

And include yourself in this. Free course. That’s one of the prayers that Paul had for the church at Thessalonica. Don’t want there to be any barriers. And thirdly, ask in advance for forgiveness if you’ve done anything or said anything that is serving as a barrier to your word or this being a successful presentation. Now, why is that so important? Because one of the things Satan does is if the message is hard and it’s requiring a person to change or to repent and they don’t want to do that, they’ll frequently attack the messenger. And if you raised your voice in some way or you said something that they didn’t like, then they’ll bring that to the surface and they’ll make that a big big barrier. So it’s very important to be humble and just to ask for forgiveness if in any way you say or do anything that you shouldn’t have said that stood in the way of this person responding as the Holy Spirit would have them to respond.

4. The Omega: A Call for Commitment

So that that spirit of you just being the messenger is really important. And by the way, I don’t use the term I converted so and so or I don’t like that. The Lord converts people. We’re just the agent. Okay. They’re converted to us, they’re just as lost as they were before. So you get their salvation experience, you begin with prayer, you have this humility, and then when you get to the end, this is the omega, you finish the hour of presentation, which is what you’ll hear on Sunday morning. Then you’ve got to have a call for commitment. And this is where you encourage the person to make a decision. Now, occasionally, Gail and I were studying just recently with a lady, Carolyn Philipone, super nice lady.

And by the time we didn’t even finish, and she’s saying, Well, I haven’t done this. I need to be baptized scripturally. What do you think? I go, well, let me finish. Occasionally you’ll get somebody who’s just like they see it and they want to respond, but that’s not typical. Most of the time you’ll get some sort of procrastination kind of answer. Well, not now, or I’m not sure. They’re going to try to put you off. And so I’ve got a handout with great detail. And again, one of your very capable preachers here can go through this and maybe uh you know help you get more familiar with it. But in short, this is how you encourage people to make the right decision. Three ways to ask, to give them a little bit more instruction and then encourage them to respond.

The first I like to do is to just say, well, let’s turn over to Ephesians 1 and verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord and Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Would you like to have all the spiritual blessings in Jesus? Well, what’s somebody going to say? Well, what are those blessings? We’ll talk about them. Salvation, love, joy, and peace, the fruit of the Spirit. How about purpose in life? I think that’s often overlooked. So important. Purpose in life. And heaven, hope, all those things. Oh, wow, wonderful blessings in Jesus. Okay, now how do you get in? Where are those blessings found? They’re found in Christ. How do you get into Christ?

Well, Romans 6, 3 and 4, Galatians 3 27, as many have been baptized into Christ, hath put on Christ. Alright, so would you allow me for you to be baptized into Christ so you might have those blessings? And then you just wait for the person to respond. Now, this is really interesting. About 80 or 90% of the time, you’ll ask the person that question, and they’ll break eye contact with you and look down at the table. It’s just amazing how that happens. What are they doing? They’re thinking. Worst thing you can do is rush that. Listen, the Holy Spirit is doing open heart surgery on them. Don’t rush that. Worst thing you can do is, well, what do you think? Wait till they look up. And sometimes they look up and they go, yes, I do want all the spiritual blessings in Jesus.

And what we have heard is from the Bible. But a more common response is, I don’t know, what about this or what about that? They give some objection. So then I turn to Luke chapter 8, which is of course the parable of the sower. And we talk about the parable of the sower a little bit. And I say, you know, I believe that you have a good and honest heart. And in Luke chapter 8 and verse 15, 8, 11 says, the seed is the word of God. Verse 15 says, and those that have a good and honest heart, they respond. They let the seed germinate into their heart, some 30, some 60, some 100fold. Now I believe you have a good and honest heart. Instead of hardening your heart and not letting the seed germinate, will you take these truths that you have learned?

Let them germinate in your heart so you can bring forth lots of fruit in the future. Would you demonstrate your good and honest heart by allowing me to baptize you into Christ so you might have all those spiritual blessings? So you just give them more teaching, let them think it through. And then if they still are, you know, kind of struggling with it, I just ask them, do you understand all that God has required of you? And have them in their own words talk about what they’ve learned about what they need to do to respond to the gospel. And they usually do a pretty good job. Then I’d say, okay, great. That’s what we’ve learned together from God’s word. Would you obey these truths even you acknowledge to be correct?

Now that’s those are the three things that I, you know, usually go through if I need to encourage someone. And I think you need to encourage somebody as well. Now, after I’ve given somebody three opportunities, for me, I just after that I just back off. You know, you need to be, you know, politely persuasive but not overbearing, and there’s kind of a fine line there, and you’ve got to figure out what’s happening with the person, and you don’t want to lose their goodwill. But we are supposed to persuade folks. Through the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, right? So don’t be embarrassed about being persuasive. One of the things that people often tell me about this time in this presentation is they say, Oh, well man, that’s putting a lot of pressure on someone, don’t you think?

Look at Satan is pulling on this side of the rope, trying to keep them out of making the decision to come out of darkness into light. And oftentimes we want to just let go of the rope and just let Satan have his way. No, I’m going to pull on that rope and I’m going to try to give this soul a chance by being kind and patient but politely persuasive and hoping they’ll make the right decision. Through the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. I don’t know how persuasion can be anything but, in some cases, at least some sort of light encouragement or pressure, if you want to use that word, to do the right thing. Obviously, you can’t twist somebody’s hand. They’ve got to make their own decision, but you need to encourage them to make their own decision.

5. Are You Sure? Count the Cost

So the interesting thing here is after they say, yes, okay, I want to have all those spiritual blessings in Jesus. Then you say, Are you sure? What? All this effort to get them to make a commitment, and then you say, Are you sure? Yep. It’s kind of like, you know, I do a lot of premarital counseling. And here this engaged couple is there, and one of the first things I want to talk to them about is, are you sure? Have you counted the cost? This isn’t until divorce do you part, this is until death do you part. Are you taking these vows seriously? And so this is the time to count the cost with them. Once they say yes, ask them, Are you sure? And I have an outline that I provided for you on how you can go through and count the cost with folks.

And usually it divides up into three things. The first thing is you need to encourage them to have a personal walk with God. You know, a lot of the material put out by brethren that deals with you know material for new converts. Oftentimes there isn’t material about personal devotion. It’s all about doctrine. Well, part of the true doctrine is walking with the Lord on a daily basis and teaching people how to pray. So it’s really important that you teach people how to have a prayer life and a walk with God on a regular basis. And you need to talk to them about the importance of the church and its assemblies and submitting to the shepherds and what’s involved in that. Listen, if you start going out and you share the gospel with a bunch of people and you announce so-and-so is baptized, and then you never see them.

Very few things are more discouraging than that. So I want to make sure these people are taking this seriously. And then you need to tell them right up front. Now, you’ve learned the gospel. One of these days I want you to see yourself as the soul winner, and I want you to see yourself as learning this presentation, perhaps so you can reach out to your friends and neighbors and relatives that you know need the gospel. Carolyn Philippone, she’s really taken seriously to learning the big picture and has sat in on numerous presentations, and now she’s sharing it herself with others. And that’s what we often lack, folks, is sticking with people long enough so they can teach others also. And plant that seed early on in their heart as a part of their discipleship, because that’s what Christians do.

6. Congregational Evangelism: Three Groups Working Together

And as I said earlier, you want to create this culture of evangelism in the local church, not a program, but a part of who we are. And you’re going to need three groups working together. I call this congregational evangelism. The front line are those that are willing to have a class for probably about 10 weeks. Or you meet on a Tuesday night or a Thursday night or a Saturday morning, whatever works for the people’s schedules. Some churches have actually made this a part of their regular Sunday morning Bible class schedule, where they have a special class for those that are interested and they learn it then. Problem with that is a lot of the people that want to learn it are usually also teachers. So that can be a problem there.

But anyway, you guys just have to figure out what works best. And we’re going to pass around a little clipboard. JR’s got one here. And you need to tell me, tell the elders if you want to commit to learning the big picture of the Bible through either the use of these slip charts or just uh the PowerPoint files, which we can make available to you. Both are very helpful. And see, so my vision for what you guys could do is on the bottom of your visitors’ cards. You write, would you like to hear a one-hour presentation of the big picture of the Bible? On your website, would you like to hear the big picture of the Bible with a little explanation about it? Um, there’s just you know, these business cards that you pass out that everyone’s using.

After a while, you’ll find people requesting they want to hear this presentation. We had a radio program where one of the bumpers or little commercials on our radio program was about the big picture and encouraging people to call if they’d like to hear the lesson. Now, what people will say is, Well, I’ll watch the video of it. It’s not the same. You want to present it to folks. And so you’re saying, I want to learn this lesson, I want to do what I can to get my own prospects and contacts, but I’m willing when somebody comes in the door and says, I want to hear the big picture, I’m not going to leave this just up to the preachers. And if it’s a woman, you probably want to have a woman follow up.

My wife’s great at doing that. And uh people love to have Gail present it to them. And I just sit there and kind of help, but a little on the side. She’s the primary presenter. So this means I want to learn this, I want to make this a part of my repertoire, kind of an arrow in my quiver that helps me to be an effective soul winner. And one of the things you’ll love about it is once you get it down, there’s a learning curve. It takes a while, but once you get it down, it’s like riding a bike. You’ve got it for the rest of your life. When I have to drop everything and present the big picture, I said one of the things I love about the big picture is that I don’t have to prepare anymore.

I just know it so well is I can do it my sleep, right? And so you can get there as well. And then the second is the Andrew group. What is Andrew known for? What who did he bring to the Lord that we wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for Andrew? Simon Peter, right? Andrew came to know the Lord, and then he told Simon, you know, that he found the Lord, and then Simon wanted more information, and he said, Come and see. Everybody can be an Andrew. This is where you take the cards, you talk it up to your friends and neighbors, and you pair up with somebody in the Peter, Paul, and Priscilla group. One or more persons that you know knows this presentation, and you say, come with me and let’s go through this together.

So you don’t have to learn the presentation. I know that’s not in everybody’s skill set or even comfort zone, but if you get 10 or 15% of the church here that can be Peter, Paul, and Priscilla’s, and then other people can be Andrews, you just pray about it and talk it up and help set up presentations of the big picture of the Bible. And of course, everybody can be in the Barnabas group. I mean, every Christian ought to be an encourager. You’re greeters, you befriend people, you’re hospitable, you pray frequently. And again, if you don’t know how you can help the work, ask the elders. I’m sure they can give you ideas as to how they can help be an encourager in this important work of everybody working together.

You know, studies have shown that within six months, if a new convert doesn’t have at least three new friends, usually that they’ve replaced their worldly friends with Christian friends, very likely they’ll fall away. This isn’t just about doctrine, it’s also about being assimilated into the body. And being friendly and being hospitable is just as important for this to work as learning the curriculum, learning the gospel, and having the courage to share it. So everybody can be a Barnabas, so focus on being a cheerleader. Acts 11, verse 23. Barnabas was teaching and encouraging Christians to cleave unto the Lord. And that’s what we all, of course, ought to be doing. So let me summarize here. Threefold mission. Discipleship, the grounding of new converts, assimilation of new Christians, call that operation of assimilation, and then spiritual care of our members.

Very, very important. Okay? And everybody needs to be focused on that. And by the way, the fastest growing churches are not those who have the most baptisms, but those that have the highest retention rates. And that’s ideally what you want. Now you’re not going to have 100% folks. Sometimes people learn the big picture and they get started and then they fall away, and people are critical and they blame the big picture or the soul winner or something. That is so unkind and unfair. Now I I don’t I want to be as kind about this as I can. But on average, brethren lose half their children.

Don’t think you’re not going to have somewhat of a dropout rate of your new converts as well. So just think about that. Now, how about setting goals and planning for the future? Well, how many are willing to be a part of the Peter Palm Priscilla group? I would like to pass around the clipboard. J.R., you got it handy? Yes. Let’s pass this around. We can start over here with the Heimleys. And uh, you know, if you’d like to be a part of the Peter Paul and Priscilla group, put it in the clipboard. And if you’d like to be an Andrew, somebody who just talks it up and encourages others, the elders need to know. Fill it out, and we can use that information. So these are the ones that are going to at least sign up for the training class and give it a whirl.

Alright. It takes about 10, 12 weeks to do it right. Requires practice and role playing. Okay. A two-full beautiful serendipity results when you become a part of one of these classes. There’s tremendous strengthening of one’s faith, and there’s great closeness and fellowship that is enjoyed. You get really close to the other members of the church that are helping each other learn this lesson. Alright. How many of you are willing to be a part of the Peter Paul and Priscilla group? Kirkland’s goal was 15. How many will be mentored as future trainers so it will not be left up to just a few? Now this is important. See, I didn’t want this to die when I moved away from Kirkland. I was planned on moving back to Tampa, which I kind of consider home.

And so we had to mentor folks with the idea in mind that one of these days you’re going to teach this training class. Kirkland goal was for three or four people. And we wound up having you know two, but we had enough to make it work. How many will be courageous enough and trained to invite people regularly to hear the big picture presentation? Those are Andrews. So both Peter Paul and Priscilla’s and Andrews commit to this important step. Knowledge is of no value unless you put it to work. Keep track of your weekly efforts and ask for prayers and accountability. At the bottom of your bulletin, I think it’s helpful to track what’s going on. How many visitors did you have last Sunday? Put it in your bulletin.

How many seekers, if you can identify people from the community versus just people traveling? And how many big picture presentations were given? That’s an important thing to kind of keep track of. Our goal at Kirkland was to have 30 Andrews. What’s a reasonable goal per month for invitations to hear the big picture? Well, how about boy, that’s a that’s obviously a misprint. How about 10 to 15 per month? Is that reasonable? Five per month, even would make a difference. How many actual presentations per month? What is a reasonable goal once people are trained and the three groups are established? Yeah, here we go. Five a month is a good starting place. That means you got 60 presentations in a year.

What would that mean to the church here? If you were able to do that consistently, and as I said, follow-up and aftercare, discipleship, operation assimilation is critical. All of this really matters. Who gives the increase? God gives the increase. So try to avoid setting baptism goals. Set goals like how many people are going to learn the gospel through the big picture, and how many invitations are going to be made, and how many presentations can you make on a regular basis? Set goals for faithfulness for your group and let God work out the eventual numbers. And how do you make this sustainable and a part of the culture? Well, that’s something I’ll have to leave up to the elders and the preachers, because it needs to become a part of who and what you are.

And one of the things you need to do is when you have a new member come in, a part of their new member orientation is they learn about this and this effort that we have to try to encourage people to be soul winners. And the next time there’s a training class, you need to take that class if you haven’t had one. That’s one of the ways you don’t let this die. It becomes a part of who this congregation is because you’re serious about having a bountiful harvest.

Conclusion

We had a radio ad running, sometimes as many as 20, 25. And I remember some of the members were like, Where’d all these people come from? What’s going on? And I’d say, we’ve been praying most every service for God to send us seekers, and then we send seekers, and you’re wondering what’s going on here. This is what happens when God answers prayer. This is what happens when we pray prayers of faith. But with all due respect, if you prayed that prayer and didn’t expect God to answer it, we’re lucky. We’re blessed that God answered the prayer in spite of you praying that prayer, not thinking it would make a difference. And so you got to pray believing, folks. You got to see and sense God’s hand upon you, making a difference.

And those of you that have kids, your kids are much more likely to be faithful if they are being raised in a church that has an evangelistic culture and that is consistently reaching out and teaching people, and the church is filled with the joy of the Lord. Amen. One of the reasons I went into the ministry is that I wanted my kids to be raised in a church like that. And I wanted to make be a part of making that happen. So it’s 1150. We’ve got a few minutes. Let’s talk. What are your thoughts about this? Any uh questions or feedback before we conclude with a prayer? Yes, sir, steel. In the section where you brought up the point that it took one or less equal to the apostle.

There’s something that I often think about. And we scroll about it, they’re like home gender costs, right? Yes.

Even though that one session is important, what um, I’t I thinking the fact that one has to come the cost, especially in the word that we live in all? You find someone they’re living with their partner, they’re not married. The gospel hits them right there, they want to be obedient, but then I forget to leave that. They have to repent. And you know, there are exceptions, obviously. Sometimes you run across somebody. I shared a big picture with somebody and we got to the end. And do you believe Jesus is the Christ? They didn’t even know what that meant. Said, do you believe Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures? No, I don’t really know the Old Testament. I’ve never studied that. Well, somebody has to be willing to make that confession and know what they’re saying or to mean anything.

So in that case, they would need to have a lesson on what it means for Jesus to be the Christ. And we believe Jesus to be the Son of the Living God. Well, if they don’t or they’re not sure, then maybe you need to take them through John, which is designed through those seven signs and miracles to help people recognize that Jesus is deity. So yes, there are times where you’ve got to do some more foundational teaching. But this is where you can get your foot in the door and at least find out whether they’re interested. I’ve had studies that lasted eight weeks, and I had great hope for the person. And you get to the end and they go, well, that was interesting. I mean, they were just intellectually curious.

And if you’re single, they may be more interested in being with you because you’re single and really interested in the gospel, and you don’t want to know that until the end, and they show no interest in the spiritual things. And it’s okay if you share the gospel with somebody and they say no, not everyone’s interested. It’s not everyone’s time. Just keep the door open, continue to pray for them, and move on to someone else. Yes, sir. One of the points that you brought up in this, and I really appreciate it, because I’ve heard something very similar to this before when we lived in Indianapolis. And at the end of the study, it was said that you just wait, let them answer it. You say, you know, do you believe and are you ready to do something?

And you just wait for a response. Most people are not confrontational. And they would view and say no as being confrontational of sorts. And so there were many people that type emerged. Many people don’t. No. They’re none of them. None of them were weakened other than going through that action. You put on there, ask them, are you sure? And that relieves them of that not being confrontational, but knowing the seriousness that they’ve got in their heart toward what was just taught. I venture to say that there’s many people here that are the same, not confrontational in that regard. I don’t think that there’s several names on this list that’s being passed around to where they felt compelled to write because JR’s got the clipboard right in front of them and what you did.

You know, and we have to look with that ourselves if if we’re really serious about doing this. Don’t don’t write your name down if you’re not. If you let me rephrase that if you don’t feel that you need to be a part of this organized effort, but I would encourage everybody to, if it’s not going to be organized, to take it within yourself and teach your neighbors and teach this is an avenue to do that. You don’t have to be uh in these groups, but you can do it individually, but you have to commit yourself. That’s not being confrontational, that’s just that’s being devoted to the efforts of Christ. Yeah. You’ll notice I said at least attend the class and try. That’s all we ask in the beauty ball so you’re still unsure.

That’s okay, you just have this throm at you today. Uh some people started it and said, No, this isn’t for me. And I say, okay, but you can be an Andrew. We need Andrews. Or you can use the muscle in the shovel book, and you can pass that out to other people to read it. There’s other things you can do. I do not want to leave the impression that I’m trying to say this is the only way to do it. Of course not. Lots of ways to be effective and evangelist. This is the one way that I found to be the most impactful and the best use of my time. And so, because of that, I I love to have opportunities to tell other people about it in hopes that they’ll have similar results.

The North Courtney Church there just a few months ago. And uh they’re just finishing up their training class, and they’re excited, and they’ve already had a few responses. And uh, and uh so there’s that ongoing effort to reach the community that has to be a part of the success of the church. So thank you very much. Yes, sir. I think just to piggyback on to what David said, I would add that most of us need a push, and part of the clipboard exercise and the questions at the end of the Bible study is that push, and we have to you know walk a fine line between uh kind of aggressively forcing somebody to do something they don’t want to do and giving them the nudge or the push.

That there’s something in your handout that talked about if they say no, how you respond to that, and then you mentioned in the handout, a lot of people will call the next morning and say, I’m ready to obey because they’ve had a sleepless night. They needed the time to think about it, right? Yeah, can you just comment on that briefly? Sure, sure. Yeah, if a person says no, uh what I tell them is thank you for your candor and your honesty. I appreciate that. And by the time we get done with this presentation, you’ll know what you need to do, and then it will be your choice as to what you do about the information that you want. I hope you’ll make the decision to be able to colour your head at night, perhaps, and know that you’re safe, that that peace of mind.

But our salvation is not based upon fate or chance, but choice, and I I I figured out over the years that’s what people need to hear, and that’s a part of the training class, because that’s why it’s in the handout. You you teach people kind of the appropriate things to say to help people sort through all of this. So if they say no, that’s an appropriate response. If they say yes, worst thing you can do is no, you’re not. Yes, I am. No, you’re not. Yes, I am. No, you just stay calm and say, it’s good to have confidence. Tell me what you did to get to the place where you believe that you know you’re saved. And then have to, you know, kind of coach them along.

A lot of times people go, What do you mean? One of the things I find really frustrating is that the last 10 years or so, I didn’t used to have this ever happen. But I’ll have people tell me, well, I’ve always been saved. Or well, well, well, I’m a good person, and did you ever get to a point where you were convicted that you were a sinner and you you needed to repent? I have some people say, No, no, I don’t, I’ve never really seen a need to repent, and I’m I think I’m right with the Lord. I said, sir, you can’t be right with the Lord if you haven’t been willing to admit you’re a sinner and repent of your sins. What? And I just kind of gingerly take them over to 1 John and say, if a person says he has no sin, the truth is not in him.

We’ve all sinned. There’s Romans 3.23, we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. But I’m amazed that I’ve not frequently, but occasionally we’ll run into people in this society that’s all you know almost addicted to self-esteem and everybody feeling entitled. That they they’ve never really thought through the fact that to be saved you need to admit you’re a sinner and be willing to repent. And sometimes that’s a part of what you need to deal with. So if you find those kind of things and the person’s open, yes, you need to continue to study with them. I I used to really encourage folks if they understood it and they knew they they needed to do what they needed to do, and I counted the cost with them at least briefly, not to put it off for fear that in the language of the parable of the sower that Jesus would come in the form of a bird and take that seed away so that they might never believe and be saved.

And frequently people will walk away and then harden their heart. So I’ve been concerned about that. But I had too many people who would go ahead and be baptized, but then you never see them again. And they’re not serious about discipleship. So I’ve come to the point where, though some of these folks never obey the gospel that might have otherwise, I’m more and more likely to say, I want you to take this home, I want you to read through this, I want you to see that where all these scriptures are. You know, the big picture book has all the scriptures written out in detail. Ken told me that when his first edition came out to save space, they just had the scriptures, but they didn’t have it written out.

Not many people are going to go through and look up all those scriptures. It’s important that you have it all written out so they can see it and they can highlight it and uh and be convicted, and then uh I’ll tell them I go, well, let me talk to you the next morning and see how you’re doing if you have any further questions. And sometimes they don’t return my call. Sometimes they’ve gone to their preacher, and their preacher has said, baptism doesn’t save you, Jesus does. These people are a cult, stay away from them. Um, I mean, that’s a risk. Um I’d rather have a greater percentage of people who are serious about being disciples than a whole lot of folks that just get wet. Yes.

Okay, RJ’s got the clipboard around. Anyone like to sign the clipboard? Let’s leave it out on the table for folks to sign. And also there’s copies of the big picture book on the back if you’d like to pick one up. Okay, a little after 12. Thank you for taking a couple hours of your time today to talk about this. Perhaps the most important of all subjects, right? Had to cover a lot of ground. But that’s why you’ve got a lot of handouts that go with this so that you can look at and sort through them later. And then in the morning we’ll look at uh tips for effective fishing, building a friendship bridge, and then I’ll actually go through the presentation. Take that now. Do I be with you?

Yes, sir.