Making Christ Known Series 2025 | Session 1 | Lost People Need Jesus “Behold, lift up your eyes and look at the fields white for harvest.” Jesus Session 1 | Lost People Need Jesus Big Ideas: Lost People Need Jesus The fields are White for Harvest (getting the passion to make Christ known) Evangelism- Proclaim the Christian Gospel (making Christ known) Disciple-learner, pupil, imitator, follower, and reproducer. (Bible.org) Discipleship means to teach people to observe all that Christ commanded. Raise the child into adulthood. (physical, social, psychological, spiritual) Can I be a disciple of Christ if I am not making disciples? Some stats on evangelism A December 2021 Evangelism Explosion study conducted by Lifeway Research found that two-thirds of Americans said they were “open or very open to having a conversation about the Christian faith with a friend.” The same study found that 65 percent of Americans said they were “open or very open to talking with a friend about having a relationship with God.” Despite an apparent openness to faith conversations by most people, 60 percent of Americans said “many of their friends who claim to be Christians rarely talk about their faith.” An April 2022 Evangelism Explosion study conducted by Lifeway Research found that in the past six months 46 % shared a Bible verse or Bible story with a non-Christian loved one, 43% invited a non-Christian friend or family member to attend a church service or other program at church, 38% shared with a non-Christian loved one how to become a Christian. The same study also identified that almost 2 in 3 Christians (65 percent) agree that sharing with a nonbeliever how they can become a Christian is the most loving thing they can do for them. Another lifeway research study found that only 29% of unchurched Americans say a Christian has ever shared with them one-on-one how a person becomes a Christian. Only 33% say a Christian has told them about the benefits of participating in a local church or becoming a Christian. “An honest confession is good for the soul, but bad for the reputation.” - Thomas Dewar Lost People Need Jesus (we all need Jesus, but the point is evangelism) The depth of depravity and the gravity of sin (lost people need Jesus) John 3:16-21 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” Romans 1:15-18 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, Ephesians 2:1-22 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Never underestimate the power of the Gospel (good news) The fields are White for Harvest (getting the passion to make Christ known) John 4:34-38 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” Where is the urgency and passion for the lost? 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. Mark 16:15-16 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. “Jesus commands us to go but we go the other way. So He carries the burden alone. While His children are busy at play, feelin' so called to stay.” -Keith Green Luke 15:1-10 15 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. 8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Ezekiel 3:18-19 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. “Who would want to give their life to an institution? Not me. But a movement, a Kingdom movement, that is something I would give my life to.” -Robert Cupp Hebrews 5:12-14 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Takeaway: 1. How do I view the command from Jesus to go and make disciples? 2. Do I have a heart from God for lost people? If so, what am I doing with that? If not, how can I connect with how God sees lost people? 3. What do I need to do in my discipleship journey to grow to the point where I can reproduce what God is doing in me? 4. Who’s your one? Who is the unique one God has placed in your sight to give your life and make Christ known to them? 5. As a church, who are the unique people/regions of NWA and the world to which God is inviting us to send/plant fully formed disciples to meet their spiritual needs?