Salt + Light Fort Worth

And this has been mentioned.

This is our second to last
Sunday, uh, to meet here.

Um.

And it, it, it feels like it's time.

Um, so, and we are so grateful.

The fortress has let us squat here, uh,
for the last six months or so, uh, even

after they, uh, had to cease operations.

Um, and also the water doesn't work.

And so I'm sorry you
can't go to the bathroom.

Um, and it just needs to be said.

Um, so it, it, it.

In a lot of ways it feels like
there's some providential timing

that God's led us to a new space.

And that's one of 'em.

We'll, we'll go this week and part of next
week without, uh, without that ability.

Um, if I talk about it a lot
more, we'll all have to go a lot.

So, um.

Make it uncomfortable for all of us.

Uh, but I think next week we'll
get to share some good news

about Fortress in the building.

Um, that also is, is a really sweet
providential timing of, of the Lord as

well, um, as far as their next steps.

So, um, hopefully we'll get to
celebrate a lot of things next

week as we wrap up our time here.

So, um, that said, this is
your first time with us.

We usually have bathrooms for you,
and I'd like to apologize for not so,

and also this is your first time here.

We're, we're part of the way
through a series of conversations.

Um, and so dropping in on, on
this particular conversation,

um, without the context, uh, can
feel, uh, uh, perhaps a little bit

jarring, perhaps a a little bit, um.

Perhaps a little bit of an
invitation you're not ready for.

And so I just ask, uh, for whether
you've been here before or, and,

and missed a couple weeks, or
this is your first time here.

Uh, just be a little bit open-minded
and recognize this fits into a, a

little bit of a broader category.

Um, and so this is not a standalone
thing, it's kind of one chapter

in the book, um, if you will.

So that said, I'm also gonna ask
you to talk with me a lot today.

So, you ready?

Yeah.

Let's practice.

I'm gonna ask you three questions.

First, who are you cheering for tonight?

Seahawk.

Seahawk Seahawks.

Seahawks.

Oh, that felt unified.

Any Patriots Pass.

Okay.

Why?

Why past last time?

'cause they're not the Patriots.

No love.

Alright, question two.

Who's your favorite band or singer?

Taylor Swift, Katy Perry.

Okay, Taylor, thank you.

Two men in the back saying
Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

Why?

Why, why, why not?

Because you like them.

Why not?

Sure.

Okay.

I like them.

She's a visionary.

Okay.

What's your fair restaurant in Fort Worth?

Rock, fish.

Rock.

Fish.

All right, man.

You're on it.

All right.

Why?

It's good because it's good.

Okay.

All right.

Here's the point, like easy questions.

Whether you chose to answer out loud or
not, you had something pop into mind.

Maybe you second guess it.

Like, is that really my favorite?

Um, but, but we all get
excited about things, right?

Yeah.

And, and we get excited about things
for, for really one of two reasons.

If you really want to boil it down.

One, you think it's the best.

So you've, you've done the calculations
in your mind, there's objectives.

You've compared rockfish to the other.

Seafood restaurants and declared
it to be superior kind of stuff.

Like with, with our mind, we
think something is the best,

so we get excited for it.

The other reason we get excited
for it for things is we love it.

We just love it.

The why not?

I just do, it's more subjective,
more about our affection

stirring for something, right?

It's, it's more heart
based than head fair.

If you really wanna boil
things down, we love things.

We get excited about things.

We talk about things because we either
think it's the best or we love 'em.

Uh, it is Valentine's Week.

So this is even true in like dating,
uh, and, and in movies and in, in real

life you see this head or heart divide.

People either make a list of qualities
they're looking for in a spouse, right?

It's more head-based.

It's more thinking through logically.

Does this person tick all the boxes?

Never works.

Um, but, but people do like,
we'll work through that thing

or just fall madly in love.

Right head, heart happens.

So here's where we are and
here's why this matters.

Today is our, our fifth conversation
about what it looks like to

lead a disciple making life.

We've been asking the question, what
does it look like to play your role

If you're a follower of Jesus, to play
your role in Jesus's great commission,

make disciples, share the good news.

And yes, even that word that
is triggering for some folks.

What does it look like to
play your part in evangelism?

Something.

Does that word have a
bad rap in anyone's mind?

Yes.

Bad connotation in anyone's mind.

Touch a hot stove in anyone's mind.

It has.

It has a bad rap.

It bring, it brings to mind.

Maybe not for you, praise
God if that's true.

But for a lot of us, it brings to
mind this image of an angry person

yelling at everyone in Sundance Square
who just want to go see a movie.

Or like a cold call knock on the door
with a really guilt ridden question.

Um, and, and let's acknowledge that
God can work in mysterious ways.

God can use those, those
instances for, for his kingdom.

Yes.

But in general, neither of those things
make Jesus sound like good news, fair.

But praise God.

There are other ways to talk about Jesus.

S that don't involve yelling at people
or cold call knocks on the doors.

Uh, and we've said this before,
salvation is of the Lord.

It's only God who can save.

We've said this before, our actions,
our motives, our relationships matter

as we pursue a disciple making life.

That's some of what
we've been talking about.

But you know what else matters?

If we're gonna live a disciple making
life are words, our words matter.

The the word gospel
literally means good news.

And news must be what?

Proclaimed spoken, shared, written,
it's gotta be somehow put into words.

And so if you believe in Jesus,
this is the big question today.

And if you don't believe in
Jesus, thank you for being here.

Everything that I'm about to say
is a core tenet of Christianity.

We really believe he's really good
news, not just for some get out of

hell free card in the afterlife.

We really believe he's good news
for every moment of this life.

And, and maybe today he, he might even
show you a little bit of why that is.

But if you're a follower of Jesus,
this is our big question today.

Can you talk about Jesus in a way
that actually sounds like good news?

If you believe Jesus is good news,
whether the he he's the best, the the most

objective, the more with your mind belief.

Or if you just look back at your
changed life and, and you love Jesus

and you feel affection, more heart kind.

So can you talk about Jesus in a
way that sounds like good news?

And we're gonna look at two
conversations that Jesus had.

We're gonna be in John three and four
today, if you wanna turn or open an app.

But Jesus gives an example of
what, what this can look like.

Some people need to believe in Jesus more.

It's more of a head kind of thing.

Maybe that's some of you in the room.

I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand.

Some people need to
learn to trust in Jesus.

Which is more of a heart thing.

And yes, there's gonna be of
those two things in all of

us, we can acknowledge that.

So we're gonna see a little bit of both.

The sound just got really weird.

Uh, we're see a little bit of both.

And, uh, I'm gonna give you a
couple tools to practice because

flexing muscles, if these are new
things to us, take some practice.

So father, what do you lead us?

What do you guide us?

What do you soften our hearts toward?

What you have for each of us?

Or would you help us to believe
more that you are good news

and speak like it's like you.

It's in your son's name.

All right, so we just heard
Nicole read from John three.

Jesus and Nicodemus have this
conversation and he picked up on it.

It's a lot more of a
head level conversation.

It's a very logical conversation.

Nicodemus is seeking understanding.

He comes to Jesus at night and he's
seeking to wrap his mind around

this concept of being born again.

Like that's what the conversation was.

And, and, and that's
part of who Nicodemus is.

The questions he asked, just like
the questions we ask are birthed

out of who God has made him to be.

Just like our questions are birthed
out of who God has made us to be.

He's a Pharisee, he's a lawyer.

Details and logic and argument are
part of lawyers' nature, right?

Lawyer in the room that
that's how we're shaped.

That's how we're mold.

Some of us think.

Objectively, logically, we need the proof.

And so Nicodemus asks questions.

Here's here's some of what he asked.

He said, how can a man be
born again when he's old?

Can he enter a second time
into his mother's womb?

That's a logical question, right?

All of us should wrestle with that
if we've never, never understood

the idea of being born again.

That's weird.

Nicodemus asked, how can these things be?

So there's questions.

And what does Jesus do
with Nicodemus questions?

Three times in that
passage, Jesus answered.

Jesus answered.

Jesus answered him.

Jesus asked questions back,
well, you understand this?

You teach this.

How do you not teach this?

He's, he's weaving
together some of the logic.

He's, he's opening Nicodemus mind to
things that Nicodemus doesn't understand.

He's challenging Nicodemus logic
and he's pointing at Nicodemus.

To a greater truth.

Jesus and Nicodemus have
this genuine dialogue.

Jesus doesn't try to bait and switch
'em back him into a corner That is

genuine dialogue based on Nicodemus w his
specific questions, his specific needs.

Hypothetically though, what if Jesus
only had like one one card up his sleeve?

What if, what if he only knew one way
to talk about himself as good news?

Which is weird to say.

Yeah, and it was just heart level.

It was just emotion.

It was just, just trust,

which is how some people only know
how to talk about Jesus today.

Like in other words, what if
Jesus heard Nicodemus as very real

questions, they're yearning questions.

He wants to understand.

He sought Jesus out and instead just self
justify and be like, you don't get this.

I'm the son of God.

I get to dictation.

How would that go?

What if you told Nicodemus,
just believe and have faith?

What if you just threw some Old
Testament verse about, I am the

Lord your God, Adam, just trust me.

What if he downplayed Nicodemus
questions and, and needs and urates

again?

Hypothetically, what?

What logically would've happened?

That'd be utterly unloving.

Utterly uncaring.

And would not meet Nicodemus needs.

So Jesus took the time to help Nicodemus
see, he talked with Nicodemus about

truth and that head level truth, that
learning, that understanding, that

was really good news to Nicodemus

and because Jesus met Nicodemus
in his unique wiring, his unique

questions, his unique needs over time.

Nicodemus came to believe in Jesus and
see him as the Messiah, the Savior.

In John seven, he defended, uh, defended
Jesus to the rest of the Pharisees.

And then after Jesus' death in John
19, this is starting in verse 38, after

these things, after Jesus died on the
cross, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate

if he might take the body of Jesus.

And Pilate gave permission.

So Joseph came and took the body.

And Nicodemus also.

Who earlier had come to Jesus by night
came bringing a mis mixture of myrrh

and aloes, about 75 pounds in weight.

This is a burial ritual
common then less common now.

They took the body of Jesus and bound
it in linen cloths with the spices,

as is the burial custom of the Jews.

Jesus.

Nicodemus not only believed he,
he went public with his following

of Jesus after Jesus' death.

Why?

Because Jesus took time to
address Nicodemus unique wirings

and needs and questions, and,

and, and, and here's the point.

Some people today, some people
in this room, some people who

already follow Jesus, some
people who don't yet follow Jesus

approach, Jesus through a lens of
wanting, understanding, wanting knowledge.

Okay.

Needing to wrap their
minds around some things.

Therefore, some people will
believe in Jesus if his followers.

If you and I can engage in a dialogue
like this and answer questions and allow,

allow logic to win and, and be okay
with doubt, challenging logic, pointing

people toward truth, and guess what?

Thankfully, God has given us his truth.

I believe, I love that Ben said,
like, we, we, we read scripture

over you because scripture's true,
whether you believe it or not,

there is objective logic and order
and knowledge that we can offer

folks who are seeking objective
order and logic and knowledge.

So a question for you might be, who in
your life is wired more like an Nicodemus?

What would it look like to engage?

Them

on their level speaking
truth, speaking to their mind.

But not everyone is wired that way.

And so I feel like you're getting
nervous as I talk about all those things.

You're like, oh, that's not me at all.

Good.

The next part's about you that some people
in first century and 21st century relate

to the world on more of a heart level.

And and for them or for you, if
this is you in the room and for us

as we obey the great commission.

Thankfully, there's not just
one way to talk about Jesus.

We don't just have objective truth.

We don't just have scripture.

We don't just have law.

And sometimes more than proving
Jesus, Jesus's good news with answers

and logic and objective truth.

Jesus and we, as we follow His
example, can speak to people's hearts.

And address a whole different set
of needs and questions and yearning,

and this is what we see in the
next chapter, which you'll flip to.

John chapter four.

I'm gonna read a long passage and I want
you to pay attention what heart level

needs, what heart level questions, what
heart level yearning do you sense as

Jesus talks with this woman at the well.

Perhaps a familiar story for some of you,
perhaps the first, some others of you

are hearing out about it, but it's John
chapter four, starting in verse four.

Jesus had to pass through Samaria,
which is a bad part of town.

Um, he came to, he came to a town of
Samaria called Sea, a near a field that

Jacob had given to his son, Joseph.

Jacob's well was there, so Jesus
weed, as he was from his journey,

was sitting beside the, well, it
was about the sixth hour midday.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water
and Jesus said to her, give me a drink.

So that's of a command more,
more of a a, a request.

Just for the record, his disciples
had gone into the city to buy food.

A Samaritan woman said, how is it that
you, a Jew can ask for a drink from me?

A woman of Samaria for Jews
had no dealings with Samaritans

for Dallas kind of thing.

Jesus answered her.

If you knew the gift of God and who
it was that was saying to you, give

me a drink, you would've asked him and
he would've given you living water.

And the woman said to him, sir, you
have nothing to draw water with.

And the water main into
fortress is broken.

How can I have water?

Uh, the well is deep.

Where do you get this living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob?

He gave us this well and
drank from it himself, as did

his sons and his livestock.

And Jesus said to her, everyone who
drinks of this water will be thirsty,

but whoever drinks in the water that I
will give will never be thirsty again.

Okay.

The water that I will
give will become in him.

In them.

The spring welling up a spring of
water welling up to eternal life,

and a woman said to him, sir, give
me this water so that I will not

be thirsty or have to come here.

You want?

Jesus said to her, go call
your husband and come here.

The woman answered to
him, I have no husband.

Jesus said to her, you are right in
saying, I have no husband for you have

had five husbands, and the one you're with
now, the one you have is not your husband.

What you have said.

It's true.

And the woman said to him, sir, I
perceive that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,
but you say that in Jerusalem is the

place where people ought to worship.

And Jesus said to her Woman, believe
me, the hour is coming when neither

on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will
you worship the father you worship.

What you do not know we
worship what you, what we know.

For salvation is from the
Jews, but the hour is coming.

It is now here when the true worshipers
will worship the father in spirit

and in truth for the Father is
seeking such people to worship him.

God is spirit.

Those who worship him must
worship in spirit, in truth.

And the woman said to him, I
know that Messiah is coming.

He who is called Christ, when he
comes, he will tell us all things.

And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you?

Me.

All right.

What'd you notice?

What questions?

What needs, what heart level
yearnings, did this woman bring

Surprise?

That she was relationally engaged?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Both as a woman and a Samaritan,
uh, culture would've said Jesus

would have no dealings with him.

What else?

She was probably alienated from
her own people because of the

number of husbands she's had.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's definitely some shame.

Um, when people came to draw water in a
hot climate, they didn't come at midday.

They came at dawn on her dusk.

And so the fact that she's coming six
hours after sunrise so midday, she

would've been the only person she did
not wanna show up when all the other.

Ladies from the village, as was the
custo at the time, would come and, and

draw water, alienated, shameful, lonely.

What else?

She wanted, what he was talking
about without understanding it.

Yeah, yeah.

There's this yearning and, and in
a sense, she didn't, she didn't

ask the, the dissecting question.

She was like, give this to me.

I don't know what this is, but I want it.

She was lonely.

She had been left at least five times.

In that culture, women
couldn't divorce men.

So she had been left five times,

felt despised.

She was yearning for
relief from hard work.

She didn't wanna come out there anymore.

She didn't even worship her.

She wants, like they, they're
conversation makes all these, all these

terms, but in every way the theme of
this is life had let this woman down.

Is that fair?

Mm-hmm.

Like none of the things that she wanted,
none of the things that were customary.

For, for women at the time would
be true of her in every way.

She was seeking something
better, something more, some

healing, some salvation.

She goes, I know there's a Messiah coming.

I know there's someone who can fix it.

That's what the Messiah was gonna do.

Make everything better.

I know there's someone who can fix it.

But again, so pull out
to the hypothetical.

Jesus could have discussed this living
water with her in the same way that.

He and Nicodemus dissected
being born again.

He could have been objective.

He could have ized with her
like he did with Nicodemus.

He could have talked about
the Old Testament law as it

relates to marriage and divorce.

He could have said, stop your whining.

Throw a verse at her.

Here's a proof text.

Okay?

All of that would've denied her questions,
her needs, her yearning, her heart.

All of that is more about how
Jesus talked with Nicodemus, but

turns out this woman is different.

She's seeking love.

She's seeing her belonging,
she's seeking affection.

A lot more subjective, but also very real.

Do we all want these things?

So how does Jesus respond?

Very different.

He humbles himself before this woman.

Again, this idea of giving me a drink,
he was expressing a need to her.

Talking to her was counter-cultural
as, as we've already said, and

Jesus drew out her truth there.

It's not, it's not just water.

It's relief she's seeking.

He helped her numb her pain.

He pointed to future healing will
be a day coming, an hour coming.

And so again, when this woman
says, I know there's a Messiah

coming, and Jesus says, it's me.

I'm the one, I'm, I'm
the one who can fix it.

That's not just objective truth.

He's saying, I have the answers you want.

I am the good news you're looking for.

And because Jesus met this woman in her
unique wiring and her unique question,

and her unique needs, her unique yearning,
which are different than the Nicodemus.

Immediately she believed and she went
to share that good news with others,

but I didn't put that person here.

So she goes to town and tells
everyone, come and look at

this man who knows everything.

Could it be that he's the Messiah?

And brought people up to hear
about Jesus, to hear about Jesus.

So, so this woman and some
people in your life today

would relate to Jesus
more on this heart level.

Believing people, non-believing people,
folks who don't yet trust Jesus, folks

who do, which means that some people
in your life today would trust Jesus if

his followers, if you and I were able
to listen to their heart level year.

It and speak to their desire.

'cause what we're all asking under
the surface is, what's gonna fix this?

What works?

How can this be better?

How can this stop?

And these questions we get to
point people to a better savior.

But thankfully Jesus gives us example
after example, after meeting people in

different and unique ways and talking to
their specific questions and needs and.

Yes.

'cause in Jesus there is both
objective truth and understanding

and order to the world.

And in Jesus there is subjective,
quote unquote healing and salvation

and of all, and redemption
for everything we're seeking.

And so again, the question for us is, who
in our lives are wired more like that?

More like the woman?

And what would it look like
to engage their hearts for

safety, not just their heads.

This make sense?

These are just two examples.

There's this great book, we, we,
uh, shared it a couple years ago,

but uh, professor named Jarome Barr,
great British name, uh, wrote a book

called Learning Evangelism from Jesus.

And he just walks through like a dozen or
15 different conversations that Jesus had.

And it wasn't like Jesus just
had two cards of his sleeve.

It's the head card or the heart card.

Every single one of these
conversations, he speaks uniquely

and differently because he's talking
to unique and different people.

But in each one he is sharing good news.

So to be clear, everyone
is a mix of head and heart.

I'm talking about this a little
bit intentionally bifurcated.

Even in John three and four, there's both
some logic with the woman at the well.

There's both.

Some heart with with Nicodemus,
and also to be clear at times.

A heart level trust may be more important
to more objective thinkers in trusting

Jesus and some head level belief may be
more important to folks who relate to

the world more through a heart level.

And to be clear, for a third time,
we each relate to Jesus and the

world around us more from head
or heart per our own wiring.

And so one of these might feel easier
for us and the other might feel.

Harder for us.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

But in general, with all those
disclaimers in general, these are two

ways to kind of talk and listen to
people as we learn to talk about him,

as if he actually sounds like good news.

And, and if you wonder why we we're
camping out on this, a, again, we're

just talking about this disciple
making life and, and words matter

if we're going to fulfill Jesus's
commission to go make disciple.

But also when we come back to this
periodically, this is one of our

priorities as, as a church family, we
believe, uh, in transformative cultural

engagement is how we talk about it.

And, and we say we believe
that the gospel is good news.

Do you believe the gospel is good news?

We believe the gospel is good
news for everyday life and

for every cultural moment.

There's a lot of stuff that happens
this week, every week, every day, that

you're like, man, I wish there were
good news out there to offer something.

The people who are hurting overtly,
people who are hurting subtly,

people who are hurting directly.

People are hurting by association.

If you go, what?

What do they need?

What they need is a better good
news than what they're seeing

around 'em and a better good news
than what they're seeing on tv.

And a better good news than the
politicians that are letting them

down in a better, good news than all
the other things we put our hope in.

Some of you're gonna need better
good news than whichever team

you wanted to win tonight.

Some of you're gonna need better good
news when your favorite restaurant closes.

You're gonna need better good news
when your band retires and then

comes outta retirement and retires
again and just make more money.

Um, all these things let us
down and we know this, and

yet we put so much hope in it.

We find so much satisfaction.

We believe the gospel is
produced for everyday life

and for every cultural moment.

And so we declare the gospel into
areas of personal unbelief and

cultural division, and we display the
gospel by engaging biblical justice

and pursuing the poor and the help.

We talked about the display
side of that a few weeks ago,

and today we're talking about

this is not for like only the 18 varsity.

Folks are paid and minister
ministry or go overseas.

This is part of every Christian's disciple
making life speaking the good news as

if Jesus is actually the good news.

You believe he's

so wanna end today by getting
practical more than we have

in the, the weeks before.

Um, and, and here's why.

We don't do things.

This is true for, for humans.

It's a change theory.

If you wanna get really nerdy, uh, people
don't do things for one of three reasons.

One, we either don't know
how to do them, that's fair.

Two, we don't have the capacity to
do them, or three, we're not willing

or don't have the desire to do them.

Okay?

If you boil it down, if you don't
do something, it's one of those

three reasons you don't know how.

You don't have the capacity
and you don't have the desire.

I wanna hope and pray that we as a
church family have the shared desire

to make disciples and to talk about
Jesus as if these good days just wanna

assume that to be true of all of us.

Um, a couple weeks ago,
we've talked about capacity.

We've talked about priorities
and relationships, and we only

have so many hours in the day.

And, and so today we're, we're
kind of addressing a knowledge gap.

Do you know how to talk about Jesus
as if he sounds like goodness?

I want to help you know how to talk
about Jesus as he sounds like good

news to both the head and the heart.

And so, um, this is
gonna be very tangible.

We don't do this often if you're
new, uh, but I wanna give you

four tools, four ways, four.

Among a thousand different ones.

These are not magic bullets, these
are not, whatever else, there's just

four ways to invite you into thinking
of practicing, talking about Jesus

as if he sounds like good news.

Okay, two more heart focused,
two more head focused.

So here we go.

If you need to grow in talking about
Jesus more through the lens of the heart.

More subjective, more about affections.

I wanna offer you two reflections,
and if you leave alone, you can

do them with your household, DNA
group, others, this kind of stuff.

Here's the first one.

Reflect on this question.

When you became a Christian, what made
Jesus sound like good news to you?

Again, if you don't follow Jesus
yet, bear with us for a moment.

For those of you who followed
Jesus, when you became a Christian,

when he saved you, redeemed you,
whatever language is there for you.

What made Jesus sound like good news?

To you,

and we've done this periodically
during some of our celebration

times and, and we'll do it again,

but there's not one truth
that clicks for everyone.

For me, I'd grown up in, in a church,
I'd heard some kind of Romans road

things, or four spiritual laws.

I heard the Easter story every
Easter, sometimes between,

but mostly every Easter.

I, I had heard my whole life
that Jesus died for my sins.

So I didn't have to go to hell.

I could go to heaven, I'd, I'd heard these
kind of generalities that are thrown out,

but what made Jesus sound like really good
news for me wasn't any of those things.

It was that he offered true satisfaction
to a deeply dissatisfied young man.

And similar to all of us, I
was trying to put satisfy,

find satisfaction in leadership
positions where to control people.

Um.

Find satisfaction in romantic
relationships, if you will.

Uh, all those things will let me
down to get one leadership position.

Great.

What's next?

What's next?

What's next?

I was always looking for something more,

and so the fact that in the gospel
there's eternal satisfaction

just sound like really good news and
it wasn't satisfaction of things I was

looking for or the way I was looking for,
but it sounded like really good news.

Two people willing to share what made
Jesus sound like good news to you?

Yeah.

Um, more,

yeah.

Never

good news.

That's great.

Yeah.

Question was, is, is satisfaction
the only way that Jesus is good news?

No.

But for a 20-year-old and me, man,
it sounded like really good news.

Is, is God's bigness, his imminence?

Is that the only way
that Jesus is good news?

No, but for Ava it's really good
news because of who you are.

Different from who?

I'm one more person.

Lately it's been that Jesus has for
not just all people and all places.

All times.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So another form of bigness is good news
for all people in all places At all times.

Yeah.

Is that the only good news of the gospel?

Yeah.

And so every one of us could go
around and share some things.

And this is an, an image that
we talk about periodically.

The, the good news of Jesus
is, is, is like a diamond.

And whenever we used to watch
re regular TV and saw a diamond

commercials, the, the diamond was
always against a black background.

It was always spin why's, because you
see all the different facets and all

the different angles and the diamond
looks more and more beautiful and

marketing standpoint, you wanna buy
it more and more, that kind of stuff.

But, but.

The, the angle, the facet of satisfaction
sounded like good news to me.

That may not be your story, but there's
a thousand different angles and a

thousand different reasons that the,
the good news of Jesus is really good.

It's one gospel.

There's one way, the truth and the life.

You just heard three and you can reflect
on yours and others and frankly I love

that Graham said more recently even 'cause
the more the diamond spins, whether we

haven't believed in Jesus or have, like
we don't, we don't get all thousand

all at once or billion all at once.

Like every day we need to see
him is better and better, good

news, but he's joy to the joyless
and hope to the hopeless and.

Free

and forgiveness is weight on my sin,
companionship, A and on and on and on,

and on, and on, and on, and on, on.

Is that good news?

Yeah.

What was it for you?

And who needs to hear that?

That's the first reflection.

Second reflection.

Looking back at your
own life, what are ways?

What are moments?

What are situations where Jesus has met
your needs, answered your questions.

Fulfilled your yearning.

How's he healed?

How's he redeemed?

How's he met you?

In moments of desperation, how's he
shown up overtly or through someone else?

Looking back, I think we all
have those moments as part

of what we get in the Psalms.

It's part of what we get in the
scriptures, like there's a lot of reasons

God gave us the Bible, but one of the
reasons is to recount his goodness over

and over and over and over, and we all
have those things in our lives as well.

So more on a heart level, more
on a subjective level, maybe

more on a personal level even.

What are some ways that Jesus
has met your needs, answered your

questions, fulfilled your earnings?

Who needs to hear that?

Good.

There's more heart level.

Um, and, and again, here's
why we're doing this.

Learning to talk about Jesus requires
practice, especially if you're

foggy, especially if this isn't
something that you do naturally.

It's okay if you don't get it every time.

It's okay if you need to spend
more time reflecting or kind

of dust off those things.

It's, it's a muscle, if I can
say it like this, that many

followers of Jesus don't flex.

And so we're just giving you
some tools, some helpful tips

to help you work that out.

Head belief though, objective
truth, logic, that's, that's,

that's a whole different workout,
a whole different muscle set.

And so if you wanna start with knowing
truth, you have to start with knowing

truth about God, to speak about truth.

So there's two, not reflections, but
there's two games that I want to give you.

We played the game in here before we
played one of them in here before I give

you two games, um, that are related to
more of the heart level or the head level.

Here's the first game.

It's called Mystery Box.

I learned this from my friend, Canaan
Parker, who's a pastor at Pillar Church.

And we have friends who
are part of Pillar Church.

They do this in their
gatherings once a month.

They'll ask a kid to find something
in their building, put it in a box,

and then the kid will bring it up to
an elder or a leader in the church and

they'll open the box and the elder has
to find a way to point to some truth

about Jesus from whatever is in the box.

That sound terrifying.

Let's practice.

I have a paper clip here.

What's the truth about Jesus?

He holds things together.

Holds things together.

There you go.

He cleaves to you.

He cleaves to you.

All right.

Never lets you go.

What else?

He's sharp.

He's sharp.

What else?

He can unlock.

Doors.

He unlocks.

Doors.

Come on.

Interesting little, little
insight into your youth.

What else you can, you can twist them and.

And become fishers of men.

With

fishers of men.

I like it.

What else,

Ben, by the way, your kids
call this game, pick it up and

preach, pick it up and preach.

Yeah.

Do they, um, when this was initially
created, it was a straight line,

and then it's bent in on itself.

And that's the way that CS Lewis
talks about sin is that we've

all, all bent inward on ourselves.

And so Jesus comes in
straight and says, my out

and on.

I love that we just came up with
like five different answers.

That's part of it.

That's part of why it's a game, right?

It can be fun.

Um,

if we, if we believe
there's objective truth,

then anything around us can point to that.

Truth.

Seasons point to that.

Truth states as a life
point to that truth.

Every movie we see follows a,
something as good becomes broken.

Something comes in and fix it.

Like we love these things and we
see all of life, even paper clips

through the lens of the gospel.

Then we're practicing flexing
that muscle of objective truth

and the last tool, the last game,
which again, we've done in here.

We just call it the Y game, and
it's the most simple game on earth.

You just go, Hey, why, why
is and pick one of these.

Why is Jesus' life good news?

Or why is Jesus's death good news?

Why is Jesus's resurrection good news?

Why is his rain current coming?

Rain.

That's king of the world.

Why is that good news?

Because these are things we'll throw out.

Jesus' death is good news.

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like why?

I don't know.

Why is his rain good news?

That one may be the most vague.

Or we talk about his death a lot.

We don't talk about why
his life is good news.

So you ask why.

Why is Jesus' well news?

And the first answer, you
just go, that's great.

Why is that good news?

And the next answer, what?

That's great.

Why is that?

Goodness.

Why is that good news?

Why is that good?

Good news or until nighttime
comes or whatever else.

It's the Y game.

Two reflections.

Two games.

Again, don't, don't take
these as manipulative things.

Don't take these as the only
way to talk about Jesus.

In fact, I was at a church this week, uh,
and they have these bookmarks all over

the place that I put on every few chairs.

Um, and yet another way that they teach
their folks to talk about Jesus is.

Uh, what is good?

How does that point to God?

And then how does that point to Jesus?

So good God Gospel is, is another way.

There's innumerable ways.

We're not trying to give you
some foolproof money back method.

We're, we're trying to give you
some weights to work out muscles

that we don't flex well or often.

Does that make sense?

Because this is important,
friends, however it looks for you.

So as you follow Jesus, as you
pursue the great conditions,

you live a disciple making life.

Jesus's example involve knowing
how to talk about Jesus.

Jesus's example shows
us the intentionality of

relationship and capacity.

Jesus's example shows a willingness
and a desire for people to know

better good news than whatever
it is they're putting their hope.

There hoping a lot of things.

So every Sunday we close this
teaching time with communion

and it feels appropriate today
to practice when we preach.

Um, so communion celebrates
Jesus' death, broken body.

Somebody there something
that comes to mind.

Why is Jesus' death?

Rehearse some truth together
before Jesus' death.

Good news.

Won't be alone Death.

You won't be alone in death.

Why is it good news that
we won't be alone in death?

Yeah, because death is really scary.

Why is it good news?

Why?

Why is it good news that
there's freedom from the field?

Of death

really Look, going down this one row.

I love it.

Tear your neck all.

Why is it good news that we
can, doesn't have to be anyone.

He gets rid of a lot of anxiety.

Get rid of a lot of anxiety.

Why is it good news that Jesus'
death gets rid of a lot of anxiety?

That truly living or not having to fear
death gets rid of a lot of anxiety.

Why is that good news?

We can.

Live a full life.

Loving others.

Yeah.

Frees us to love others.

No fear or death.

Then we get to live this life
the way God calls us you.

Why is it good news?

We get to live a life loving others.

Okay bro.

We get to be a part of restoring
what's been, what's been messed up.

Yeah.

Why is the good news that we get to be a
part of restoring what's been messed up?

We get to reflect his image.

You get to reflect God's
image as the master restorer.

Yeah.

Maybe the last one.

What's, why is it good news?

We get to reflect God's
image because he's good.

Because he's good.

Feels like a good place to stop.

We could go on and on, and we go back
and be like, what's another reason

that Jesus' death is good news?

And play out a whole, whole
nother branch of the tree.

And when we plumb the depths of that,
we go back and create, okay, great.

What's, what's the reason Jesus'
resurrection is good news.

We plumb the deaths of that.

And here, here's what happens.

Every time I'm in a
room, we get to do this.

Someone says something that
causes someone else to go like,

oh, I haven't thought about that.

Did that happen to anyone or, I haven't
thought about that in a long time.

And the the goodness of Jesus becomes
a little bit more good and the diamond

turns a little bit more as you realize
yet another facet of who God is.

This is what we proclaim.

Every time we come to the table, we
declare that all the things you just

said about Jesus' death are true.