Transforming Obstacles into Opportunities for Faith

In my sermon, I emphasized the importance of viewing unbelievers not as obstacles but as opportunities for spreading the word of God. I shared the story of an event we held years ago, where we provided services to the community with the hope of attracting new members to our congregation. Initially, it seemed like our efforts were in vain as no new faces appeared in the congregation following the event. However, weeks later, a woman named Dena, who had attended the event, walked into our church and expressed her need for Jesus. Five years later, Dena and her family's lives have been transformed by God's grace, proving that our efforts were not in vain.

In the second part of my sermon, I prayed for the congregation, asking God to open doors and establish conversations for people to come to know Him. I prayed against the spirit of fear, reminding everyone that we have been given a spirit of love, joy, peace, and a sound mind. I encouraged everyone to be bold in their faith, trusting that God will give them the words to speak and lead them to the people He wants them to minister to. I expressed my anticipation for the harvest of souls we will reap as a result of our efforts in spreading the gospel.

Key Takeaways:
- We should view unbelievers not as obstacles but as opportunities for spreading the word of God ([39:42 ])
- God can use anyone who is willing and available to minister to others ([36:34 ])
- We should not be afraid to share our faith, as God will give us the words to speak ([41:50 ])
- We should anticipate a harvest of souls as a result of our efforts in spreading the gospel ([43:07 ])
- Our efforts in spreading the gospel are never in vain, even if we don't see immediate results ([38:57 ])

Bible Reading:
1) 2 Timothy 1:7 - [41:50 ]
2) Matthew 28:19-20 - [36:34 ]
3) John 3:16 - [43:07 ]

Observation Questions:
1) In 2 Timothy 1:7, what are we given instead of a spirit of fear?
2) What is the Great Commission as mentioned in Matthew 28:19-20?
3) Who is the "he" that John 3:16 refers to and what did he do?

Interpretation Questions:
1) How does 2 Timothy 1:7 relate to the fear of sharing the gospel with others?
2) What does it mean to "make disciples of all nations" as stated in Matthew 28:19-20?
3) How does John 3:16 explain the motivation behind God's plan for salvation?

Application Questions:
1) Can you recall a time when fear held you back from sharing your faith? How can you apply 2 Timothy 1:7 to overcome this fear in the future?
2) Who are the people in your sphere of influence that you can start making disciples of, as per the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20?
3) How can you communicate the message of John 3:16 to someone who doesn't know about God's love and sacrifice?
4) What specific steps can you take this week to change your perspective of unbelievers from opposition to opportunity?
5) Can you think of a specific person in your life who needs to hear about the hope you have in Jesus? How can you initiate a conversation about faith with them?

Day 1: Embrace Holy Boldness

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, joy, peace, and a sound mind. As believers, we are called to step out in faith, trusting that God will give us the words to speak and the courage to share His love with others. This holy boldness is not something we muster up on our own, but a divine empowerment that comes from God Himself. [41:50 ]

Acts 4:29-31 - "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."

Reflection: Reflect on a time when you felt God calling you to step out in boldness. What was the outcome?

Day 2: See Unbelievers as Opportunities

As believers, we are called to see unbelievers not as obstacles, but as opportunities. Each person we encounter is a chance to share the love of Christ and the hope of the Gospel. This perspective shift can transform our interactions and open doors for meaningful conversations about faith. [39:42 ]

Luke 19:10 - "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

Reflection: Who in your life could you view as an opportunity to share the love of Christ with?

Day 3: Be Available for God's Use

God can use anyone who is willing and available. He doesn't require us to have all the answers or to be perfect. He simply asks us to be open, willing, and ready to be used by Him. When we make ourselves available to God, He can do incredible things through us. [36:34 ]

Isaiah 6:8 - "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"

Reflection: In what ways can you make yourself more available for God's use this week?

Day 4: Trust God to Open Doors

When we ask God to open doors for ministry opportunities, He is faithful to answer. We can trust Him to guide us to the right people and to give us the right words to say. Our role is to be obedient and to step out in faith when He calls. [35:23 ]

Revelation 3:8 - "I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name."

Reflection: What doors might God be opening for you to share your faith?

Day 5: Care About What God Cares About

God's heart breaks for the lost. As His followers, we are called to care about what He cares about. This means developing a heart for the lost and a desire to see them come to know Jesus. When we align our hearts with God's, we can be used by Him in powerful ways. [41:05 ]

Ezekiel 34:16 - "I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak..."

Reflection: How can you align your heart more closely with God's heart for the lost?

Hallelujah! Why? Because I have a great experience every time. If it's broke, I hand it to them, and they give me a new one. I've never had a problem with my Apple product being hacked into. I've never had a situation where I brought my phone on the plane and somebody said, "That might blow up; we can't take your phone." Never had that happen, right?

But because I've had such a great experience, if somebody asks me about a phone, I am going to... I can't tell you how many times I tried to convert my dad. I'm 10 years in, both of them! Hallelujah! Both of them! I'm 10 years in. I'm like, "Come on, why don't y'all do it? Come on, why?" Because I have a great experience, and I want you to have the experience that I have.

I want you to know somebody who will be there even when nobody's there. I want you to know somebody who will heal you. I want you to know somebody who cares about you, who wants the best for you, who wants to provide for you. I want you to know somebody who will never leave you nor forsake you. I want you to know about it, so I'm going to tell you about it every chance I get.

I'm going to keep... I've been telling them for 10 years. I'mma keep telling you, even when you don't want to hear it. That's right! Why? Because it's been that good to me. Because he's been that good to me, I'mma keep telling him. I'mma keep telling him.

I started doing this music, and I traveled, and I would just write songs just about the goodness of God. I just would brag on Him. I just would brag because I said, "I want to use any opportunity I can to tell them." This is before I knew that I was going to be a pastor or a preacher. I said, "I'm just going to keep writing these songs telling them about how good God is."

Why? Because if I told them, they wouldn't... I got to put it in the song. Because if I tell them, they're not going to believe me. They're not going to believe the things that he's done. They're not going to believe his goodness, so I got to tell them.

What will it take for us to take this seriously? What will it take for us to change the way that we've seen unbelievers? And here's the thing: I know you might be like, "Ah, I just don't know what I'mma say. I don't know that I know enough." Don't worry about that.

Here's how much God loves you: He will set up the situation for you to have the conversation and then tell you what to say while you're in the conversation. "Lord, I don't know what I'm going to say. I don't know how I'mma do." Don't you worry about that. That's when you say, "Lord, speak through my vocal cords and think through my mind," and He will every single time. Why? Because He cares about them more than you do.

That's right! All you have to do is be available. Here's the thing, and you know, just 'cause I'm not going to let the enemy have any way... Guess what? Believers ain't asking you 50 million questions about the Bible. It's the believers you got... never mind. Because they just want Jesus. They just want hope. They want to know about the hope that you have. They want to know about the faith that you're walking in and how you're able to do that.

That's what they want to know. That's all they want to know, and we're able to share that with them. Just ask Him, "Lord, can you open a door for me to minister to somebody? Can you open a door for me? Can you present an opportunity?" And He will gladly do it.

But you ought to change the way you see unbelievers. They have to go from opposition to opportunity. You got to change the way you see it. And then let me tell you something: what'll happen is when you do that and you get in there, you start talking to them, and once you've done, you're like, "Man, that felt good! I can't believe I did that! I think I'm ready for another one."

Why? Because you realize it wasn't as hard as I thought, and now you have this confidence in you that God can use you just like He would use anyone else. And you go from one to two, from two to ten, and now we're walking out the Great Commission. We're walking out what He's called us to do. He's called us. He's called us.

I remember when we did this event years ago called "I Give Help." It was years ago, and I remember my wife and I, my family, we put on this event, and we just wanted to love on the city. We just wanted to love on the city. We said, "We're going to do t-shirts, we're going to do haircuts and backpacks and brand new shoes. We're going to do all of these things."

And we did the event, and it was over and done with. I remember after the event thinking, "That was wonderful! Now what, God? I feel like I did what you told me to do." Pastor Ryan was there, and we did what we thought that God called us to do.

I remember I walked in church the next week, and not a one person from that event was there. I was like, "Well, God, I guess I did what you wanted me to do." Then a few weeks later, Miss Dena walks into our congregation, and I remember afterwards I talked to my wife, and I said, "You know, she began to tell me who it was, and I was like, 'How did she even find out where we was at?'"

'Cause we did the event in Woodland, and we're in Madison, which is probably why nobody showed up. But I was like, "How did she even find out where we were?" Well, somebody had walked... she had asked somebody at the event, and they told her about the church.

Dena told her story. I think it was three years, Dena? Four? Five years? And as time began to progress, we got a call five years ago Friday. Yeah, five years ago Friday, Miss Dena sent us a text asking us to come to the park, and she says, "I need Jesus. I'm ready."

So we spent all that time, all those resources, all those things, and some people might have looked at it as a loss. A business would have looked at it as a loss. But in the Kingdom... oh, in the Kingdom! And Miss Dena stands here today, five years later, a totally different person because God has changed her life, her family's life, her kids' life.

Because we cared enough to look at unbelievers differently. We cared enough to change the way that we saw unbelievers and looked at them. Instead of obstacles, we saw them as opportunities.

So I want to encourage you today: don't be afraid. The Lord will tell you what to say. Yeah, He will set up the appointment. He will tell you what to say. You just be available.

The harvest time is now! It's not later; it's now. It's not somebody else; it's you. Keep running. When you come back around, it's still GNA. Be you! He's called you. Yeah, He's commissioned you. What will it take? Was His blood not enough? It's harvest time!

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you've challenged us today to hear and to see differently. God, you care about lost people. I thank you, God, that you're developing a heart in us to care about what you care about. You're developing a heart in us to care about what you care about.

God, your heart breaks for the unbeliever. So God, I pray this week that you would begin opening doors to everyone under the sound of my voice and those that are online. I pray that you would begin opening doors this week.

God, I pray that you would begin establishing conversations this week for people to come to know you. God, I bind the spirit of fear in Jesus' name, for we have not been given a spirit of fear but of love, joy, peace, and a sound mind.

God, I thank you that you will empower every person. I thank you that you will give them the words to speak. I pray, God, that as they leave here, it will be like fire on the inside of them.

God, I believe that you're already showing faces right now, that you're already giving them names right now, that you're already showing them who you're sending them to, God, in their sphere of influence. God, you're showing them who you want them to minister to.

Embolden them in the name of Jesus. I pray for a holy boldness like never before. Holy boldness in the name of Jesus, that they will find themselves in conversations and won't even know how they got there. But you will give them what to say to lead people to you, to tell them about the day and night difference that you've made in their life.

To tell them that there's a God that loves them so much that He sent His Son to die to pay the price for sin because He desired a restored relationship. That when they ask about the hope that they have, that they will point to Jesus and lead them to salvation.

I cannot wait to hear of the harvest, God! That we would see the harvest in our services, that we would see the harvest in these chairs as people are brought in by the hundreds, as people are brought in by the thousands because of the work that we did in the field.

We are your laborers, God, and we ask that you would use us. We praise you. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Would you stand with me? If you're here today, and I believe that as I prayed, I believe the Lord has already been speaking. If you heard this message today and you said, "Pastor, the Lord is already showing me even now. He's telling me the people that I need to go to. He's shown me who to go to. He's showing me the people that I need to go to."

It's already been placed on my heart what I need to do, and I'm hearing your message today, and the Lord is already speaking to me. Or if you knew coming in, and the Lord has confirmed to you that there's somebody that you need to begin talking to about Jesus.

If that's you today, would you just slip your hand up real quick? I just want to pray for you. I'm not going to have you come up, but I just want to slip you... okay, I see the hands. I see the hands. Yep, that's just confirmation.

Okay, Hallelujah! Put that hand down. I want to pray for you. I want to encourage you, and I want to charge you to go do what the Lord has called you to do. He will not fail you.

And know this: your job is to present the gospel. That is it! That's right! If someone does not receive it, that is not on you; that is on the Lord. He does the work within the person. You plant the seed. They might accept Jesus in that moment; they might not. What matters is your obedience.

Some plant, some water, but God gives the increase. You just be obedient.

1. "God, I pray that you would begin opening doors this week. I pray that you would begin establishing conversations this week for people to come to know you. God, I bind the spirit of fear in Jesus name for we have not been given a spirit of fear but of love, joy, peace, and a sound mind." - 41:10

2. "I want you to know somebody who will be there even when nobody's there. I want you to know somebody who will heal you. I want you to know somebody who cares about you, who wants the best for you, who wants to provide for you. I want you to know somebody who will never leave you nor forsake you." - 31:54

3. "What will it take for us to take this seriously? What will it take for us to change the way that we've seen unbelievers? Here's the thing, I know you might be like, 'I just don't know what I'mma say, I don't know that I know enough.' Don't worry about that. Here's how much God loves you, he will set up the situation for you to have the conversation and then tell you what to say while you're in the conversation." - 31:54

4. "They just want Jesus. They just want hope. They want to know about the hope that you have. They want to know about the faith that you're walking in and how you're able to do that. That's what they want to know, that's all they want to know." - 34:54

5. "Once you've done it, you're like, 'Man, that felt good. I can't believe I did that. I think I'm ready for another one.' Why? Because you realize it wasn't as hard as I thought and now you have this confidence in you that God can use you just like he would use anyone else." - 34:54