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Bible reads in verse 3, with all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be all the way with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. What I want to preach about this morning is opportunities to preach the gospel to the lost. Opportunities to preach the gospel because the Bible shows here first of all Paul in verses 3 and 4 prayed that he would be given more opportunities to preach the gospel to the lost and to open his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. He says in verse 3, with all praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance. And when the Bible says utterance there, he's talking about speaking. When someone makes an utterance, it means that words are coming out of their mouth, they're talking. And he says, pray for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds. And by the way, he didn't say pray that I'll be able to hand somebody a track. Now that bothers people sometimes, but that's not what it says. He says that I may speak the mystery of Christ. In Ephesians he says that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of Christ. We have a job to do upon this earth. Jesus Christ said, as the Father had sent me, so said I you. And just as the words above my head say, go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And he's saying pray for us that God would give us more opportunities to preach the gospel and he would open that door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds. That I may make it manifest as I often speak. Manifest means clear, exposed. People can see what it is and understand it. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without. What does he mean when he says them that are without? He's saying those that are outside of our church, those that are outside of faith in Christ, those that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ their savior. He says walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the time. He's saying seize on the opportunities you have. Make the best possible use of your time. Redeem the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer every man. Go to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3 is a little bit to the right in your Bible. 1 Peter 3 verse 15. And the Bible reads in 1 Peter 3, 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. And so we see two things here. First of all, he's saying you need to pray that God will give you these opportunities, that God will open doors for you to be able to preach the gospel and to be able to give people the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But then he says second of all, you need to be redeeming the opportunities that are given to you and taking advantage of the opportunities that do come in your way. And that you'll be ready always, not to be caught off guard, but to be ready to preach the gospel as Paul said in Romans 1.15. So that as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. Now there are times in our life where we have great opportunities to give people the gospel. And I'm not talking about just going out and knocking doors, which obviously that opportunity is always available. I mean there's an opportunity to see us right there. The fields are white unto harvest. But we have all kinds of other opportunities in our life that come up. But the question is, are we ready to seize upon those opportunities? Can you imagine how terrible it would be if someone that you knew and you loved, that you knew was not saved, actually came to you and asked you a spiritual question. They asked you something about the Bible. They asked you something about salvation. And you had a perfect opportunity to preach the gospel unto them. And you just, let's say you didn't have a Bible with you and you don't have any of the verses memorized. And you're not able to do an effective job of preaching the gospel and you can't preach the word of God to them. Even though it was a perfect opportunity. Now obviously it would be great if you always had your Bible with you. I try to bring the Bible with me everywhere I go. But there could be times when you get there and you don't have it. Are you ready? Are you ready to be able to quote the scriptures to them? And to be able to preach the gospel, to be able to win them to Christ? Are you going to let that opportunity slip away from you because you're not ready, you don't know how to answer, and you're not prepared for that opportunity? So first of all, we should be praying for more opportunities. And if you're praying for opportunities, then you'll be watching for opportunities. And when you're watching for those opportunities and you're always ready to seize upon them, you're going to be able to get people saved in a greater quantity because there are so many opportunities that we just pass by. We're just not ready. And other times we're not looking for opportunities. You say, well Pastor Anson, what do you mean? We'll go to Ephesians chapter 6 first of all. Ephesians chapter 6, there's a similar scripture. First of all, I like to say this, any time you're alone with someone, that is a primo opportunity to give them the gospel right there. Some people are looking for an opportunity that's just a little too perfect. They're waiting for somebody to fall upon their knees at their feet and say, what must I do to be saved, like the Philippian jailer in Acts 16. But that's just not going to happen very often. And if that's the only soul you do, well you're not going to do much. And so a lot of people, they set the bar too high for what an opportunity to preach the gospel is. And I say that when you're alone with someone, and I'm not saying that you can't give the gospel when there's more than one person there, but definitely when you're alone with someone, that is an opportunity to preach the gospel right there. When you're in the work truck and you're driving and it's just you and somebody else, or when you're in a situation with family or friends where everybody else is out of the room and it's just you and that one other person, well that's the best time to give somebody up. And I'm going to show you an example of that in the Bible just a little bit later. But that's a great opportunity to bring up the gospel. For example, I went to a church when I was a teenager and it was a really watered down kind of a church. And the pastor, he talked about how his neighbor and he would go golfing together every weekend. On Saturday morning they would go golfing together. And he said this, he said, I'm still waiting for an opportunity to give him the gospel. He said, eventually I want to get him saved, eventually I want to give him the gospel. He said, I'm still waiting for that opportunity. You know what, that is constant. You're going to be waiting a really long time. Because if that's not an opportunity, when you're sitting in the golf cart and it's just you and him, he already knows you're a pastor, you're his next door neighbor, you're playing golf together, you're waiting for an opportunity, what are you waiting for? Open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Be filled with the Spirit and open your mouth and preach the word. Don't sit around waiting for some mythical opportunity when everything is just going to fall perfectly into place. And so we need to not set the bar too high for what we think an opportunity is. We look at Ephesians 6 18, the Bible reads, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Verse 19, and for me. The and for me there is referring to the praying always in verse 18. He's saying, pray for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Now, when you're with someone and you have that opportunity and you're alone with that person, you're going to need boldness to open your mouth and preach the gospel. Because your tendency is going to be to be a little bit shy about it or a little bit nervous. You need to pray for boldness or confidence to overcome that in order to open your mouth. That takes boldness. And not only that, but you don't want to open your mouth in a weak way. You want to open your mouth to preach the word boldly. You don't want to try to water down or sugar coat the message. You want to be able to give the message as the Bible gives it, as the Lord Jesus Christ gives it, clearly, manifestly, boldly, and He said, pray for me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Now you say, why is it the mystery of the gospel? You know, it's a real mystery to people who don't understand it. It's a real mystery to people that have never heard it. And we need to shed some light on that for them. You see, the people in this world that are not saved, the Bible says that they're in darkness. The Bible says that if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not. We need to shine the light of the glorious gospel. The mystery of Christ is a mystery to the unsaved. They're in total darkness when it comes to the gospel, and we are there to bring them the truth, and to shine the light of the glorious gospel on the darkness. And he says in verse 20, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. He's saying, I'm an ambassador of the gospel, I'm in prison, and he's saying that the reason he's in prison is because of preaching. He says, for which, he's saying, for the gospel, I'm an ambassador in bonds. But he's saying, I still want to speak boldly as I ought to speak. Even though it's put me in prison, I don't want to tone down my message. He's saying, I don't want to lose my boldness and to be afraid, because I've been thrown in prison. I don't want to get out of prison and be afraid to preach like I should. Because, let's face it, nobody wants to be in prison. And fear could be there of, hey, if I preach the gospel, I'm going to be put in prison. That's what was happening all throughout the book of Acts. People who preached the word of God were being put in prison. They were being arrested. Many were even killed. James was executed by King Herod. Why? For preaching the gospel, for preaching the word of God. Stephen was stoned to death for preaching against the Jews that did not believe on Jesus Christ. They stoned him to death in Acts 7. And so there could be fear that could creep in that would stop us from preaching the gospel. And he'd say, pray for me that that doesn't happen to me. Pray for me that I have the boldness necessary. Now, how much less should we fear when we're not being threatened with arrest? When we're not being threatened with being stoned to death or with being slain with a sword, as James was in the book of Acts. How much more should we not fear to open our mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel when we have just an open door that no man can shut before us? What are you afraid of? Is somebody laughing at you or making fun or somebody maybe not wanting to be your friend anymore? That's a very small price to pay when you look at what other people in the Bible pay to preach the gospel. And when you realize the importance and the severity of heaven and hell, it'll make you realize, you know what, I can have somebody maybe snicker at me or laugh at me. And by the way, it happens rarely when you're bold. When you're bold, it's not a joke to people. When you're bold, the world doesn't take you as a joke. It's usually when you're halfway or weak that the world will seize upon that weakness and mock and laugh at you. It does happen, though. There are times when you will be mocked or laughed at for standing up for the truth. I've been there many times and I'm sure you have where you're made fun of or mocked. But you know what? They mocked Jesus. They laughed at him. They spat in his face and they pointed at him. They made fun of him. They made a joke out of him. That didn't bother him. You know what? The Bible says that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. It says in Hebrews 12. It says he despised the shame, but he did it for the joy that was set before him. He did it because he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before he was crucified. He said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. He didn't want to drink of that cup if he didn't have to, but he had to because it's the only way. Because there is no other way to be saved. For all is sin and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There was no other way. And that's why Jesus died on the cross. That's why he endured the spitting. That's why he endured the mockery. That's why he endured the shame. He despised the shame, but he endured it because it was the only way. Well, let me tell you something. You opening your mouth is the only way that some people will get saved. Whether it's pleasant, whether it's something that you want to do, whether it's your personality, you opening your mouth and seizing upon that opportunity and redeeming the time may be the only chance that your relative has. And maybe you're the one who God in his wisdom knows is the one who can most effectively preach the gospel. That's why he gave you that opportunity. And you've got to seize it. And you've got to use that opportunity. Some people make the mistake of just praying for people to get saved, but they don't open their mouth. They just pray over and over, please help someone so they can get saved, please help someone so they can get saved. So here's the thing. Where did I return? Where are you, patients? Go to...drawing a blank here. It just came to me, the exact verse. 2 Corinthians 5. It's not in my notes, but it just came into my mind. 2 Corinthians 5. Because this illustrates exactly what I'm saying in 2 Corinthians 5. The Bible says in verse 18, And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and watch this, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ stay, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So right there, he's saying that God, over and over, and he says it about three times, he's given to us the ministry of reconciliation. He's committed to us. Committing something to someone means you're trusting them with it. If I commit something unto you, it's not just here, hold my ink pen. That's not a commitment. That's not committing something to his trust. But what if I took my wallet, and I said here, hold my wallet, or here, take my car. That would be more like committing something to him. It's something that he needs a little bit of responsibility. I'm trusting him a little bit by letting him hold onto that for me, and maybe I'm giving it to him for safekeeping. He says that God has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And so the Bible's clear, we are the ones who God is trusting to preach the Gospel. He did it while he was on this earth, and Jesus said, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Did you get that? Let me say it again. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When Jesus was on this earth, he went around preaching the Gospel. But he ascended up to the right hand of the Father. He is no longer physically walking on this earth doing the work. He is committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. And so instead of, when he says we beseech you in Christ's stead, do you see that? That's where we get our word, instead of, in Christ's stead. It's saying in the place of, is what that means. And so basically, instead of Jesus Christ walking up to somebody in 2012 and giving them the Gospel, he's left us with that responsibility. He has sent us as ambassadors. For example, let's say the President of the United States, and don't even get me started on that. Anyway, so let's say, actually that's not what I'm talking about. Anyway, the President of the United States, let's say he needed to meet with somebody in another country to talk about diplomatic things and so on and so forth. Well, there are so many different countries and so many different places and people that he would need to talk to. And also he has matters at home to deal with. He can't be everywhere at once. And he can't be here at home and over there and over there and over there. That's why throughout history, leaders have had ambassadors and people that they would send. And sometimes these ambassadors or diplomats were even entrusted with great power. Because today, in 2012, we have phones and internet and satellite. You know, even just back at the time of World War II, I was reading a book about World War II, and I was reading about all the diplomacy leading up to World War II. They couldn't just always pick up the phone and just call and talk to another leader. They couldn't always just get an immediate answer. So they would often have to send somebody called a plenipotentiary, which means someone with full power. And that plenipotentiary or that diplomat or that ambassador would come with full power to make a treaty or to make an alliance or to make a decision. They had to trust that ambassador greatly because that ambassador sometimes had to negotiate on behalf of the nation. And they couldn't pick up a phone and call back home to the head government and say, hey, is this all right what I'm doing? So they had to be somebody that they could trust to make the decision that they would make if they were there. Somebody could make the same type of a decision, the same type of statements that would bring the message. They didn't want to give instructions to their ambassador and then send their ambassador to a distant country, and then that person comes back and says, well, you know, I decided to cut this and that deal with them. I know you didn't want to do that, but that's what I felt like was a good idea. Can you imagine the rage? Can you imagine the anger? Say, hey, you're not sent to go do your own thing. You're not sent to go make your own decision. You're supposed to make decisions based upon the country that you represent, what's in our best interest, not just what you want to do. Or can you imagine an ambassador who was bought off? Let's say a country sends an ambassador to do something and then the other side that they're at odds with pays them off to make all kinds of concessions and make all kinds of agreements that they shouldn't make. Can you imagine what a crooked and corrupt ambassador that would be that would take money to change the message? Think about that. Taking money to change the message from what was originally intended from the home country. Also, in studying about World War II, I was reading about how often Hitler would intimidate these ambassadors and these plenipotentiaries or even heads of state that would come to visit him. He'd start screaming at them. They'd be shoving documents in their face to sign. They'd have all kinds of military people there ready to arrest them if they didn't do what they were supposed to do. So there were other ambassadors in that era that would be intimidated. Listen to me. They were afraid and were intimidated into signing off on things to Hitler that their home country never would have agreed to. That they were not given authority to agree to, but they did it because of fear. You can imagine those that could have been making a bad decision because they're bought off, because they're paid for. Think about that when you think about this passage about being an ambassador. We're ambassadors for Christ and He has entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation. He committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation so that we beseech you in God's stead, be ye reconciled to God. It's our job to preach the message of the King of Kings and to represent Him upon this earth and to preach His word. Not our word, not our opinion, not whatever pays the best, not whatever people want to hear that's going to make them throw money in the offering plate, but to truly and strictly preach what He wants us to preach and represent not ourselves, but to represent Him and to preach His message, His word, do it His way, and not to take money, but also not to let fear dissuade us from the message that we should preach. And the opposite of boldness is fear. And over and over again the Bible says, fear not, fear not, be not afraid. Over and over Jesus said, fear not, fear not, fear not. Fear is not of God. The Bible says God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And so fear, the only fear that God accepts in the Bible, that God says a good fear is when we fear the Lord. The one time God ever tells us to fear, He said, fear me, fear the Lord. He didn't say fear the devil. He didn't say fear persecution. He didn't say fear prison, fear death. He said, fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I'll give thee a crown of light. He said, don't fear any of the things that thou shalt suffer. Fear not, fear not. And so when you have an opportunity to give someone the gospel, and you have a feeling of fear, nervousness, intimidation, don't let that stop you. That's not God closing the door. That is the flesh. And the Bible says that often the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And often we know that we should preach the gospel. We know God's commanded us to preach the gospel to every creature. We know that God has commanded us to redeem the time, to seize on these opportunities, to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh us. Or even just when we have opportunities, go to John chapter 4. I'm going to show you Jesus using a great opportunity to give the gospel. John chapter 4. Don't let fear stop you from giving the gospel. Fear of ridicule, fear of mockery, fear of rejection, fear of making someone angry. You know, sometimes you'll give somebody the gospel and you'll do everything right. You won't be abrasive. You'll be, you know, speaking the truth in love. And often people will become angry. Not at the way you're even giving the message, but they're just angry at the message. And often people might mock or ridicule, be angry, all these different things. You can't let fear of that stop you because you may be the only hope, just like Jesus knew that he was the only hope of the whole world. And that's why he had to drink that cup of shame and reproach. We might have to drink a little, just tiny bit of what he drank in order to be someone's hope of the gospel because we are ambassadors for Christ. We've got to bring that message. Now in John chapter 4 we see a great example of not just taking an opportunity to preach the gospel, but making an opportunity. Jesus here is alone with someone and so he gets right on the subject of salvation. It says in John chapter 4 verse 6, Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour. Now he may not have been in the mood to preach the gospel because he's wearied, he's tired, he's been traveling. And I know that when I'm wearied from a journey, sometimes the last thing I want to do is preach the gospel. Like for example, a great opportunity to give the gospel is when you're sitting on an airplane next to somebody. Now I don't fly anymore ever since the TSA's new regulations where they want to molest you in order to let you get on an airplane, or else they want you to walk through a naked body scanner. I stopped flying and so I don't fly anymore, but I used to fly every single week up through about early 2010. I was flying literally an average of once a week. I spent over $20,000 in one year on airline tickets before because of the fact that because of my business, I did a lot of traveling, I had a frequent flyer, everything you can imagine, I just did a lot of flying. And so I flew on a lot of airplanes and I sat next to a lot of people and I've won people to Christ. But I'll be honest with you, I'll confess to you, sometimes I just wanted the person next to me to just leave me alone. Sometimes you get on the plane, you don't want to talk. You just want to do your own thing, you want to read a book, you want to go to sleep, you want to just relax, you're just not in the mood for conversation. I know I've been there many times. Sometimes I'm an outgoing person, sometimes all of us are more reclusive and don't want to be outgoing. And there were times that I had great opportunities where I won people the war, got people saved right there on the plane. Other times when I was able to at least give the gospel, even though they didn't get saved, I was at least able to give the gospel. But then there were other times I was just weary from my journey. And I'm sure that I missed some opportunities that I should have taken, because it might have been that person's only chance to hear a really clear presentation of the gospel, but I just wasn't ready to do it. And so we need to be careful that we watch for this. And sitting on an airplane, and if you do fly, hopefully you can find a way. I know there are certain airports where sometimes you can evade, they don't have the scanners and they don't have the growth downs going on. And hopefully that's going to change. Hopefully someday people will realize that that's not appropriate, that that's not freedom. But if you do ever end up on an airplane, that is a great opportunity to give the gospel, because you're sitting next to somebody and usually they're just bored as you are, and you've got a captive audience. I remember one time, my sister Lisa and I, we were traveling together, and my sister Lisa and I, because my mom was a flight attendant, she had a flight benefit where we as her children could fly for a very low rate. Not totally free, but it was a really low price. But the only catch was we had to be on standby. We didn't have a guaranteed seat, but if there was room on that plane, we would fly for a very low price because of my mom's job. So my sister Lisa and I, we were getting on a plane, and my mom told me, she said, listen, she said if they put you on a plane where you're separated from each other, like let's say they put one seat in the front and one seat in the back, she said, here's what you do, just start talking to each other loudly, and somebody will say, do you want to change seats? I've done the same thing. I've seen people that were sitting kind of far apart, and they're kind of talking to each other, and I can tell they want to sit by each other. Then I'd say, hey, do you want to train seats? Do you want to go sit by them? So my mom had told me that, but I came up with a better idea. I just got on the plane and just started giving the gospel. They'd seen me talking to my sister, I started just giving the gospel, and they weren't interested in the gospel, so guess what they said? Do you want to change seats with you? Do you want to sit by your sister? I'll switch, I'll do what you want. What I'm saying is that you've got a captive audience. And so many times, sometimes people even that normally wouldn't give you the time of day, because they're on a plane and board, they're more interested in something that normally they wouldn't be thinking about. And usually with the gospel, what I find, when I'm out knocking doors, you start to give the gospel, and at first people will say they're not interested, and sometimes they'll just have no interest. And then I'll say, okay, well let me just leave you with one quick verse. And they'll say, okay, and I'll give them that quick verse, and they'll say, wow, I never thought about that. Then they're interested. Because they think they've heard it all before, but then when you start talking to them, it is interesting. It isn't something that they've already heard before. And I've had some people who said, no, I'm not interested. And Brother St. Cora has done this a lot too. People tell them they're not interested, and 15 minutes, 20 minutes later they're getting saved. Because oftentimes, once they start hearing it, then they become interested. Because the power of the gospel, the power of God's work is there. And it gets their attention. And so that's a great opportunity. But look at this, Jesus is worried from his journey. He sat thus on the wells about the sixth hour, or noon. There comeeth a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest this drink of meat, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Now is that a polite answer? Not really. I mean, he says, hey, give me the drink. Give me something to drink. And she says, hello, you know, I'm a Samaritan, you're a Jew, we don't have any dealings with each other. Okay, but look what he says. He says in verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. So notice how he takes the conversation from just being about the physical water in the well, hey, can I have something to drink, he switches it over and decides he's going to use that as an illustration. He says, you'd be asking me, if you knew who I was, you'd ask me to give you the living water. The woman saith unto him, sir, thou hast nothing to draw with it, that the well is deep, from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And tell that to people who say that you're going to lose your salvation. He didn't say, you know, you won't thirst again as long as you keep on faithful and keep on living right. He said no, he said if you drink up the water that I give you, you'll never thirst. It'll spring up inside of you, a well of water spring into everlasting life. In John chapter 7 he explains that more clearly when he says, he that believeth on me as the scripture had said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And he said this fainty of the Holy Ghost that will be given in John chapter 7. And so once you're saved, you're sealed by the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption. Not unto the day that you messed up. You're not sealed by the Holy Ghost until you commit some awful sin or quit going to church. He said you're sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption. He said the Holy Ghost is the earnest of our salvation, the down payment. Like when you buy a house and you put down that earnest money. That is a done deal with Jesus. Now we might put down the earnest money and still walk away from the deal. But Jesus Christ said I'll never leave thee nor forsake men. And the Bible says that when you believe on Christ you have everlasting life. But notice, he goes up to this woman. He asks her for a drink of water. Next thing you know he's got the subject changed. He's on the gospel. He's talking about eternal life. He's talking about everlasting life. A few verses down he tells her I'm the Messiah. He says I know that when Messiahs come he'll show us all things. He says I speak unto thee of he. And so we see this great example of Jesus alone with someone. Now was it the type of people that he likes to hang around with all the time? Was it his type of people? No. Was it his fellow countrymen? No. Was it his fellow man? No. Just whoever it was that he happened to be in a position to talk to, even though it was a Samaritan, even though it was a Samaritan woman who had been married five times and was now living with a man that she was not married to, as comes out later in the conversation, he takes that opportunity to preach the gospel to every preacher. It's a great example. Jump down to verse 39. You can read the whole chapter. It's a great story, but jump down to verse 39. It says, many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were coming to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word and said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. Now after two days he departed thence and went into Galilee. So he ended up being there for two days and preaching the gospel and getting many people saved. And they said, we believe not because of your word, we believe because of his word. You know, that's a symbol there of the fact that when we go out and preach the gospel, it's his word that does the saving. More effective than our words. You know, our words are used to explain his word perhaps, but his word is where the power is. We just need to be there to preach his word and to expound his word and to make his word manifest unto them. But it's his word that counts. So we see here a great opportunity. John chapter 3. Look at verse number 2. There came to Jesus by night, the same came to Jesus by night, said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now is what Jesus said in verse 3 really directly answering what he said in verse 2? Or isn't it a little bit of a changing of the subject? You know, because in verse 2 he's talking about, well, you know, you must be a teacher come from God because these miracles that you're doing, nobody can do these kind of miracles except God be with you. He just jumps in and says, you know what, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He gets the subject on being born again. And this conversation with Nicodemus culminates in John 3.16, the most famous verse in the whole Bible, which was not spoken to a great crowd, which was not preached on a mountaintop, it was spoken to one man in the middle of the night when he said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish for that everlasting life. Spoken to one man, one on one. You know, how many times have you spoken that same verse one on one when you have that opportunity to seize when you were with somebody and you can give them the gospel? Go to Jeremiah 38. Jeremiah, Old Testament, the three big books at the end of the Old Testament are Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The prophet Jeremiah, verse 38. Jeremiah 38. Chapter 38. And so we see that God wants us to seize upon these opportunities that we have. And not only that, pray for more opportunities. And not only that, be ready for opportunities when they come. Now, I say the best way to be ready to preach the gospel is when you're in practice. You know, when you're going out there every week knocking doors, winning souls, you know what, you're ready to go. When you run into somebody in your personal life and you get to, at that family get-together, or at that company picnic, or at that opportunity that comes, you're ready to go. Because it's like second nature to you. Because you're used to it. You're constantly preaching the gospel boldly. It comes naturally to you. You're not as nervous. Now, I'll be honest. When I first started knocking doors, soul winning, I was really nervous. You know, I started out as just a silent partner, just going along silently. And I remember I would say even after I'd been soul winning for about two years, I would still, at the first door, I'd be a little nervous, kind of hoping that they're not home. Even after I'd been at it for about one or two years, I still felt that way more. I kind of hoped that that first door wasn't home, a little nervous. And you know what it is when you get nervous? Your body becomes nervous. Like your heart, you can kind of feel your heart kind of thumping. And you know, you may start to tremble or whatever the reaction is. You know, but you got to get through that. And after doing it now, I started soul winning right around the time I turned 17. So I'm going on close to having been at it for 14 years. Every week, at least, you know, I'm knocking doors. And I'll tell you, now I'm not nervous at all. I mean, now it's second nature. Now it becomes, but it's only by practice because even after years of doing it, I was still nervous, okay? And I remember when I used to bring it up to people that were at work or bring it up to friends. I can remember one time in particular, bringing it up to a guy at work. I mean, I was so nervous, I was almost shaking because I was really nervous and I ran it up to this guy. I didn't think he was going to react well to it. But I felt guilty that I had not yet given him the gospel. I knew it was something that God wanted me to do. And so I just fought off that fear. I said, this is not of God, you know. And I gave him the gospel and I was very nervous. But that's how it is. But I'll tell you right now, it's a lot easier now than it was then. Because faith, the Bible says that, you know, what does the Bible say? I'm thinking of Romans chapter 5. You don't have to turn there, but he talks about it in Romans 5 about, you know, faith, experience, hope. Look it up later, but it's being in Romans 5. That's your homework assignment. But anyway, look if you would at Jeremiah 38, 17. Jeremiah 38, 17. And the Bible reads in Jeremiah 38, 17. Then said Jeremiah unto Zenichiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live. And this city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shalt live in thine house. But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. And so here's a king, a powerful man. His nation is in trouble. The Babylonians are about to invade. He doesn't know what to do. And so in a time of trouble and trials, he calls upon the man of God. He calls upon this prophet of God, Jeremiah, and he brings him into a private meeting, and he was in prison. He pulls Jeremiah out of prison, and he sends everybody out of the room, and he has a private one-on-one conversation with Jeremiah the prophet. And he asks Jeremiah, he says, what am I going to do? What's going to happen? I need God's help. Jeremiah tells him, he says, if you do this, you're going to live. If you do this, you'll be fine. This is what God has commanded for you to do. And look what it says in verse 19. And Zedekiah the king sent it to Jeremiah. What did he say? I'm afraid. And what was he afraid of? I'm afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans lest they deliver me into their hand, and they what? He's saying, I'm afraid of being mocked. Now, obviously, this is a different situation. It has nothing to do with him being a soul winner or preaching the gospel. But here we see a man who's clearly confronted with God's word, telling him, this is what you need to do. This is what I'm commanding you to do. This is the right thing to do. And his response is, well, I'm afraid. I'm going to be mocked. Look what it says next. But Jeremiah says, they shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee. So it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live. But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath showed me. Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes. And those women shall say, thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee. Thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back. So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans. And thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire. He said, if you don't obey, he's saying, your wife and your children are going to suffer. And he's saying, you're going to cause this whole city to be burned with fire because you're not obeying. This whole city, the children, the women, it's all going to be lost because you're not obeying the voice of the Lord. And he said what? I'm afraid somebody's going to mock me. Well, listen, there is a real fire. It's called hell. And there are people that are headed there. And there are people that are going to be destroyed there. And they're going to spend eternal torment there. The Bible says they shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever. And let me tell you something. Fear of being mocked, or fear of what people are going to think about you should not stop you from opening your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel. And then keep reading. Then said Zedekiah to Jeremiah, let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die. Oh, yeah, like Jeremiah's really afraid of him. No, don't worry, you'll be okay. You'll be fine as long as you don't say anything about this. Jeremiah's probably thinking, I know I'm going to be fine because God's the one that's protecting me. He says, but if the prince is here that I've talked with thee, look how afraid he is of what everybody else thinks. If the prince is here that I've talked with thee and they come unto thee and say unto thee, declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we shall not put thee to death. Also what the king said unto thee, then shalt thou say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house to die there. That's where he's imprisoned, in Jonathan's house. He didn't have proper food, he's in an unsanitary place. But here's a man who let fear cause him to disobey God and other people suffered. Other people suffered because he feared mockery and he feared to do what was right. He didn't even want anybody to even know that he gave his talk to Jeremiah the prophet. And if they found out that he talked to Jeremiah the prophet, he wanted them to think that they talked about something else completely different that had nothing to do with it. That's a pretty bad example right there of somebody who let fear stop them. Now you say, well Pastor Anderson, how do I bring it up? You know, give me some practical advice. And I'll close the Bible and say this, you know, we preach the Bible, we've seen what the Bible says, we've seen that we need to pray for opportunities, we need to take opportunities. And there's another verse I didn't turn to. It said, awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. And God says, we ought to be ashamed when the people around us don't know the gospel. You know, when we're the ones that are entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation to preach the gospel. You say, how do I do it, Pastor Anderson? You know, give me some practical advice, give me some help. It's so easy to bring up the subject. Let me just give you a quick practical advice and it'll all be done. How do you bring up the subject of the gospel? What do I say, you know? I mean, we're talking about other stuff. Because let's face it, the woman at the well was talking about other stuff. Nicodemus was talking about other stuff. You say, yeah, but I'm not Jesus, I'm not this. You know, I find that it's really easy to change the subject and to get on this subject. Now for me, sometimes it's easy because I just tell people I'm a pastor. And then I say, hey, let me ask you a question. Do you know for sure if you die today you go to heaven? In my mind, I was winning souls long before I was a pastor. And even now that I'm a pastor, that's not always the approach that I use. Let me just give you a recent illustration. This was less than a week and a half ago. I don't know exactly where I was. It was about a week ago. I was at a gas station pumping gas. And a guy walked up to me and commented upon the T-shirt that I was wearing. It was a T-shirt about 9-11 truth. And this guy walked up to me and commented upon the shirt and started getting in this big conversation with me about 9-11. And I just said to the guy, I said, let me ask you something. I said, are you a Christian? And he said, yeah, I'm a Christian. And I said, do you know for sure if you die today you go to heaven? And he said, well, and I said, because that's way more important than 9-11. And he said, well, he said, you know, and he basically gave me all the wrong answers about how it was, you know, he's trying to live a good life. He's trying to follow in Jesus' steps. And, you know, he hopes he's going to make it type of a thing. But a total workspace salvation. And I was able, and I didn't have the Bible in my hand. I did have one in the vehicle. But I didn't even go to the vehicle to get it. I just right there, I quoted, because it's important to use God's word. I just quoted all the scriptures to him from memory and I just went through the whole plan of salvation with him, went through the whole gospel with him, and he ended up getting saved right there and there. And this guy was so receptive. He was much more receptive than most of the people you run into. He was very receptive. I mean, this guy was ready to get saved. I did not believe that it was an accident. And I mean, we're talking about, I was many hundreds of miles away from here. So here I am in a distant land, hundreds and hundreds of miles away. I just happened to pull into this gas station where this guy just happens to walk up to me. I happened to be wearing that T-shirt, and I didn't even realize I was wearing the T-shirt. I was just wearing it like second nature. And he starts talking to me about the shirt, and I'm like, I didn't know what he was talking about first. And I went, oh, yeah, okay, I know it. My shirt, okay. You know what I mean. So when you're a man, you don't spend that much time getting dressed. You know what I mean? You just put clothes on and you're good to go. You don't sit there and agonize about each ensemble. And so, you know, I just changed the subject. And how hard is it? How hard is it? Look, just learn these words. Just learn these words. Are you a Christian? Do you go to church? Okay, those are two great ways to break this. So are you a Christian? So do you go to church? Either or, either one of those questions works great. And then follow it up with, do you know for sure if you died today, you go to heaven? And then from there, you say, well, what do I do from there? Well, you know, come out with us this afternoon. Come out knocking doors, you'll know what to do. You know, we've got plenty of other sermons that I've preached about what to do from there, how to get the gospel. And, you know, everybody's got different ways of giving the gospel. There's more than one way to skin a cat. And, you know, there's all kinds of scriptures you can use. There's all kinds of ways to do it. But the bottom line is that when you make the opportunities, you know, yeah, did I make that opportunity by changing the subject abruptly? But wait a minute, I think God had given me that opportunity because this guy was so receptive that I just cannot believe it was a coincidence that I just happened to be hundreds of miles away, pulling into a gas station, a guy walks up to me, and this guy just was so receptive to the gospel, God saved right then and there. I mean, that was a blessing. You know what? That's where we need to be, praying for opportunities, seizing upon opportunities. You know, there have been other times when I didn't seize the opportunity, but that doesn't make as good of a story to tell from the pulpit, you know? But the bottom line is that we all need to strive. And look, you have people in your life that you deal with, that you're friends with, or acquaintances with, that are not saved. You know, you shouldn't be close friends with people that aren't saved in the first place. The Bible says not to be the friend of the world, that what fellows should come out with from among them being separate. But you know what? We all have acquaintances and coworkers and buddies at work that aren't saved. You know, we need to give the gospel. And we need to preach the gospel. Let's take every opportunity that we can. And it's not that hard, folks. It's easy. So, do you go to church anywhere? That's not an offensive question. And then if they tell you no, or if they tell you yes, or if they name the church, they'll just say, well, let me ask you this, more important than church, you know for sure if you die today, you haven't. It's not that hard. But you've got to be ready, though. Because if you have it set in your mind beforehand, and you're just ready to go with it, you'll do it. But when you just get put into the situation and you haven't thought about it, you haven't premeditated, hey, I'm going to give the gospel. Hey, I'm going to take these opportunities. And if you're not in the habit of taking the opportunities, what you'll do is you'll get in a situation where an opportunity falls in your lap and you'll stammer and stutter and stumble and not know what to do. Be ready. And the best way to be ready is by practicing. And let's bow our eyes and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for your word, dear God. And thank you for the gospel and how clear it is. And thank you for giving us such an important job. I'm glad that we have such an important way to spend our lives, not just going through life eating and drinking and being married because tomorrow we die, but rather living a life as a very important ambassador for you. Help us to fulfill that calling. Help us to do a good job. Help us to seize every opportunity and make the use of our time. And help us not to let our friends and loved ones perish for not hearing the gospel. In Jesus' name we pray.