One degree exercise - sermon post - Luke 19:1-10 - WLPO

 

Here is a wintry shot of the WLPO sign on top of roof of the radio station in Illinois.  It comes into play with the sermon post this Sunday and my opportunity to provide a radio spot for 3 years between 2016 and 2019.  I miss those days in front of the microphone and also the practice of producing a concise 4 minute presentation to share about a truth from the Bible.

Here is another winter shot from Ohio.  This is looking out the fellowship hall door of the Weymouth Community Church and if you blow it up and look very closely you will see one of our signs out by the road.  God has given this part of the country some snow to look at for awhile.  Maybe better put, we are not only looking at the snow but dealing with it to get around.

This was a stand alone sermon that took us to the event in Jesus' life of an encounter with a chief tax collector called Zaccheus.  This is found in Luke 19:1-10.  It will be followed up this Sunday with a more in-depth look at the individual verses but this Sunday was to see Jesus interacting with another along His travels.  

Of course we are not Jesus and don't possess His divine qualities but we do have people we interact with each day.  Some of those people are seeking something or someone.  They are figuratively climbing up a sycamore tree to get a better vantage point to something they hope will be the answer to their questions.  They are curious.  

I don't know how many times I have had conversations with Christians or those who don't identify as a Christian and you sense others are listening in.  They are up in the sycamore tree (at an adjoining table at the coffee shop) and the words "Bible" or "Jesus" or "God" have captured their attention.  The initial conversation could lead to others if it is a place where paths cross frequently.

I have to challenge myself regularly in the area of evangelism.  I need to make myself available for those relationships and conversations to develop.  I need to desire to know new people and especially to catch their name and retain it for the next time I see them.  I have to ask myself periodically, "Have I become isolated from the world around me or the people who are crossing my path?  Have I stopped 'looking up' and 'calling out by name' the possible Zaccheus (pl) of my life?"  

The starting point is praying to God about it.  I need to ask God to change my point of view to being His point of view.  This sermon post will contain an actual radio broadcast from October 2018 and then I read the next installment from November 2019.  It also includes a challenge from Kevin Harney who wrote Organic Outreach and a host of other books on evangelism to take a good look at us and them.  

When I speak on issues like this I try not to come across in a way that makes others feel guilty about what they might not be doing or saying but rather to see the privilege we have been given to speak to another about the gospel.  To quote Mark Dever from his 4th edition of Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, "Evangelism is one person telling another person the good news of how he or she can be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ."  Simply put.  Obedience to share is my part and the results are the Lord's.

Adam