Caleb Reed: the gospel. Listen and be challenged. Okay, can you take your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 14?

Matthew chapter 14.

Audience: Yes. Yes.

Caleb Reed: Yep. Okay, Matthew chapter 14. Is that a good session back when Dr.

Jim was speaking? Good session? Do you feel like that was helpful?

It is my desire to take Dr. Jim’s session and turn this into a very practical outflow of how it is that we view the lost people that we come in contact with on a regular basis. I want to ask a couple questions before we get to Matthew chapter 14.

A couple questions about the lost. You saw the title of this session that we’re going to have. You know what it’s about.

A couple questions about how you view the lost. When you’re out in public, are you actively looking for gospel opportunities? Do you live intentional on the streets looking for an opportunity to tell someone the gospel?

Second question, this is for you to consider. Are you regularly displaying the joy of Jesus Christ on your countenance? You know, when you walk into a grocery store and you’re the only one smiling in the whole grocery store, It speaks volumes, and people notice it.

I’m not talking about a cheese ball smile or a candy apple face. I’m saying where there’s a genuine love of Jesus flowing from your countenance, people know. The psalmist says that the joy of Jesus is the health of his countenance.

Third question, are you unashamed about the fact that you are different from the lost? Did you know that you’re different from the lost? In a lot of ways.

Are you ashamed of it? Or are you unashamed? The fact that you look different, you act different, you smell different than the lost.

You are different. Fourth question. Are you ready on a regular basis?

Are you always ready for the opportunity to minister, to meet needs? We’re in Matthew chapter 14. I want to share just a couple of thoughts.

We don’t have a lot of time for this session, so I’m going to go through this very quickly. But this passage in Matthew chapter 14 has just been burning in my soul recently, and I want to share this with you. Jesus Christ has just found the beginning of Matthew chapter 14.

He has just found, he’s been told that his cousin, John the Baptist, has been murdered. And in his humanity, if we can remember here this afternoon that Jesus was human. He was all man and all God.

In his humanity, I am sure that this struck a deep chord in his heart. And I am sure, I’ve never, I personally never lost someone that close to me, but I am sure that Jesus felt great anguish. And the scripture seems to indicate that because of the anguish of his soul, he desired to get alone.

He wanted to get away from the masses. It says in Matthew chapter 14, we’re going to start in verse 13. When Jesus heard of it, that’s speaking of the murder of John the Baptist, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart.

But look at this next phrase. And when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. Now I want you to think about this, young people.

There will always be someone that does not understand what you are going through, whether it be in a moment of crisis and a moment of deep anguish, or the fact is you rolled out of the wrong side of the bed and you’re just having a bad day. There’s always going to be someone who does not know what you are going through and you need to be ready to minister.

There is always going to be someone who is going to have a comment for you that is not appropriate and does not help the situation. This seems like there’s always going to be someone, especially on your worst days, when someone says something to you that just does not help the situation. In fact, it’s like fuel to the fire and you want to rip into them.

There’s always going to be an opportunity to push away ministry. But in the midst of his anguish, what does Jesus do? Verse 14, and Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them and he healed their sick.

So I want you to imagine with me, Jesus now, he’s moved with compassion. He spends the rest of the afternoon healing sick, passing out devils, maybe healing those that need to be healed of physical maladies, maybe speaking to the spiritual needs of their hearts. He spends who knows how many hours helping and ministering to needs.

Look at verse 15. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, this is a desert place. The time is now past.

Send the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves fiddles. But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart, give ye them to eat. I want you to picture with me this scenario.

The disciples have recognized, man, we have been ministering all afternoon. And Jesus, ministry time’s over. It’s evening.

It’s done. I was preaching to the bus students at the college here not too long ago, challenging them with a thought that the Lord has challenged me with. Do you segment soul winning to maybe an hour a week?

Do you segment ministry to maybe three services a week or four services a week? You know how easy it is, especially with the busy lives we live, how easy it is to say, Lord, I am going to give this time to ministry. You can have that time.

But once that time comes, ministry time is over. The disciple says, hey, the day is far spent. It’s done.

Okay, cut it off. send them home. And yet Jesus recognized that even at that moment, the disciples or the followers, the congregation that was meeting in front of him still had needs.

The disciples say, hey, look, this is a desert place. There’s nothing to eat here. Send them away.

We can’t help them. Send them away. Send them home.

They have needs that they can get fixed somewhere else. And the phrase that I cannot get past is what Jesus said to them in verse 16. But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart.

Can you imagine what the disciples are thinking about at this point? When Jesus says, I know the day’s far spent, they need to eat, but they don’t need to go anywhere. Imagine the disciples going, did you bring anything?

No. Did you bring anything? No.

Do you see a KFC anywhere? No. Where are they going to get food?

I’m imagining this going through their minds. They’re looking at each other and going, did he just say that they need, where are we going to find food? And then Jesus turns to them and says, you give them to eat.

We’re supposed to give them to eat? How, we have nothing to give them. That’s really the point.

Because when they come to Jesus, they say, we’ve got five loaves and two fishes Jesus has given to me and I’ll bless them and I will feed the multitude. But I’m getting ahead of myself because I want you to catch this. Jesus said to the disciples that those that were in need need not depart.

They are in contact with you, disciples. If they’re in contact with you, you’ve got what they need. You can help fix what they need.

They don’t need to go anywhere because what you have, they need, and you can give it to them. Young people, you have what the lost world needs. You have, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have burning in your soul the living Jesus Christ who has given himself for the lost.

You have the Holy Spirit who lives in you, who can speak great wonders that you never thought of. You have the joy and the peace of forgiveness, of reconciliation, of having no shame that you need to bear. You have inside of your heart the security of eternal destination, and they don’t have it.

And if the lost world is coming in contact with you, they need not look anywhere else to find security. They need not look anywhere else because if God’s put them in your path to give you a divine appointment, they need not depart. You know how easy it is for us to think, boy, that guy has needs.

We see this all the time in Milwaukee. There’s plenty of peoples that have glaring needs. And you know what we often think?

Boy, they’ve got needs. Someone ought to help him. If he could get to church, someone ought to help him.

Boy, hey, maybe you even talk to them. I have someone that you need to talk to. This guy at my church, he could help you.

But too often, we are willing to segment ministry to another time or to another person. But the Lord is saying, I’ve put them in your path and they need to talk with you because what you have, you can give to them. Now you might say, I’m not a very good soul winner.

I don’t have a very good spiel. I haven’t memorized enough verses. There’s an old hymn that says, there’s a bomb in Gilead.

If you can’t preach like Peter, and if you can’t pray like Paul, just tell them of the love of Jesus and that he died for all. Young people, you don’t have to be the world’s best soul winner in order to win souls. You know what you got to be?

You have to know where you found forgiveness and you got to know how to tell somewhere else to find it. That’s all it is. You just got to know where you found forgiveness and you know, there’s a, there’s a path.

Well, Dr. Rick Flanders, everybody knows this, Dr. Rick Flanders.

He was preaching at a men’s retreat not too long ago than I was at. And he was challenging us to be a witness for Jesus Christ. And he’s talking about the fact that you don’t have to know everything about the gospel.

You just got to open your mouth. And he told a story about a handicapped lady that had been in the church that he was pastoring. And she had so gotten a of, at least in simplicity, the concept that she needed to tell people about their eternity and question them about their eternity.

She was handicapped, so she didn’t have all the mental abilities to put all the pieces together, but at least she had gotten her heart that she needed to tell people. She was standing in the line of a cafeteria. This would be a restaurant, so I don’t know if anybody knows what a cafeteria restaurant is, but basically you stand in this one long line.

You go through and you pick your different pieces of food from this long line. She’s standing in line at this cafeteria, and there’s a person in front of her that she doesn’t know, but she’s just burdened about the need to tell someone that they might die someday, and where are they going to spend eternity? So in her simple mental state, she taps the lady on the shoulder, and she says, you’re going to die.

That wasn’t a very good witnessing spiel, you know? But that woman had been being witnessed to on a regular basis by neighbors and friends and had resisted came under such conviction by the simple statement of that handicapped woman, you’re going to die someday, that when she left the restaurant, she went to find a preacher to ask him how she could get it settled, where she would die, where she would go. I’m just saying, young people, you don’t have to be the greatest gospel in the world.

You just have to know where you found it and tell them where they can find it. It’s like the beggar that finds bread. He goes back to his cave with all the other beggars and he tells them, hey, I found this.

You can find That’s really all we are We’re just beggars telling other beggars where to find bread And i’m telling you young people this jesus said to the disciples if they’re in contact with you The needs of those people can be met. They don’t need to look anywhere else But if they talk to you you give them to eat So the disciple says how can we give them to eat? We have but five loaves and two fishes verse 18.

Jesus says this Bring them hither to me And young people, it’s simply this, that we must bring ourselves and our abilities and inabilities to the Lord and say, Father, would you simply use me? Would you talk to someone through me? You know, as I have considered, we’ve been studying through for this session here, thinking about even my own life.

Am I soul conscious?

do I live with eternity in mind and there are times when I am especially when I have a good time with the Lord you know what that is like you’ve got a time with the Lord it was sweet fellowship and you come out of that time of devotions you’re thinking I would just want to tell someone about Jesus I would just like to tell someone about Jesus and it is sweet but how about the times when you didn’t have that great of a devotions you woke

up on the wrong side of the bed. You’re just not feeling that excited about eternity. And so you don’t live soul conscious.

It seems like we can have a great soul winning experience in our mind when we’re doing our devotions, but when we walk out on the street, we don’t think about it a lot. Are you soul conscious? You know, you will be soul conscious if you live with eternity in mind.

You will be soul-conscious if you don’t care what people think of you. You will be soul-conscious if you are not living for Confederate dollars. And you will be soul-conscious if you would actively ask God for divine appointments.

There’s a book, some of you I’m sure have read this, it’s called Just What the Doctor Ordered. Has anybody ever read this book right here? Okay.

It’s a phenomenal book. It’s about a man, his name is Walter Wilson. He was a preacher for a time.

He was a doctor for a time. He was a businessman. He was a salesman.

He did a lot of different work. But the one work that consumed this man was being a witness for Christ. And one of the stories, I was even reading this today, trying to refresh myself on some of the details, this one story of Walter Wilson, how he was getting ready to take a trip to California.

He needed to take some time away from just the rigors of where he was at, and he needed some health, some R&R. And so he was taking this trip to California. And just before he was about to book this trip to California, a businessman that he had known from the East Coast had sent a letter to him and had said, Brother Wilson, I am so indebted to you for so many things that you’ve done for me, and I want to do something.

Please tell me. I want to do something to help you. And so he wrote back to the man and said, Well, I’m getting ready to take this trip to California.

If you would like, purchase me a rail ticket to California. The man mailed back, said, I will purchase the ticket. It’ll be in the mail on this day so that you can leave.

He was planning to leave June 28th. So June 28th came and went. And Walter Wilson’s looking for this ticket that he’s supposed to receive.

He was looking forward to this trip. No ticket. So he goes down to his prayer closet and says, Lord, there’s no ticket.

Why is there no ticket? Lord, lead me. I don’t want to be discouraged by this, but obviously you have a plan.

June 29th comes. Looks in the mail. No ticket.

Goes down to his prayer closet. Lord, what are you doing? Lord, I’m going to trust you on this one.

but Lord, I just want to know what you’re doing. June 30th, July 1st, July 2nd, July 3rd finally comes. He goes down to his office determined, I’m going to purchase a ticket today because I’m afraid that this businessman has failed to make good on his promise.

I’m going to purchase the ticket. July 3rd, he gets in the mail, the rail ticket. All right.

So he goes home and his children say, oh, father, you can’t leave on July 3rd. Tomorrow’s July 4th. We need to have a picnic.

So he has a picnic on July 4th. The evening of July 4th, finally, what is this, seven days, six days, something like that? From the time that he had planned to go where the Lord clearly stopped him, he climbs onto a train to head to California.

And I want to read just a short excerpt from this story that Walter Wilson gives. He says, On the evening of the 4th of July, I boarded the train for California. The hour was late, and the passengers in the sleeping cars had retired for the night.

Therefore, there was no opportunity to serve the Lord or seek for needy souls. That’s quite a perspective. Walked on the train looking for an opportunity.

In the morning, the train stopped in western Kansas where breakfast was being served in the station of a small town. A number of passengers alighted to take advantage of this opportunity. However, to my disappointment, I noted that the conversation of the group gathered around the table did not savor spiritual things, and I found no evidence of the working of the Lord in those parts.

As the train proceeded on its way, I requested the porter to bring me a writing table, upon which I placed my Bible, a concordance, and a book on prayer, which I was enjoying. As I interested myself in Bible study, a lady, whom I had not previously observed in the car, approached the table. She seemed to be about 50 years of age and was stressed in deep mourning.

I was quite evident that some great sorrow had overtaken her, for which she sought comfort. Quickly, looking to the gracious Spirit of God for wisdom and His leading, I greeted the friend by saying, I observe that you have had a great grief in your life, and I would like very much to indeed share the burden with you. Would you not like to sit down with me and rehearse the story of your sorrow?

Yes, I would, she answered, and at once seated herself at the table opposite me. Are you a minister, she asked. Partly so, I replied.

Some of my time is spent preaching, some in other layers, but I love the scriptures and would love so much to help you with your problem. If there is a burden upon your heart, will you permit me to do so? At that point, the lady expresses to him that she had been in Kansas when her sister had died, surprisingly.

She had mourned for her sister. And finally, because of the death of her sister, her trip had been delayed all the way up to the day of July 4th, where she climbed onto a train. Her heart in anguish because some weeks before, someone had given her a New Testament.

And she was so moved by the power of the gospel when she went to her pastor and asked him. She said to the pastor, she said, can you show me how to get saved? in essence, he said, no, not really.

So she climbs onto this train on July 4th, seeking for someone to give her the answer. She says this, oh, actually, because of her religious experiences, I turned at once to the book of Hebrews and read of the priestly work of Jesus Christ and blotting out and putting away the sins of everyone who came to him in faith. We read in Hebrews 2.17, Christ made reconciliation for the sins of the people.

It was her sins he came to blot out. We next read Hebrews 7.25 that says he is able to save them to the uttermost. We read two in Hebrews 1, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down.

The two words by himself particularly impressed her. She says, I never realized that before. I knew that Jesus had done some things for my salvation, but I thought the church must do much more than I thought a great deal.

Turning my Bible around in order that she might see the passage, I asked her to read the verse by herself. She quietly meditated on it. Her troubled heart found at once peace.

And she extended her hand across the table and said with tears of joy, I see so clearly now what my Savior has taken my sins away and they are gone. She closed her eyes and worshiped and thanked the Redeemer for his love to her. A simple story by a simple man who simply was willing to open his mouth and an opportunity came.

Did you notice in that story how Walter Wilson entered the train looking for an opportunity? There was no opportunity. The next morning, he got up looking for an opportunity.

He comes to the first breakfast table, and it’s filled of raucous laughter. Obviously, there is no spiritual sense there. And so he moves on.

Young people, did you know that there are some people that are not yet ready to be saved? And there are some people who are ready to be saved? You see, sometimes we look at that raucous table of people laughing about very unspiritual things, and we think, well, if I’m going to be a gospel, I was at that 0100 conference.

I’m going to butt in there, and I’m going to make sure they know the gospel. And so in our immaturity, we might butt into those conversations thinking that in my spirituality, I just must declare the gospel any chance I get. And you can actually offend people and harden them to the gospel, but instead to say, Lord, you lead me to the one who is seeking you.

There are plenty enough people who are seeking Jesus Christ that we don’t have to do the gospeling in our own efforts. That we can come to Jesus Christ and say, Lord, you lead me to the one who wants Jesus Christ. You know, this will actually free you in gospeling.

This will actually free you when you’re soul winning. When someone slams the door in your face, you don’t have to be worried. They’re not ready yet.

There’s someone though that I need to speak to. You don’t have to be belligerent. You don’t have to be obnoxious in the gospel giving.

You’re looking for the one who Jesus is preparing. And when Jesus is preparing someone in his divine enablement, he can take a willing heart and a wayward sinner, and he can connect them, and great things can happen. But you know what our danger is?

Too often we say, I’m not soul conscious. Oh, I need to get soul conscious. Oh, I need to be a gospeler.

And you watch other people be gospelers, and you say, man, they’ve got ability, they’ve got talent. I don’t have much ability, and I don’t have much talent, but I’m going to try harder. You know how frustrating that is?

So what is 0100 in gospeling? We only have five more minutes, so I’m going to go through four steps. Four steps that I want you to get to the 0100 gospel life.

Here’s the first step. Admit that you don’t have the soul consciousness that you need to have. Admit that you’re not a gospeler.

Admit that you don’t care about souls like you need to. Admit that you’re not a witness like you need to be. Admit the fact that you haven’t been witnessing to people.

The first step to seeing Jesus deliver is by saying, God, I don’t care for souls like you do. Lord, I don’t live with an eternal perspective. God, I don’t live that way, but I want to.

And the second thing after you admit it is to say, Lord, would you give me a thirst for the lost? See, we are never going to be someone who seeks the souls of the lost until we recognize that we’re not seeking the souls of the lost. And we’re never going to seek for the souls of the lost until we go to the one who saved the lost and say, Lord, I need you to enable me to help them.

See, the worst thing you could do is come out of here and think, oh, I’ve got to be a better witness. Oh man, I hope my pastor sees me being a better witness. I got to figure, oh man, that guy used a great tagline.

I’m going to see if I can use his tagline. That’s not the point. I don’t want you coming out of here thinking, man, if I could just get better personality and charisma like that guy, that’s not the point.

I want you to come out of here saying, God, I’m not soul conscious and I want to be soul conscious. Lord, would you make me soul conscious? Would you show me those people who need to be saved?

God, would you create an insatiable desire in my soul to be a regular witness? Admit your condition and then go to the Father and ask for it. Ask for him to deliver you in soul winning.

You know, sometimes we are content to just have good conversations with people. Boy, don’t we do that a lot? Like, that was a great conversation.

I found out that he’s a St. Louis Cardinals fan, and I’m a Boston Red Sox fan, and he grew up in Cincinnati, and I grew up in Maine. Boy, we had a great conversation.

I found out he’s got eight grandkids, and we got a baby on the way. Boy, we had a great conversation. You know, sometimes we are content with great conversations, and when some person is burning in hell, he is not going to care that you guys had a great conversation.

But if you, young people, would come with every conversation looking for the opportunity to share the good news. Young people, please don’t misunderstand me. I am not trying to encourage you to come out of this time saying, every conversation I come into, I’ve got to get a conversation about the loss.

I’m not saying that. My wife and I moved into an apartment building not long after we got married. And burden for the people in our apartment building, God placed us in that apartment building.

So we took bags of cookies and a gospel tract, and we went to every door in our apartment building, knocked on the door, introduced ourselves, gave them a bag of cookies and the gospel tract. Okay, that was the first step. And then next time I came in contact with them, I tried to immediately get into the gospel with him.

And I had a number of people, no, no, no, no, no, I don’t want that. Close the door. Okay.

All right. Well, this guy, Brian, next time I see him, I’m not going to bring up anything about the gospel. He knows who I am.

I’m not going to bring up anything about the gospel, but I’m going to have a good conversation with him. So I have a good conversation with him two or three days in a row. The next time I bring up the gospel, he’s a lot more ready to listen.

Okay. Now catch the difference. I had a good conversation with him, but it was for an intentional purpose of going somewhere.

You see what I’m saying? See, we get content with good conversations, but it’s not for the purpose of leading someone to Jesus Christ. And we must not be content with, hey, you know, we had a good conversation, but it just didn’t feel right.

So I didn’t bring up anything. Oh, we had a great conversation, but I couldn’t think of a fancy bridge statement to get into the gospel. So I didn’t, but we had a good conversation.

You know, we are great at making soul winning excuses. But what Jesus wants is for us to have a fire burning in our heart to say, I’ve got something that you need and you need not look for it anywhere else. First of all, you’ve got to admit your condition.

Second of all, you’ve got to ask for it. Third of all, you’ve got to ask for it with expectation. You know, we need to come to the Father and say, God, I’m not soul conscious like I ought to be.

God, I don’t live with eternity in mind like I ought to. Would you burn inside my heart the desire for souls? And Lord, I’m not going to stop asking you until you do it.

You see, sometimes we come out of a conference like this and we say, Lord, make me soul conscious. And by Friday of next week, you don’t feel that much more soul conscious. So you quit asking.

I’m saying we need to come to the Lord and say, God, make me soul conscious. And I’m going to keep asking you to burn it in my soul until you do, Lord. It’s like, imagine with me, there’s a young man that comes lady.

And he says, I have just, I’m so attracted to you. I think I’ve fallen in love with you. Would you marry me?

And she’s, oh, I’m not sure. Give me an answer by Friday. And if you don’t give me an answer by Friday, I’m going to find somebody else.

How excited is she going to be to give him an answer by Friday? You think she’s going to feel like, oh man, I got to give him an answer by Friday. But imagine the young man that comes to her and says, I see you.

I’m in love with you, would you marry me? I’m not sure. Well, I’m not going anywhere else and I’m not going to move until you say yes.

That’s not relationship advice. Okay. So don’t try that.

But the point is, do you come to Jesus Christ saying, I’m asking you Lord to make me soul conscious. Lord, I’m asking you to burn a fire in my heart. Lord, I’m asking you to make me live with eternity in view.

And I’m going to keep asking you till you do it. And I’m not going to stop asking you to until you do it. Because Lord, you have got to be the burns of fire in me.

Because we get content with saying, Lord, I asked him at that conference last year and he didn’t do it. Don’t stop until he does. And then when he does, step four, get out of the boat.

It’s not really that complicated. We have to come before the Father and say, Lord, I’m not soul conscious like I ought to be. Lord, I don’t live with eternity in mind like I ought to be.

Lord, they have a need and I can meet it. Lord, they don’t know where they’re going and I do. Lord, I found the one that gives assurance and gives forgiveness and they don’t have it.

Lord, I want to give it to them. Lord, would you burn the fire in me and Lord, would you give me opportunities? I can guarantee you, young people, that if you ask God for a divine appointment, he’ll give it to you.

I’m not saying you need to come out of here and be obnoxious with the gospel. I think you understand that. I’m saying, when you come out of here saying, God, there’s someone that needs Jesus Christ, and they need not look anywhere else because I have the answer.

And so, Lord, if you would burn it in my heart, Lord, I want to give it to them. Zero 100 and soul winning is saying, God, I’m not a great soul winner, but you are, and would you turn me into a gospel? And then step out of the boat.

take the opportunity guys it’s not complicated all you got to do is tell them jesus loves them all you got to do is say hey jesus loves you i found forgiveness i found assurance he’s changed my life he forgave my sins step out of the boat finish with this a couple nights ago my wife and i were coming back to our apartment it was about 9 30 in the evening and uh we stepped out of our apartment there’s this long strip mall across the street.

It’s about 9.30 in the evening, and I hear this generator compressor going on across the street. I look over there, and in this electric lift, maybe about 16 feet up in the air, is this guy out painting the strip mall at 9.30 at night. I’m thinking, what in the world?

This is crazy. I don’t know what came over me, but I just thought, I want to go talk to that guy. And Emma said, are you serious?

I said, yeah, I want to go talk to Emma. I want to tell him I appreciate his work ethic. And so I walked across the street.

I’m wearing a suit and tie. I walk across the street, and he’s up there. And so I’m standing there.

Okay, now what do I do? He doesn’t even see me. You know, hey there.

Shuts it off, and yes. I said, boy, I appreciate your work ethic. There’s not many people out here painting at 930 at night.

Yeah, I know. And we talked a little bit. And I turned away.

I said, boy, that was a good conversation. No, I said, hey, can I give you something? him, hand him a tract.

I said, that’s changed my life. Jesus has changed my life. He can change yours.

If you just get a chance to read that, I’d appreciate that. Appreciate what you’re doing. Thank you for working so hard.

It’s not complicated, young people. It’s simply us saying, they’ve got a need. I can meet it.

Lord, you’ll work in my heart. I’m going to give the gospel. 0100.

Jesus