1. "We are folks to walk out the message of the gospel. We are to walk out the message of the gospel. We are to walk out the message of the gospel. We are to step out and step into opportunities to share Christ. We're to run with endurance the race for souls that is before us. And folks, you want to know, in all honesty, I think that it's safe to say that God expects this from us. He expects this from us. And hear me now, our salvation is not dependent on meeting his expectations. That's not our salvation. What it is, is his expectations are there. Because he's already saved us. He's already given us eternity. We already have the promise of eternal life with him." [33:43] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2. "I've come to realize that the great cloud of witnesses doesn't roar from their celestial grandstands every time I overcome the temptation to sin. I don't think they get all, you know why? I should celebrate though. I should roar because he has equipped me to overcome temptation. He fully expects me to overcome it knowing, and I know this and he knows it, that if I don't overcome it, it could kill me. Amen? It could kill me, right? He knows that." [35:16] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3. "I'm confident that angels like Gabriel and Michael, they don't do backflips every time I tithe. Come on. I think he expects me to know that all I have comes from him. He's given me 10 tents. So by him providing me the opportunity to invest in something that has eternal dividends, I get blessed. Somebody say amen. I get blessed. And that in turn, it gets my affections off of the temporal. When I'm able to release and give to an unseen God, it gets my eyes off the temple and gets my mind and my heart on eternal. Amen? That in turn, it keeps me from greed and selfishness and covetousness. It's all for me." [36:53] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4. "I believe that the sharing of the gospel in God's expectation is that which is nearest and dearest to his heart. I believe. That's the whole reason Jesus left earth. I mean, left heaven to come to earth. That's the whole reason, right? I believe sharing the gospel is nearest and dearest to God's hand. I believe, and I'm not alone by a long shot, sharing the gospel or not sharing the gospel will have direct impact on the population of heaven. And on the population of hell. I believe that with all my heart. I believe that sharing the gospel will impact the eternity of untold billions, past, present, and future." [42:26] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5. "I believe that God's gospel, God's gospel, listen to me, the gospel of God is his love letter to a broken world. And when you and I share the gospel, we're writing a love letter back to God. Somebody say amen. We're writing it right back to him. We share his love letter. I believe, I believe that the greatest of rewards at the judgment seat of Christ will be to those who shared the gospel. I believe that. In whatever way, right? I believe the one question God will ask all of humanity, past and present, at the judgment seat of Christ, and sadly, even at the great white throne judgment, I believe his question is going to be, what did you do with the message of my son?" [42:26] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




6. "Whenever we saw a disturbance in the reef, we saw an opportunity to move in and take advantage of that opportunity. How many know where I'm going with this? I'm of the opinion, folks, that God's people need that taco eye for that disturbance or those opportunities to share the gospel in real time. Amen? You're looking for a disturbance. Especially in 2024, we are surrounded. Listen to me, people. We are surrounded by unchurched people who are experiencing disturbances in their lives. Come on. There are couples. There are families. There are co-workers. There are neighbors. There's... People groups that are trying to survive a host of disturbances going on, and we see them all over the place, and I would say in confidence, listen to me, I would say in confidence for many, if not all of them, folks, all they need is Jesus." [49:27] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




7. "I don't care if it's a crumbling marriage, a rebellion in the home, a bad doctor's report, a loss of a job. Ultimately, Jesus is the answer for all of them in this broken world. Can you say amen? He is the answer. As God's people, folks, we need to have that. We can see those disturbances. People whose, the reef has been disturbed, right? So we can share him. We can show him off to the world." [51:02] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




8. "Seasons change. Situations change. Life-changing events happen. What was a closed door yesterday could very well be an opportunity, tomorrow. Somebody say amen. Things change. Keep your eyes open. Maybe you're like many today, and you say, you know what, Art? I hear you, but personal evangelism or even trying to break the ice with conversations about eternity, it's a little bit of a stretch for me. I get it. We lack confidence. We think we're going to ask something we won't have an answer for." [57:50] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




9. "Why do I do that? Because like I just said, seasons change, circumstances change, life-changing events will happen. You don't know that person, that group of people who are aware that you are a spiritual person, listen to me very carefully, they're going to seek you out. I know it to be true and many of you know that too. They're going to seek you out. They're going to remember that little Christianese you thought that was so insignificant. They will seek you out. Folks, when life changes and people get knocked down so far that the only option they have is to start looking up, guess who they're going to remember? Your Christianese." [01:00:42] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




10. "They're going to remember your Christianese. They're going to remember. You're planting seeds that may take 10 years to get watered, but it's going to happen. Amen. Zechariah 4 says this, despise not the day of small things. Amen. Because you don't know, but your little bit of Christianese can do. So as we wrap up this series and this weekend, talking about our beautiful feet and the gospel we're supposed to carry them with, we're reminded that we need to have that taco eye, people. Amen. Look for disturbances. That's an opportunity awaiting, right? And also in the midst of disturbances and chaos, by us refining our Christianese, we are afforded more opportunities to share the good news, to share the gospel, because I'll say it again. I believe the single expectation from God, the single greatest expectation from God is sharing the gospel." [01:09:08] (56 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Good to be with you this weekend.

We are, have you heard Pastor Justin say we're concluding? We're concluding our Sent series this weekend. For the last six weeks, we've been talking about how, I guess the catchphrase you've been saying that Jesus still walks the earth today in 2024, and he walks it through you and I, through each and every one of us, through his body.

Yeah, we've been talking about the body of Christ, his body that he has sent out, hence the title of our series, Sent. And talking about his body, we opened up talking about the heart of Christ. Remember that Pastor Josiah opened up. A few weeks back, I talked about being the hands of Christ. Pastor Jade and Pastor Josiah did a great job the following weekend talking about Christ in the home. And arguably, probably the greatest mission field we have, folks, is our home.

And they, we're still enjoying that family prayer calendar. Can everybody say amen? It's a great calendar, right? And then the past two weekends, Pastor Josiah was talking about our mouth and the words that we speak. And last weekend, he talked about our minds and how, with the mind of Christ, how we should think about God, how we should think about ourselves, and how we should think about others.

It's been a great series. And as we conclude this weekend, both here, our family here, and our online Ohana, as we conclude, we're going to talk about our feet. Feet? We're going to talk about our feet and the role they play since Jesus did call us and sent us to the world. And we're going to talk about that requires some stepping out of our own.

And quick reminder for those that may not know, or maybe you don't recall, where does it say that Jesus sent us out, all right? And a very popular portion of scripture, Matthew 28, just before his ascension. I'll read it for you. This is where we were sent.

Verse 19 says this: therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them how to do good. And we're to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age.

Jesus instructs us to go. He sends us out to make disciples and baptize. The prophet Isaiah, some 700 years earlier, seven centuries before this, he speaks about the great commission and being sent out. It's in Isaiah 52:7. It says this: how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. Who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, your God reigns.

One of my faves, David Guzik, he's a pastor, a teacher, and I'd like to call him probably a modern-day theologian. He talks about this particular verse, Isaiah 52:7. He gives commentary on it. I'll read it for you. It's going to come up. He says this: no wonder those who bring the good news have beautiful feet. They are out partnering with God for the salvation of men. The feet speak of activity, motion, and progress. And those who are active and moving in the work of preaching the gospel have beautiful feet. Amen.

So the conversation this weekend is going to be talking about our great assignment, which is the great commission and the beautiful feet that carry that message. We are, folks, to walk out the message of the gospel. We are to walk out the message of the gospel. We are to walk out the message of the gospel. We are to step out and step into opportunities to share Christ. We're to run with endurance the race for souls that is before us.

And folks, you want to know, in all honesty, I think that it's safe to say that God expects this from us. He expects this from us. And hear me now, our salvation is not dependent on meeting his expectations. That's not our salvation. What it is, is his expectations are there because he's already saved us. He's already given us eternity. We already have the promise of eternal life with him.

And with that, folks, I think with the eternity promise to us, he fully expects you and I to help others know that promise too. Can you say amen? I'm going to say that again. With the eternity promise to us, he fully expects us to help others know that promise too.

Also, what am I saying? What he's saying, Art? I'm saying this. We owe God and he knows we owe him. Amen? We owe God and he knows very well that we owe him.

Before we move on and dialogue about our feet and just how beautiful and important they are to God, I want to talk about his expectations. Regarding his expectations, I want to share with you some things, folks, that it took time to learn. The 36 years I've been saved, I've come to believe these things now about God's expectation that maybe in the beginning I didn't believe.

I've come to understand and accept that many of the things I have done in my dedication, in my surrender to the Lord, to God, I think things I would do for God, things that I would stop doing to please God. I once believed that these personal sacrifices would one day, it would garner, there would be a day when it would garner great gratitude and great reward from God.

But I've come to realize, folks, that many of the kingdom's sacrifices I think I've made, many of the kingdom's sacrifices that God asked for me and of me are almost exclusively for my benefit, for my protection, for my blessing. It doesn't benefit him. It benefits me.

I'll give you some examples. I've come to realize that the great cloud of witnesses doesn't roar from their celestial grandstands every time I overcome the temptation to sin. I don't think they get all, you know why? I should celebrate though. I should roar because he has equipped me to overcome temptation. He fully expects me to overcome it knowing, and I know this and he knows it, that if I don't overcome it, it could kill me. Amen? It could kill me, right? He knows that.

More than ever, folks, I'm convinced that heaven doesn't throw a party every time I pray over my food. I believe God expects me. He expects you to be grateful for his constant provision. He is Jehovah Jireh. So praying over a meal keeps me humble, right? Because he's provided for the hunger that I'm feeling.

It's for me. Besides that, praying over my food in 2024, it keeps us healthy, folks, because today the food we got is so loaded with carcinogens and deadly byproducts. Come on. It's in our best interest to pray over everything that goes into your mouth. Amen? It's for me. It's for you.

I'm confident that angels like Gabriel and Michael, they don't do backflips every time I tithe. Come on. I think he expects me to know that all I have comes from him. He's given me 10 tents. So by him providing me the opportunity to invest in something that has eternal dividends, I get blessed. Somebody say amen. I get blessed.

And that in turn, it gets my affections off of the temporal. When I'm able to release and give to an unseen God, it gets my eyes off the temporal and gets my mind and my heart on eternal. Amen? That in turn, it keeps me from greed and selfishness and covetousness. It's all for me. I don't expect a reward.

Folks, I'm convinced that heaven doesn't throw a potluck celebration every time I attend a church service. I don't expect a reward. I don't expect a reward. I'm convinced. Why? Because the assembling of the saints is for the empowering of the saints. Amen? Right? He knows. He expects us to circle up because he knows that when we circle up, there's strength in numbers. Amen?

So these expectations like overcoming temptation and praying over my food and giving tithes or attending church, I don't look forward to being rewarded for that. If I do, praise God. But I'm not going to look forward to it.

It's in Luke 17. A lot of our bloodbots like to read over real quick. Luke 17 verses 9 and 10. We're going to look at this real quick. This is the word. If you've got a Bible, it's in red. This is the words of Christ himself. Luke 17, 9 and 10. Look what Jesus says.

Servants don't deserve special thanks for doing what they're supposed to do. And that's how it should be with you. When you've done all you've done, you've done all you've done. You should then say, we're merely servants and we've simply done our duty.

I like it on the amplified even better. It says this, same verses. Jesus says, he does not thank the servant just because he did what he was ordered to do, does he? So you too, when you have done everything that was assigned and commanded you, say, we are unworthy servants. What does that mean? Undeserving of praise or reward for we have not gone beyond our obligation. We have merely done what we ought to do.

A little bit sobering. Another sobering one. Eliphaz, he's one of, Eliphaz is one of Job's friends. But when Job is having, you know, Job went through some stuff, don't get me wrong. But in the middle of his pity party, in the middle of his pain, Job was beginning to say stuff like, you know, my righteousness, God, God, God is blessed by my righteousness. And Eliphaz kind of gives him a sobering statement. It's in Job 22:3. He says this, would he gain if your ways are blameless? What's he gain in front of you being blameless?

So by now, I imagine many of us both here and online, we probably slid into a ditch called expectation depression. Thanks a lot, Art. You really make me feel good, right? It's going to get better, I promise, as we talk about his expectations that as the prophet Isaiah said, beautiful feet.

And listen to me, we're talking about beautiful feet, just in case there's a picture and somebody's like, I don't know, I don't know. We're not talking about the physical condition of your feet, okay? Right? You guys get that, right? In a state where 85% of the population wears slippers 99% of the time, we're not talking about your feet.

Feet, physical condition, it doesn't really resonate well here in Hawaii, because I know over the years, I've seen some of you brothers' feet. They don't look like feet, they look like hooves.

And don't laugh, you titties. I see some of your feet, too. They don't look like feet, they look like talons. Claws. And all you married couples, just look right at me. Don't look at each other. Look right ahead. Don't be looking at each other, laughing.

Joking aside, the apostle Paul, he talks about God's expectation in us, the assignment we know to be the great commission. Romans 10, it says this: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are what? Sent.

Hey, it's a good title for a series, right? And here he goes, quoting Isaiah again. Paul says this, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.

Saints, we're talking about God's expectations. I'm going to talk about, for the rest of this morning, God's expectation regarding the sharing of the gospel. I believe that the sharing of the gospel in God's expectation is that which is nearest and dearest to his heart. I believe. That's the whole reason Jesus left earth. I mean, left heaven to come to earth. That's the whole reason, right?

I believe sharing the gospel is nearest and dearest to God's hand. I believe, and I'm not alone by a long shot, sharing the gospel or not sharing the gospel will have direct impact on the population of heaven and on the population of hell. I believe that with all my heart.

I believe that sharing the gospel will impact the eternity of untold billions, past, present, and future. I believe that God's gospel, God's gospel, listen to me, the gospel of God is his love letter to a broken world. And when you and I share the gospel, we're writing a love letter back to God. Somebody say amen. We're writing it right back to him.

We share his love letter. I believe that the greatest of rewards at the judgment seat of Christ will be to those who shared the gospel. I believe that. In whatever way, right? I believe the one question God will ask all of humanity, past and present, at the judgment seat of Christ, and sadly, even at the great white throne judgment, I believe his question is going to be, what did you do with the message of my son?

That's going to be the question. What did you do with the good news that was given you? Did you possess it? Did you bury it? Did you perpetuate it? What did you do with it? Makes all the difference in the world.

The great news, if you're a part of this church, Ohana, here at NHL, there are so many ways, so many opportunities to share the gospel with others, so many inroads. We have fam jam where you can bring in neighbors, unchurched neighbors and friends and come and be a part of an activity or break bread or do something together.

Your kids in the neighborhood can bring their friends in the neighborhood. We have OG invite nights, Ohana group invite nights. We have house watch parties, outreaches, mission trips, men's breakfast, women's crafting events. There's so much more. Opportunities, inroads to share the gospel.

Say, but what about those times when we're not able to connect with the Ohana here at Newell Boulevard? Maybe it's at the workplace, in the classroom, on the sports field when you're here. Maybe it's at the gym, maybe it's at the gym, maybe it's at the kids are playing sports in the neighborhood, at the mall.

And a big one today, maybe it's your online community that you're a part of, right? I'm going to offer you a couple ideas that may open up opportunities to share the gospel. You can fill in number one there in your notes and you're going to love it. Fill it in. We need a taco eye for opportunities. A taco eye.

You're a diver. You know, you know, you know, if you know, you know. All going to have taco eye after today though. What do you mean by taco eye? Years ago, I used to love diving. I used to dive all the time. I used to love lay net. I used to love and I used to love the night dive the most. Night dive was the best.

We would love picking up our mimpachi and our aveaveo and our kole and our uhu and our moanakale and our kumu. We love all those. But one of the reasons we love to pick up taco. Taco. We love taco. And for those of Malahini that are listening both here and online, we're not talking about taco from Taco Bell, okay? That's not what we're talking about. That's T-A-C-O. It's T-A-K-O, okay? Taco. It's octopus. Octopus, right? That's what taco is.

And we used to dive. We used to dive. I used to love the night dive. Matter of fact, I got a throwback picture. We night dived South Point. That was years ago. Yeah, I was a younger man and just we were in the water for the table on the bottom is not one night, but we were in the water for about an hour in that picture above. We just picked up. Love South Point.

But if you look in my right hand, you can see my right. You can tell me I'm the tanned one, right? But you look at my right hand, I'm holding a nice big what? Can you see it? It's a taco. Good size one too. I think about three pounder. My left hand, you cannot see it. I wish you could. That's what we call a 7-Eleven. It's a good eating crab. I'll get a big one. It's a fat one.

Long story short, we love to dive. And I like, I did okay picking up taco, right? I knew what to look for. Don't look for the taco. I see you don't find taco when you dive in the water and a taco goes swimming by. No, I've never, I seen a couple at night, but I've never not once seen a taco swimming by in a daytime.

So you got to look for their hole, where they're at, where they been, where they're going. And when you want to look for it, what you, I had a, you know, a DC9, but I had a couple of friends. One of them was in that picture. This guy's had a taco eye. I mean, you give them a right day, calm water, they'll fill up a bag in 20 minutes. You know what I mean? They just, they knew what to look for.

And what we look for, what you look for, holes in the reef where maybe the holes are fronted by rocks or different color rocks, or, you know, like stuff that's been moved around. When you're looking down there, you're seeing these holes. You see holes all through the reef. We call it taco grounds. You see holes, but you look for those different colors, or maybe you can even see if you're down low, you can see empty clam shells or crab shells, because that's what they eat. You can see that. And that's what you look for, right?

But a lot of times, that's if you're right down there on the bottom. But what we do a lot of times, going over what we call taco grounds, you're on the top. You're just kind of going over from the top, and you're looking before you dive, because you want to, you know, you count your dives, how many dives you want to go down, right?

And so, you're looking, and what we're looking for, more than every time, we're looking for a disturbance in the reef. Something's moved. Something doesn't look right. Some color doesn't look right, or there's rocks that are set, or different color rocks. It just looks like, why are they there?

So, matter of fact, we're going to give you a little taco eye test right here, right? I'm going to show you a picture. It's going to come up. This is a taco grounds. This is a taco flat. I want you to look at that picture. It's not a hard one, but look at it. Just kind of look. There's several holes there, but look for one that maybe looks disturbed a little bit. Like, just point it out to yourself. Look for these vacancy, know?

Okay, now we're going to show you where the hole is. I took this from a video. Yeah, there you go. How many picked that red coral? You saw that red coral? Yeah? Do you see that coral and that white coral? They're kind of just sitting there. You know why? I took just these stills off of a video, and basically, what happens is, if you look to the right of that red coral, there's a nice big hole in there, and if you look at the video, there's a big brother sitting right in the back of that hole, in the back of that hole.

But see, they got pushed out. That's what the taco do. They come in, and they make room, or they try to camouflage or stuff like that. That's a taco hole, but what we would look for, folks, and this is what I want you to get. Whenever we saw a disturbance in the reef, right, we knew we had a chance to move in and take advantage of that opportunity.

I'm going to say that again. Whenever we saw a disturbance in the reef, we saw an opportunity to move in and take advantage of it. How many know where I'm going with this? I'm of the opinion, folks, that God's people need that taco eye for that disturbance or those opportunities to share the gospel in real time. Amen?

You're looking for a disturbance. Especially in 2024, we are surrounded. Listen to me, people. We are surrounded by unchurched people who are experiencing disturbances in their lives. Come on. There are couples. There are families. There are co-workers. There are neighbors. There's... People groups that are trying to survive a host of disturbances going on, and we see them all over the place, and I would say in confidence, listen to me, I would say in confidence for many, if not all of them, folks, all they need is Jesus.

Think about it now. I don't care what the disturbance is. Think about your life. I think about my life. I had all kind of, in my sin and in my selfishness, I had all kind of disturbances going on. Once I found Jesus, all things started to what? Fall in place. That's all I needed, folks. I found out that Jesus was all I really needed, and listen to me. I don't care if it's a crumbling marriage, a rebellion in the home, a bad doctor's report, a loss of a job. Ultimately, Jesus is the answer for all of them in this broken world. Can you say amen? He is the answer.

As God's people, folks, we need to have that. We can see those disturbances. People whose, the reef has been disturbed, right? So we can share him. We can show him off to the world.

Years ago, last time I was with you, I shared that at one time here at New Hope Leeward, I was the extensions director, and basically what that means is anything that goes or extends beyond the walls of the church, I was overseeing that here at New Hope Leeward, and we were looking for, you know, just for opportunities. We tried to tackle it for opportunities around us, right here, right here in the Waipahu campus.

We're looking in our neighborhood to share the gospel, to share the good news, to love on people with the love of Christ. We especially had a heart for, there's a lower income, if you guys know, Cam Highway, right across Cam Highway in that Waipahu Industrial in the back, there's an area back there, low-income housing, low-rise, second and third-story apartment buildings. We called them the pooh-poohs.

We called them the pooh-poohs because every street back there starts with pooh-pooh. Pooh-pooh-moh-mee, pooh-pooh-ole, pooh-pooh-kahee, pooh-pooh-poohee. We called them the pooh-poohs. And so we're back there, and we were looking for an opportunity back there to meet these people on a personal level, and just to show them Jesus. Lots of single-parent homes back there in those apartments. Many of those that reside there are on state assistance.

And we just say, you know, we want to reach out and touch the world, but what about right here? You know, we want to do something right here. So after walking through the neighborhood and praying over the neighborhood, we saw an opportunity. It was on pooh-pooh-ole. We saw an apartment building. It was one of the worst-looking apartment buildings, and it's the most bust-up.

And what was the tremendous eyesore on that building was the front entry door of every apartment. You know, the entry door of every apartment. It was a three-story, and it just, it was trashed. It was, you know, and you have small Kiki and kids that get Hanabara nose and dirt on their hands, you know, and they run up and down the, you know, that door gets bust up. You know, the paint is chipped. It's just, around the doorknob, it's like a black, a brown haze. You know, it just looked really grungy.

And so we say, you know what? We looked at that, and we said, and not only that, it was like graffiti on there. And you could tell some of the kids, because it was written down low, some of the kids thought their front door was like a dry erase, you know? Like, there's crayons and everything else. So we looked at that, and we said, it's an opportunity.

We had a thought. We thought about creating an event. The way we'd create it, we wanted to be able to touch every individual family. We'd have to touch each family. We wanted maybe a way to make them feel better about the place that they live. And we wanted an opportunity to give us an, I guess, give us an option to show the love of Jesus.

And the big one was, we wanted every single apartment, every single unit to have to open their door to us. Move over, Jehovah Witness. Move over, all you Mormons. So what did we do? We came up with an event. We called it this. We called it Clean Doors to Open Doors. Some of you have been around, remember what we did.

I went to the property manager, and I contacted him. They contacted the building owner. And I said, hey, listen, we'd like to come in. We're right down the road from here. If you let us, free of charge, if you let us come in, we'd like to come in. We'd like to clean your front doors. We'd like to prep it. And we want to do a nice coat of paint. Just paint the front door. And the owners are like, go for it. Right on, free of charge.

And so that's what we did. We came in, folks, and that was our plan. And I'm so grateful for the Segovia family. They're painters by profession. They came. They're part of our volunteer team. And we went in, and we cleaned. And as we're cleaning them, they have to open their door. We have to clean your door.

And then we're talking story with them now. We're getting to meet their kids and their family. And we're talking, we're cleaning them. Everybody had so many. So you'd spend some time with that family. We'd adorably clean it. We sat lightsanded, and then we'd paint it. And then we're done painting it. We say, we hand them a little bag. We had something like a snack mix, like a snack mix.

And we hand it to them, and we also give them a flyer. It says our prayer line, and it has our contact information, our service hours. And we hand it to them. And the last thing we did when we walked away, say, listen, nobody would love if you'd allow us. Can we be praying for you over anything?

And I tell you, of all the things we did, folks, I watched more single mommies just begin to almost weep when we asked them our prayer. Something as simple as prayer. And if they want to pray right there, if not, if not, we write it down, and we pray with them. You know, as a result of that, several of those people came to church. They come to church. They got saved. Some of them came, and you know what? We didn't see some for a while.

And find out they stopped coming. We found out because God lifted them up out of that situation, and they relocated somewhere else. We were just looking for an opportunity. Disturbance in the reef. Amen. Just look for it, right? There are opportunities around us, and you know what I'm talking about.

You know what I'm talking about. Every day, if we have the taco eye to look for him. You got that co-worker that's... So, you know, just outspoken, open, and all of a sudden, they're climbing up. Something's wrong. Opportunities. Get the eye. There's a disturbance there, right?

Some of you right now may be reflecting. You're thinking right now, disturbances around you. There are people you care about. I know there are because there's people I love that are not church. They're not Christians, and there's people you love that don't... They're not walking with Jesus, and you know right now, they're going through the fire. You know they're going through the fire.

You might be saying, yeah, I do know some folks in a place, but in that place, I knew and I do know people that are in that place, but you know what? They blew off or they dismissed my Christianity a long time ago.

Listen to me very carefully. Seasons change. Situations change. Life-changing events happen. What was a closed door yesterday could very well be an opportunity tomorrow. Somebody say amen. Things change. Keep your eyes open.

Maybe you're like many today, and you say, you know what, Art? I hear you, but personal evangelism or even trying to break the ice with conversations about eternity, it's a little bit of a stretch for me. I get it. We lack confidence. We think we're going to ask something we won't have an answer for.

You can fill in number two in your notes. You get like that. Refine your Christianese. Refine your Christianese. You'll hear me and Josiah and Alec joke around about Christianese all the time, make jokes about it. As we see some people, listen to me. I see people on TV and wherever speak it in hypocrisy, self-exaltation, or self-righteousness. You know what I'm talking about?

I've known people that put on Christianese so heavy, it's actually nauseating. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that kind of Christian. I'll tell you the truth. I'm a former street preacher, folks. I have no problem with confrontational evangelism, but I tell you, one of the most effective evangelism tools in my toolbox is and always has been Christianese.

It's been Christianese. The absolute easiest break the ice tools for those seemingly awkward moments has been Christianese. I'll give you an example. I'm not talking about that kind of Christianese. Maybe you're a part of a crowd, maybe at work, maybe in a club, whatever. You're in a bunch of people and there is a good ending to a story or something. You guys get good news, right?

Maybe it's a successful endeavor. Maybe good news from a medical procedure or maybe a missing family member has been found. Something to the fact. I don't care who's in the room, folks, and I will say it loud enough for those in the room. I'm not going to yell it out like an idiot, but I'll say it. Everybody in the room, I don't care who's in the room.

I'm not going to yell it out like an idiot, I'm going to say, God, you're so good. You're so good, God. I'll say, Jesus, you're so faithful. I'm not looking for an amen, nothing. I'm just saying, Jesus, you're so good. I'll just say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

Sometimes I said this, I heard something that went good. Son was trying to qualify. One of my friend's son was trying to qualify to get into a school. He got in. I had been praying for him. I said, God still answers prayer by Christianese.

Why do I say things like that? What are you trying to do? Let me ask you this. Am I confronting the people present to confess and repent of their sins? No. Am I attempting to shove the gospel down their throat by acknowledging God? No. Am I calling them out on their unbelief or forcing them to give God the glory? No. I'm not doing none of that.

All I'm doing, folks, is first and foremost, is first thing is I'm giving God the glory. Amen. But the next thing I'm doing, listen to me, I'm either informing them if they hardly know me or I'm reminding them if they know me that I'm a spiritual man and I follow Jesus.

That's what I'm telling them. I'm a spiritual person and I follow Jesus. That's all I want to do, right? Why do I do that? Because like I just said, seasons change, circumstances change, life-changing events will happen.

You don't know that person, that group of people who are aware that you are a spiritual person, listen to me very carefully, they're going to seek you out. I know it to be true and many of you know that too. They're going to seek you out. They're going to remember that little Christianese you thought that was so insignificant. They will seek you out.

Folks, when life changes and people get knocked down so far that the only option they have is to start looking up, guess who they're going to remember? Your Christianese. You're going to remember that.

I have literally lost count on how many times a co-worker or a friend or a neighbor who at one time wanted nothing to do with my Jesus, at one time never wanted nothing, have later come to me when a disturbance hit their reef. When there was a disturbance hit their reef, they come to me.

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, some of you know exactly what I'm talking about too. I know you do because it can't only be me. It can't only be me, right? That's why I use Christianese when even if it's a bad situation, maybe we get bad news. There's a bad end to that story, right?

The medical procedure has a bad result. Bad, right? A family member goes missing. When unbelievers that I love and care about, when they run into their own disturbance, I will go to them and of course, I'll always ask for permission. I've always learned to ask permission first.

Then ask them this simple Christianese question or two, right? So, sorry to hear about your missing aunt. Would you mind if our prayer team at church prays for her immediate return? I have yet to hear even an atheist tell me, oh no, don't pray for her return. No, no, no. I've yet to hear one of them say that.

And if they tell me yes, thank you. I said, I will ask them again, do you mind if you give me her first name? I know Jesus knows who she is, but our prayer team would like to pray according. I've never not once gotten a name. Not once. Not once.

Maybe there's a situation I'm so sorry to hear about your wife and that the cancer came back. Do you mind if I submit her name to our prayer warriors so they can lift her up for a complete healing? I have yet to, I don't care. Oh no, don't pray for her complete healing. No, I've never heard that once. Not once.

Some of them begin to weep. At times. Their eyes begin to water up. They give me a name. I used to send Pastor Vicky, those of you who know her, she was part of our prayer team. Every week I'd send her a couple names. Just shoot her a text. Pray for so-and-so. Bring this to the team.

20 years or so as I prepare to wrap up. 20 years of the 34 years I've worked in the hotel, I had a co-worker. His name wasn't Ron, but we'll just call him Ron. He was a nice guy, pure Japanese. Local Japanito. He had his own boat, everything. But he was about 15 years my senior, older than me. And he was a Buddhist. He was brought up Buddhist. His whole family is just, is a traditional thing. He was a Buddhist.

He knew I was a Christian and he had heard my Christianese on several occasions, but it seemed that he wanted nothing to do with it. I was a, I'm a journeyman plumber. He was in our general maintenance team. So we're totally, two totally different shops.

I remember one morning in, seven o'clock in the morning, actually 7.05. I clocked in at seven o'clock. I was headed out to do my first trouble call. About 7.05, Ron's calling me on the two-way radio. He's asking me, what is your location? I said, well, I'm headed to this particular guest room. He said, okay, I'll meet you there.

Right? I was there and he showed up and immediately he's walking towards me and his eyes are watering. And I look at him, hey, Ron, what's up? He said, I know you are, he's just kind of stumbling. He was like, I know you're close with the man upstairs. So, and I know you prayed for brother, his foreman, the gentleman foreman, 12 years earlier, he had cancer in his kidney.

And Ron knew that I went to Straub and the day before his surgery, I went and prayed over the brother and they took out that, that bad kidney. And 12 years later, he was still cancer free. So Ron is telling me this. He said, you know, I know you prayed for brother. I was hoping maybe you can put a good word in for the man upstairs.

Cause next week I got to go and they're going to, um, they found cancer on my colon. And next week I'm going to find out how much they got to take out of my colon. And basically what he was telling me was that if they have to remove a lot of it, he probably won't ever be back to work again. Or maybe at one point he may have to carry around a bag.

I could see brother was terrified. He was terrified and he could see it. Right. And I said, Ron, I'd be glad to pray for you, bro. I'll be, I'll be, I'll be glad to lift you up. And he goes, you know, he started to break down. I said, listen, can I, can I pray for you now? You know, deer in a headlight screen. He goes, yeah, yeah.

So I did. I just simple prayer. I put my hand on his shoulder. I just prayed a prayer of healing for the brother. And you know what? He went through his surgery. They took out some of his colon, but he came back to work. He was all right to work. He worked for about three, two, three years more.

And then he timed out. He was older. So he had, he had reached retirement age. So he retired. And when he retired, he was, he was good. He retired for about five years. And then we heard he hadn't been, you know, back cause he's out of the hotel, but we heard that the cancer came back.

And then right after we heard the cancer came back and we found out that less than a month later, he passed away. So all of the old time was all of us guys, we're going to go, we're going to go to Ron's celebration of life. You know, it was going to be at Losoy, you know, in that town.

And about two weeks before that date, I get a call from Ron's wife. I never met her before, you know, and she goes, hi, Art. My, my name is so-and-so. I'm Ron's wife. He says, you don't know me, but my husband knew you. My husband loved you. And we're going to have a, a funeral celebration, but it's going to be an all Buddhist, a celebration, you know?

And he said, but Ron really asked if you would be able to officiate his celebration. Celebration of life. How's that? Only God, yeah? Portuguese Pentecostal officiating a Buddhist funeral. Only God. Amen.

They're going to remember your Christianese. They're going to remember. You're planting seeds that may take 10 years to get watered, but it's going to happen. Amen. Zechariah 4 says this, despise not the day of small things. Amen. Because you don't know, but your little bit of Christianese can do.

So as we wrap up this series and this weekend, talking about our beautiful feet and the gospel we're supposed to carry them with, we're reminded that we need to have that taco eye, people. Amen. Look for disturbances. That's an opportunity awaiting, right?

And also in the midst of disturbances and chaos, by us refining our Christianese, we are afforded more opportunities to share the good news, to share the gospel, because I'll say it again. I believe the single expectation from God, the single greatest expectation from God is sharing the gospel. Can you say amen?

Let's pray. Father, we love you so much, and we're reminded, Lord, I pray more than ever that we really are light and salt, God. Sometimes we dismiss ourselves. We think that we're not qualified, or you can't use us, or we're making minimal impact. Lord, nothing could be further from the truth.

Every single person within the sound of my voice, in this sanctuary, our online ohana, every single person here, Lord, there is a potential locked up in them. There are people that only they can reach. There's lives that only they can touch. There's hearts that they can only melt.

Lord, let us see it that way, Lord, especially in a disturbing world we live in now, Lord, a world with so much disturbances, God, socially, emotionally, politically, religiously, militarily, economically. We're in a world of disturbances, God. Let us be reminded, Lord, that we are. What we have is the hope of the world.

We have Jesus, Lord. We understand. I understand, Lord. Once Jesus came into my life, everything changes. The same is true with all of those around us, Lord, the unchurched, the unknowing, the ignorant of the gospel, those, all of them. All they need is Jesus, and we can do that for them, Lord, God.

We love you, Father God. Thank you for using imperfect people to do your perfect work. We love you. We pray this in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said, Amen.