Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO Being a lighthouse: Witnessing God's way (pt. 1) Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA September 17, 2006 Main Scripture texts: Matthew 5:14-16; Luke 10:1-9 The biblical model that has guided witnessing and evangelism in the church for the last 200 years has been "preaching." Preaching is important, but I don't think preaching was ever intended to be a pattern or model for witnessing and evangelism. We want people to "hear the Word" -- but in such a way that they hear not only with their ears but with their hearts. A better paradigm for witnessing is found in Luke 10:1-9. It's the model that Jesus taught his disciples. And this is not an instruction to a particular group or to pastors. It is instruction to the whole church. In this passage, Jesus sends the disciples ahead to where He planned to go. Divine appointments are more productive than random meetings. We believe that Jesus can -- through the Holy Spirit -- give us specific instructions, as well. We are soldiers in the Lord's army. Our Commander-in-Chief, Jesus, establishes the battle plan, we execute the plan. In Luke 10, Jesus tells us several things: 1) The harvest is plentiful; 2) We should to pray for the success of the harvest; 3) We must trust the Lord to provide. Then Jesus gives a biblical pattern for witnessing: 1) Speak peace to people; 2) Fellowship with them; 3) Take care of their needs; 4) Proclaim the Good News. The order is important -- and we must not leave any of them out. We must not care for people's needs without fellowship or proclamation. We should not proclaim the good news without having earned the right to do so through blessing, caring, and fellowship. We will study all of these steps in coming weeks, but we'll only have time for one today: "Speak peace to them" -- or you could say bless them. Why should we do this? Ed Silvoso, a leader in the community transformation movement, offers three reasons: 1) Christians have been at war with non-Christians. Often our actions have been alienating, rather than winsome. "Turn or burn" witnessing often communicates our disdain for "nonbelievers." They are messing up society, creating problems -- so we don't like them! But Jesus says, "Speak peace to them." 2) Blessing them will make us stop cursing them. The Bible is clear that we are to "bless and not curse." Cursing people for their behavior tears down our community. Blessing builds it up. 3) Speaking peace and blessing neutralizes demonic power. We are not just dealing with stubborn people who won't abide the truth. We have to overcome the demonic power that is blinding them. Approaching unbelievers with anger and disdain only further empowers the enemy and tightens his grip on their lives. Do you want to be a lighthouse -- one whose light shines brightly in this dark world, showing others where danger lurks, leading people to safe harbor? We must start by learning to speak peace to unbelievers. Supporting texts: Romans 10:11-17 | Luke 22:35-36 | Romans 12:14 | 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 | Ephesians 4:26-27 | Hebrews 12:14-15 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (38 min.). (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 060917a: Being a Lighthouse, pt. 1. © 2006 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us