You Too Can Be Fired Up About Witnessing! [Patrick Morley]

The Journey to Biblical Manhood

Challenge 12: Outreach

Session 2: You Too Can Be Fired Up About Witnessing!

Unedited Transcript

Patrick Morley

Good morning men. Merry Christmas. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We’re in the journey to biblical manhood. And as we get started, we want to do a shout out. We have a new group to welcome today. They’ve been meeting for about seven months. They’re called Maitland Lane Iron Men in Maitland Lane Free Methodist Church in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Eight men, they meet on Sunday mornings at 9:00 and the leader, Ralph Emery writes, “We desire to make disciples and spread the gospel in our community.”

Seem very appropriate, with the topic this morning, to welcome this new group Maitland Lane Iron Men. I wonder if you would join me and give them a very warm and rousing Man in the Mirror welcome. One, two three. Hoo-ah!

Welcome men. We are so glad to have you as part of our bible study. Welcome. Okay. the series is the Journey to Biblical Manhood. We are in the twelfth challenge and final one. I’ve reached the second week of that, the faith and life objectives are on the table. I’m just going to let you read through those again on your own. Today’s message; you too can be fired up about what you’ve seen. There are lots of different ways that people get the word out. I happened to run across some church signs on Pinterest and I thought I’d read a few of them to you.

These are the little letters, usually black letters, that they put on the signs. Adam and Eve, the first people to read the Apple terms and conditions. Oh actually says the first people to not read the Apple’s terms and conditions. Why didn’t Noah swat the two mosquitoes? Dog spelled backwards is man’s best friend. Body piercing saved our souls. Our church is like fudge, sweet with a few nuts. Whoever stole our AC units, keep one, it’s going to be hot where you’re going.

BY FEELING THE SAME WAY AS JESUS ABOUT LOST MEN

Some of those are a little more effective, some are a little less effective, obviously. The first thing I want to talk about is how we can be fired up about witnessing by feeling the same way as Jesus feels about lost men. I have had two recent experiences that one would be give myself a gold star the other would take it back. I was in the gym and there was this … I may have mentioned this before, can’t remember if I did. I tried to look it up, I couldn’t find anywhere.

I was in the gym and there was this giant, huge, hulk of a guy and he had these two 45 pound dumbbells that he’d been doing bicep curls with for about a half hour, and then he walked over and he put the two 45 pound dumbbells where the 20 pound dumbbells are supposed to go. And then he turned and we made eye contact and he just glared at me. He was just begging me to say something. And of course, he would have broken me in to like a straw if would have said anything. And then he just turned and walked away.

You could just tell he was just like so much spent up anger. It was so interesting because I was just overwhelmed with a love for this man, and I just said, “Wow, what just happened there? How is that even possible?” Second story. That’s where I get the gold star. The second one is where I’m no longer the hero of the story. I was hiking over at Lake Luisa’s state park and they have this big giant parking lot next to a lake and there were zero cars in the parking lot because I was there early in the morning.

And so, after I came back from my hike, I decided that I would sit in my car and finish my devotions for the day. So, I’m sitting in my car, the only car in this entire parking lot, probably enough room in the parking lot for a hundred cars. And I’m reading my Bible, just enjoying the quiet time out in the state park, the beautiful air, windows open, hear the birds chirping, and this couple in a minivan from Ohio pulled into the parking lot and park right next to me, so close I can’t even open my car door on the driver’s side.

And then they roll down their windows and they start, “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.” The picnicking and shouting. I say, “Wow. Wow. What just happened here?” And I completely lost my Christianity. I didn’t do anything about it. But I was not fair enough about witnessing to them, let me just tell you that. And I did not feel the same way about them at that moment that Jesus feels about lost people. But I want us to take a look at that. I want to take a look at this. If you can stay fired up about witnessing, then it’s probably a good idea to understand, how was it that those first disciples, how did they stay fired up about witnessing?

The answer to that in large measure, is that they saw the story unfold the way that Jesus saw the story unfold. They were with him and they were able to observe what he saw, and they were able to see how he reacted to it. They were up, close and personal and guess what, they wrote it down. They wrote down what they saw him see and how they observed him feeling. And so we take a look at some of that. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 9:36. I want us to book and a number of verses, a number of verses.

Because we can see lost men, the way that Jesus saw lost men because the disciples saw them and as I said, they wrote it down. They recorded these words. Matthew wrote it down this way, Matthew 9:36, When Jesus saw the crowds … this is Matthew commenting. When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because he saw that they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And then he said to the disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore, to send down workers, and do his harvest field.

Many were fired up. Do you see what I see? These people, are they sinful? The Bible says there’s no one who is righteous and not sinned. And the Bible does it not say, For God so despise the depravity of people’s sins that he sent his only son Jesus into the world so that whoever may believe in him will be saved. It says, For God so loved the world, and this compassion. This is the whole idea behind the ethos of the way that Jesus sees people. How many of your Myers Briggs’ J? If you even know what that is.

Yeah. J is for judge. How many of you are Myers Briggs’ P? P is for Perceive. Some people perceive circumstances and accept it. The Js can’t do that. I am a J. I can’t do that. I, by nature, if I see you doing something and it looks wrong to me, I can’t help it. I critique that in my mind. Okay. That’s a real danger. It’s a real danger because I don’t know, is it just me or does it look like Christianity attracts all the Js? Wow. Are we a judgemental lot.

Man, are we ready to rip somebody apart. Jesus doesn’t do that. It says that Jesus looked on the crowds. He could have said, and he was sickened by the depravity. Was he? Yeah, probably. Read the newspaper. Probably. But the first impulse of Jesus is to have compassion on every lost person, every lost person. Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Let’s keep looking. We’ll get through these next verses a lot more quickly. For it turned out … It is still Matthew 18:14. 18:14.

Jesus said, this is in the parable of the lost sheep, “In the same way your Father in Heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.” Turn to Mark 10:21, or just listen. Mark 10.21. This is the rich young ruler Jesus looked at him and loved him, and guess what kind of love? That’s the Agape love. One thing., you lack He said, Go and sell everything. But Jesus looked at me and he was describing the good thing that he had to do in order to be saved, but the thing that was holding back from making a full total complete surrender to Jesus.

And even though, he had success sickness, even though he was married to his money, Jesus … Is just the verse where he says it’s hard for a man to go through the eye of a needle? I can’t remember. Any way, That for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle but anyway, the point is, is that regardless of this man’s materialism, Jesus loved him. He loved him. Jesus is fired up about witnessing. I came seeking to seek and to save the lost. And so he’s feeling it and the disciples are watching him feeling it, they didn’t believe. They didn’t believe.

They had a hard time believing. They had a hard time believing all of this. Did this happen overnight? Absolutely, this didn’t happen overnight. But Jesus kept doing what Jesus does. Luke 13:34. Luke 13:34, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who sent you. How often I have longed, longed to gather you, your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Do you see that the way that Jesus feels? Feel the way Jesus feels about these lost people.

Luke 19:41, As he approached Jerusalem, he wept. He wept over the city. And he said, “If you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it’s hidden.” The sadness that he feels towards these lost people who are rejecting at that point. 1 Timothy 2:3 – 4, God, our Savior, wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. 2 Peter 3:9, These are the verses up at the top of your outline. 2 Peter 3:9, He is patient with you. Not wanting anyone to come … He’s patient with you … Whatever it says.

What does it say? Not wishing that any should perish but that all come to repentance. You see. Lamentations 3:33, For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. Ezekiel 33:11, What are we talking about? We’re talking about how Jesus feels about lost people. Ezekiel 33:11, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they would turn from their ways and live … Turn, just imagine that groan … I’d think that’s why we have lightning. Just imagine the sound of the groan of God, the rumbling across the horizon, as he’s crying out, “Turn, turn from evil. Why will you die of a house of Israel?”

John 11:25 says, He who believes, Jesus says, He who believes in me will never die. What got the disciples fired up is they had a ringside seat at all this. They had a ringside seat and we can see the story that same way too by being here, by being in the word for ourselves. We adjust the story a little bit for our own culture because the problems that our lost men face are not exactly the same presenting problems that those men saved. But guess what? The internal problems are the same, the motivations of men’s hearts are the same, they’re just manifesting themselves because they didn’t have the internet and we do.

Do you think it meant back that didn’t lust? I said it last week, Jesus didn’t try to get men to do something that they didn’t want to do. He invited them so deeply into the story, that they couldn’t keep it in and be happy anymore. Jesus just invited them into this story and we’re invited into this story too. Remember what the big idea was last week.? You don’t have to, I wrote it out. My motivation for outreach, I am so staggered by the love of Jesus that I can’t keep it in and then be happy.

And so, the idea is not to badger you to talk about your sense of duty, your sense of obligation. I’m not going to beg you to share your faith. I got to tell you about how great Jesus is. And then, the idea is, when we actually … It is a process, but it does come a point, if you’re continuing to look at Jesus and if you do believe that he is true, he says, “That you come to this point where you too are as happy and excited and can’t keep it in to tell someone about Jesus as you are to talk about your favorite football team and how well they’re doing.” Keith.

All these incredible new restaurants that you discovered that you’re telling all your friends about. You could be so staggered, you see? How did this work out for the disciples? They stumbled. They stumbled. Let us look at Acts 1:8. Acts 1:8. After Jesus had done all this, he let them be with them for several years. They basically hung out together. the peripatetic teacher and for those of you who are familiar with that whole teaching methodology of back then. There were lots of people who were walking around with disciples, it wasn’t only Jesus.

He trained them. And then in Acts 1:8, he says, After Resurrection. Who said that? Yeah, you will receive power. You are going to get power. You do feel like I feel? Because you see what I see. You will receive power now. I trained you, I sent you out the 12, I sent you out the 72. We had feedback. We had a pilot test, you know what to do. But now, you’re going to get power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and then on Judea, and in Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.

Now, what does a witness do? A witness basically testifies to what they’ve seen, that to which they can give an account. The disciples saw Jesus in the flesh, we see him in the word, the living word. How did that work out for them? Well, they got off to a really really good start, but then they had a little mission creep. Turn over to Acts 8:1, See. They stumble and they didn’t go to Judea and they didn’t go to Samaria and they didn’t go to the ends of the earth. But Jesus, right now as he was then, Jesus is incredibly interested in protecting the mission Jesus protects the mission. They go, so look at what he did. Stephen was stoned, Saul was there giving his approval.

And it says, On that day great what? Persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem where they were all hanging out. And what happened? All except the apostles were scattered. Where were they scattered? To the places that Jesus has told them that they were supposed to go when this power came on them. So, look, you may not be as bad as those disciples, you probably would never make that mistake of not doing the mission. But guess what? Jesus is protecting this mission right now, today. He has you here so we can talk about this.

Here’s the Big Idea today. Here’s the Big Idea today. So what is going to keep us fired up? I’m asking you to ask Jesus to give you an inconsolable burden for lost men. That’s the big idea. And that’s why we’re here, 2000 years later. Is because people have been, men and women both, but we’re talking about men, have been asking for millennia, they’ve been asking Jesus to give them some kind of an inconsolable burden for lost people.

I came to seek and to save who? The lost. The lost son in the parable of the son. My son was lost but now he’s been found. The parable of the lost sheep lost, lost but found. There’s an inconsolable burden for that lost person. I probably mentioned this, I can’t remember, be nice. I don’t just speak here, I speak other places too. I can’t remember who I said what to where. But anyway, I’ve probably said this story before but, our leader group from this Bible study was meeting one morning and I was sort of lamenting that I just was struggling, I just couldn’t find a contentment.

And I was talking about this this issue. I was telling them how I was inconsolable because of the burden that I felt for lost men. And Kevin Fitro one of our leaders, sort of deadpanned from the back. He said, “Oh, this is interesting, the concept of a satisfied evangelist.” Okay. That changed my life. That changed my life. And so now I say openly, I am greedy for men souls. I want them all. Don’t you? Don’t you want to see every person … Don’t you feel the way that Jesus feels? That’s what we’re talking about. The way to get fired up is to see people the way that Jesus sees them, and the way that happens is just by asking him for that inconsolable burned for lost men.

BY UNDERSTANDING OUR AUDIENCE

Next. How do we get fired up? We get fired up by understanding our audience. This is a great book, I just read it by Donald Miller. He’s the author of Blue Like Jazz. This book is called Building a Story Brand. He actually has a business where he helps enterprises figure out how to develop a communications strategy and story for the businesses. It’s a really good book. You can get it but I’m going to tell you what you need to know, because it’s extremely relevant for what we’re doing right here.

The concept is that every man wants to be a hero in his own story. You’ve heard me say this before. No man feels unpurposed, no man gets up in the morning, thinks to himself, “How can I mess up my life today?” Every man wants to be the protagonist in his own story. And so, he wants to be a hero. When we are sharing our faith, we’re not the hero, he’s the one that wants to be the hero. You remember now, Francis Shaffer talks about sharing the Gospel in each generation in the thought forms that appeal to that generation. Men out there who don’t know Christ, we can’t expect them to be putting God first, they’re putting themselves first.

And even we who are Christians, we still wake up, when our feet hit the floor, we’re trying to think, “How can I get a win?” That’s you and me. And so, in that context, the framework of this book is that there is a man, a person, who has who wants something, but they have encountered a problem. And at the depth of their despair, they look for a guy, someone who can give them a plan of action that leads to success and avoids failure. That’s the whole book. Aint that great though? And that’s exactly, that’s exactly what a witness does. A witness is a guy, you have a man. Can I just break that down?

You have a man who wants something. What does he want? Well, men in their 30s are just desperate for contentment. There’s this great sense of lack of contentment. There are all kinds of issues. Success sickness, guys are addicted to pornography. They don’t want to be addicted to pornography. Especially right now, they don’t want to be addicted to pornography. And they have something that they want. They want contentment, they want rescue. They want redemption. They want to feel like their life is going somewhere. All of these are things that men want, but then they encounter a problem and that is that there are these invisible forces that keep pressing against them.

They keep repeating the same behaviors that they’re not able to get victory over the things that they don’t want to do and they’re not able to achieve the things that they do want to do. Contentment remains elusive to them. They think that contentment is getting what you want instead of being content with what you already have and all these other kinds of things that we talk about here all the time. We’ve talked about these things for a long time around here. We understand that audience, what they want, but then they have this problem. And at the height of their despair, which by the way, is usually the moment they’re least lovable.

My mom always used to say, “It’s always hardest to love the ones that need it the most.” She thought of my brother. Never me. It’s always hardest to love the ones who need it the most. At the height of their despair, a guide appears. Who’s that guy? That you? That’s me. But guess what? Because power has come on us, we’re appearing at just the right moment. There’s this guy at my gym, and I appeared at just the right moment for him. Something’s happened. Something’s happened. It’s got really, really weird. It’s like, you can’t not talk to me that often without some kind of an intentional plan to avoid me. We’re just meeting at the same places. Something’s happened. Something’s happened.

I know, instead of writing him off, I’ve said, “Okay. Well, How does Jesus feel about him?” And by the way, I did want to write him off. He’s being a, whatever. A jerk really. And so, I wanted to write him off, but I have asked, as I’m asking you to do, Jesus, to get me an inconsolable burden for men who are lost. And so, actually I find myself yearning, if you will, to understand what the next step is. And I am not forcing anything, I’m just asking the Lord, I’m praying, nothing’s happening. But I understand or I’m trying to understand the audience. And that’s something that gets me fired up, something that got the disciples fired up, something that can keep all of us fired up. Just ask Jesus to give you this inconsolable burden for the lost men.

BY PRACTICING THESE SIX STEPS

And then finally, you can get fired up by practicing these six steps. Is this like six easy steps to do this? No. These are just six of many things, but these are big things. The word POW and then SCC, that’s an acrostic. POW, Pray. You’ve got these rich three cards on your tables, pray for men, pray that God would give you these inconsolable burden. Pray that he would make you greedy for men’s souls.

And then ask, for the A, ask. Ask then the golden question. It’s the greatest question in the world. Larry, Chase, Brian, tell me, where are you on your spiritual journey today? Where are you on your spiritual journey. People love to talk about this. I think I’ve only ever had one person out of the thousands of them, that I’ve asked that question, that I’ve ever said, “I don’t want to talk about it” People want to talk about it. Now, you have to ask it like you really want an answer, and you have to ask it like you can’t wait him to start talking, so you can bother him and tell him what he really needs to do.

You have to really want the answer. And then I always listen, it’s just sit back, bite your J tongue and listen, just listen, let him talk. Like Jesus did with the woman at the well. And then number four is, share your story, story. Share your story. He shared his, now you take what he said and just like Jesus, you rework your story a little bit to contextualize it for what you heard in his story. And you haven’t had to be some sort of an evangelistic  genius, have you? All you’ve done is pray and ask the simple question and listen and then share your own story.

Now, the next step is where you do listen training, and that’s where you … And by the way, in order to share your story, that’s why last week we handed out, did we hand out this week? It doesn’t look like we did it, we handed out last week that three minute testimony, elevator speech worksheet. Because if you get those three minutes, here’s how I was, here is how I came to Christ, and here’s what’s happened since. One minute each. You could always expand, if you’re not on an elevator, but you’ve got it then.

That’s how you can share your story, I encourage you to do that. Think that through an advance so you can come up with the most clever ways of expressing what’s happening in your life. And then finally, two things is to be able to explain the gospel. You’re going to need to have training for that. Gosh, I guess that’s probably something that happens next week. And then final is, just a call to action. In this book, you have the guy who presents a plan and then a call to action that leads to success and avoids failure.

There you go, there you go. We have to sign in … Oh my gosh, a couple of minutes over here. We’ve got a sign at the office that we … I don’t know, why I haven’t put up yet in a new conference room, but somebody brought it up. One of our donors was in the office this week, “Hey, where is the sign?”and I said, “Whoops.” And the sign in the conference room and I said … I’m trying to make sure it’s says again, “Enter prayerfully, the fate of the world is being decided here.” The fate of the world and man is being decided with us, and the way that we get fired up about doing that, is by asking Jesus to give us this inconsolable burden for the lost man.

With that said, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, just if you would, if you want to, if you feel comfortable, if you’re loose, if you’re not tight. Extend your hands to the Lord, palms up to receive this, Jesus, will you give each of us and inconsolable burden for lost man. Amen. Okay. Amen.

I want to tell you a story. It’s a story about what’s going on in two of our regions, where Man In The Mirror has field staff.  Did I tell you that I spoke at the Mobile marriage prayer power breakfast? Did I tell you that?

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at Mobile marriage prayer power breakfast. Over 800 people attending, another story, another time, but supported two of our area directors while I was there. Chris De Tomb, Foley, Alabama, and then, Dr Tim Smith in Mobile. And both of them pulled together groups of pastors and men’s leaders. It was amazing. In Tim’s area, there were two churches, two pastors who spoke. Well, one layman and one pastor who spoke about what was going on.

And then Chris, De Tomb area, a third church. One was small church, one medium and one mega. And the small church. Tanner Williams Assembly, they just started, no man left behind. This is the process we teach churches about how to make it possible to decipher all the men in your church, all inclusive ministry to men. They started no man left behind with 60 people attending their church services 10 months ago, they started with 60 people.

Two weeks ago they were reporting that they now have 250 people attending their church every Sunday morning. He says the men are on fire with the concept that disciples making disciples, the medium church posted the Connor and McGregor fight as an outreach, what a great idea. And they were able to add six new families to their church. Just imagine the impact that that has on not only the current generation, but the future generations of those families. And 25 new men got involved in small group discipleship, doing life on life.

Then over in the megachurch, at 3 Circles Baptist in Foley, Alabama, where the pastor in that church is already the envy of the entire County, because of the tremendous growth. He stood up for us and spoke, Chris put together a group of about 75 people and talked about how his church is radically different because of No Man Left Behind. Chris trained 25 leaders there about a year ago, I think about a year ago. Our area director trained 25 leaders, and he says his church is radically different and will never be the same again.

“We knew we needed to disciple men, we had the desire and now because of The Man in The Mirror, we know how, our church will never be the same. It’s exactly what we needed.” And then he went on to exalt everyone present in the room that essentially, you’d be foolish not to get involved. That’s what happens when you make an investment in Man in the Mirror. One of the things that happens when you make it investment in Man in the Mirror. I guess, we’re in this a period of generosity, when people are thinking about these things at this time of the year.

I want to encourage you to consider becoming involved as a donor. Many of you are already monthly donors, many of you are already make periodic gifts or one-time gifts, thank you. Thank you for that. Because when you help disciple man, everyone wins. Everyone wins. And so, I want to draw your attention to two things. Number one, there is a sheet of paper on your table, there is a tear off at the bottom. Hey, look, this is like sending homework home with school kids, it gets lost in the backpack. What I’d like you to do is, think about completing this and tearing this off right this morning.

Now, if you’re digital and would rather do it that way that’s fine too. We have a website, it’s called Mimdonate.org.  Mimdonate.org, is that the website address on the sheet? Right underneath the bold at the bottom. I see a lot of bolds.  Go to Mimdonate.org. there’s the website. This is the website. Hey, this is a cool website. It’s a cool website. So, little help putting it together. By the way, Brian Russell  is the author of the site using his formidable web talents to do that. And so, when you go to the site you’ll see at the top, our discipleship changes, marriages workplaces, families, communities and everything.

There’s a donate now button. But wait, let’s not go there yet. We’ll just keep scrolling down, some information, numbers about it. Together we can fight the battle for the souls of men. Our partners are heroes to the men and churches is being transformed. And then out here it says, I want to change lives. And then three options, you could click to make a recurring gift, a special gift or you can click and make a donation to one of the regional ministries too. Look, we don’t raise enough money out of here to pay the expenses of this Bible study, so as you’re thinking about how …

If you have any liquidity at the end of the year, please consider prayerfully making an investment into the Bible study. Because as of right now, you guys can afford it, but we’re asking other people to subsidize you to be here, so it doesn’t seem right. If you would, think about it, pray about it. Whatever God want you to do, or not do, I’m totally fine with that. How many times have I asked you for money? Oh, every week. I guess I ask for the three dollars in the basket.

This is different. Let’s just commit this year for a moment. Father I just pray that for those men who might feel so led to be involved as investors in what we’re doing here and really all around the world, we just pray that you would bless them, and we pray that you bless all the other men in the other areas where they are making their investments, in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thanks, have a great weekend. Two waits, we’ll start a new series called, Jesus Unfiltered. Jesus Unfiltered.

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