In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of building relationships and taking the time to explain the gospel clearly to others. He shares an example of a pastor working in a Muslim country and highlights the need for believers to love the Lord with all their heart and love their neighbor as themselves. The speaker emphasizes the sufficiency of the Bible in addressing spiritual problems and encourages the use of scripture in helping others. He also challenges listeners to prioritize the great commission over personal desires and to use their gifts and strengths for the sake of spreading the gospel.

For more media content from Grace Community Church in San Antonio, Texas, go to gccsatx.com. Media used by permission of HeartCry Missionary Society. Visit us online at heartcrymissionary.com. Paul Walsher starts preaching about five minutes into this service. Faithful God and Father, when we become silent for you, we realize one thing. That is that you are in our midst through your Holy Spirit and lead us in your truth. That is the promise that lies there and we want to preach it this afternoon. That you will nourish and strengthen those who know you. And that also when it comes to being witnesses, and I know that there are many here with all kinds of questions, also around that theme. Lord, give that we have a blessed afternoon together. That we may also receive education from you in that area. We also want to open our hearts to you this afternoon for what you have to say through our brother. Bless him, heal him, and also glorify your name this afternoon. We lay everything in your hands and we look forward to what you want to make known to us this afternoon. And all that for the honor and glory of your great name. In the name of Jesus. Amen. I want to give one verse this afternoon. And it is good that it is included. That is Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. We think together about the theme of being witnesses. How do you do that? And maybe it is very disappointing, but I think that for being witnesses there is no methodology available. And we cannot come up with a system. But in Hebrews 11 something very beautiful comes up. From the life of Noah. Hebrews 11. And then we read verse 7. And it says the following. Verse 7. By the faith Noah was tempted by the divine promise of the things that had not yet been seen, and had become afraid, he prepared the ark for the keeping of his household. By which ark did he judge the world, and was made heir of the righteousness that is to the faith. And here two things come up very simply in that verse. From the life of Noah it turns out that he believed God on his word. And that is the first requirement. That we, at the moment that we are in this world, accept the Bible as the truth that God has given us. And he obeyed that truth. And he put into practice what God had called him to do. And maybe you have also heard that statement before. Witnesses. And desperate with words. But Noah had an attitude. And that has always touched me enormously. It says in verse 7. That he judged the world by the ark. The people saw him busy. And in his actions, and in his walk, it became apparent that he believed God. And went to work. And he set the task of God as his highest goal. And there have been some people who have called him a fool. But he went in the way of obedience. And in the way he went, he judged the world. The unbelieving world, the spotty world. But he went his way. And I think that was his testimony. To be a witness in this world, there is no system for it, no method. But it is a attitude towards God. Let's open up our Bibles to the book of Matthew. Matthew 28, verse 18. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Verse 18 to 20. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Before we get started, let me say, if it's better for the filming to keep everything dark, that's fine, we can keep it dark, but for preaching it's better to keep the lights on, because I want everyone to be able to look at their Bibles. So whoever is in control of the lights, if you have to keep it that way, that's fine. Before we get started, I want to say this. If it's better for the DVD to turn off the lights, then it's okay. But if that's not really necessary, I'd rather have the lights on, so that everyone can read along from their Bible. It's just like I'm preaching in a train here. But let's look at our text. Here we have the Great Commission. And you have to see clearly, this is not the Great Commandment. The obedience to the Great Commission flows out of the Great Commandment. You must first of all be a person who loves the Lord your God with all your heart. And you must be a person who has been so transformed that you love your neighbor as yourself. So to be a true witness of Christ Jesus, you must know God. You must spend time with Him and be transformed. In the West, we have a culture of busyness. And we have carried that over into our Christianity. We think that it is spiritual to do many things in the name of Christ. But how many of those things actually bear fruit? Your greatest need is conformity to Jesus Christ. And to know His will. It requires that you spend time with Him. It is that time with Christ Jesus that will make you a fruitful servant. Sometimes we train hunting dogs in my area where I live. A good hunting dog is very active and very strong. It's not hard to teach that hunting dog to go. What is difficult is to teach him to stand still. To listen. To obey. I have done many things in my ministry. And especially many things as a young minister. Many of them were fruitless. If I could go back in time, I would spend more time praying. More time listening. More time being in the presence of God and being transformed by His Word. Now we look at verses 18 through 20 and we have the Great Commission. We could stay here for two weeks and study this passage. It's full of many truths. But I just want to look at a few for a moment. First of all, the authority of the One that is sending us. Christ has been raised from the dead. And this Christ that was crucified, God has made both Lord and Christ. He is the King over the entire universe. You should not think that one day Christ will reign. You should understand that Christ is reigning right now. All kingdoms, all power, all authority has been given to Him. The nations of this world are like a cut flower. And the great kings and leaders of this world are like a cut flower. You see a beautiful flower and you cut its stem. It doesn't die and wilt immediately. It looks like it has life. But it has been cut off from its source of life. And in a few days it will wilt and turn to nothing. That is a description of the greatest powers on the earth today. Whether they be political or spiritual. Whether they be humanistic or demonic. They are a cut flower. They have no life in themselves. Their power is nothing. They are only being used for God's purposes. Because as the Bible says in Psalms 2, God has set His King on His holy mountain. And that King is Jesus Christ. He is the one who sends you out to preach. He is the one who sends you out, as it says here, to all nations. To all places. No one has the authority to tell you you cannot preach in a certain area. Because Christ Himself has given you authority. This is very important. It's very encouraging. You see, in order to be a strong witness for Jesus Christ, you need a great vision of the power of the Savior who sends you. If you look at the nations by yourself, if you look at your unconverted family members and compare them to yourself, they look like giants and you look like a grasshopper. They make you afraid. But when you compare them to your God, they're like grasshoppers. One time after I was preaching, the people became very, very angry. They were really mad. And after I walked out of the building, this young man came up to me and he said, You're the bravest man on the face of the earth. You're not afraid of anything. Those people wanted to kill you. And you just kept preaching. You're not afraid of anything. And I said, No, it's just the opposite. I'm afraid of everybody. He said, What? I said, No, really. I'm not very courageous at all. As a matter of fact, when I get back to my hotel room, I'll probably pass out in fear. I said, He said, Well, then how did you do that? I gave him this illustration. Let's say there are two men standing in front of me. One is about this tall and weighs about 40 kilos. His arms are about as big as the pole on this microphone. His arms are about as big as the pole on this microphone. And then there's another man. And he's two and a half meters tall. And he weighs 200 kilos. And he has muscles even in his ears. I look at the little guy and I'm afraid of him. I look at the big guy and I'm more afraid of him. And then I told him this. I've got to make a choice. Am I going to be afraid of those little men? Or am I going to be afraid of God? Am I going to fear these little men who can kill my body? Yes, I am afraid of them. But should I fear God who can kill not only my body but my soul in hell? I fear both of them. But I fear Him more. So see, fear should never stop you when it comes to preaching the gospel. So see, fear should never stop you when it comes to preaching the gospel. When you see how great God is. That all the nations of the world are like nothing before Him. Then you have the boldness to preach. When you realize that Jesus Christ is the stone cut out of the mountain When you realize that Jesus Christ is the stone cut out of the mountain that God throws down upon the kingdoms of this world and utterly destroys them. Then you will not fear the nations. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples. Now many people say the most important thing here is make disciples. The main command here is not to go but to make disciples. The main command here is not to go but to make disciples. That is true. But you're not going to make any disciples sitting in your room. You're not going to make disciples if the only thing you do is study theology. And you're not going to make disciples if you only sit in the church. And you're not going to make disciples if all of you young men on Saturday night just go somewhere to hang around with other Christians. You make disciples because you go. Where do you go? To men and women who are lost. There is a great need for the gospel in the Netherlands. Go. There's a great need for the gospel in Western Europe. So go. There's a great need for the gospel in Asia and Africa and Australia There's a great need for the gospel in Asia, Africa, Australia. So go. There is a great need for the gospel in the United States, in North America, in South America. Go. But according to the will of God. Again, the Great Commission cannot function unless you are a person who walks with God. You must know His will for your life. You must know your giftings. And you must minister in the power and grace that God has given you. But no matter what you are called to do, you are called to be devoted to the Great Commission. It is the great work of God in this world. All around us are people dying and going to hell. There are cities of hundreds of thousands of people where there is no gospel witness. What are you going to do about that? Does that keep you awake at night? Were you disturbed when the United States was attacked and thousands of people were killed in New York? Did it kind of bother you for a few days? Well, realize this. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people are dying without Christ. So cars and new clothing really aren't that important, are they? Comfort and ease are not that important, are they? Your plans for your life aren't that important, are they? Your hobbies and your desires aren't that important, are they? Not when you compare all those things with the great need in the world to preach the gospel. Sometimes I see young men who are great athletes. And they perform in the arena and everyone is applauding. But I would tell them this. Leave the vanity of the arena. Use your physical strength to walk up and down the Andes Mountains. Carrying a hundred-pound bag of Bibles on your back. And preaching the gospel to those who have never heard. If you have gifts, you have strengths. Use them for the sake of this great commission. Not for the sake of yourself. The great commission. He says, go therefore and make disciples. Now this is where it gets difficult. I was preaching years ago in a church in Texas. And they didn't have a pastor. After my first sermon, I stepped down from the pulpit. And a group of leaders came up to me immediately. And they said, you need to be our pastor. And I just looked at them. And I said, are you crazy? And they said, what do you mean? I said, you don't know if I love my wife. The point that I was making is you know nothing about my character. Just because I preached one good sermon does not mean that I'm a man of God. The devil is a good preacher. You know nothing about me as a disciple. You see, it's easy to preach. You tell people things. I tell you things this week. But you don't know my life. You don't know how I live. You really don't know anything. So if you just want to be a preacher, that's very easy. You show yourself to people three times a week and you tell them to do things. But to make disciples is something very different. To make a disciple is to win someone to Christ. And then to pour your life into them. Not merely meeting with them a few times a week and having class. But inviting them into your life so that they can learn. So that they can see how you live. A disciple is a follower, a learner from Jesus. Learning not only from his teachings but from the way he lives. Paul did the same thing. He said, be imitators of me. We are also told in Scripture to watch the lives of our leaders. To follow their example. We don't need to be like Pharisees. Remember what Jesus said about them. They sit in the chair of Moses so listen to what they teach you. But do not be like them. That's one of the most horrible things that can be said about a preacher, a teacher or an evangelist. Listen to what they say. But don't follow what they do. Because they do not practice what they preach. To be a true witness of Jesus Christ is not only to share the gospel but also to teach those who come to Christ. To open your life to them. To open your home to them. Do you realize that one of the qualifications for an elder, a pastor, is that he practices hospitality? Do you realize that one of the qualifications for an elder, a pastor, is that he is hospitable? Do you realize that maybe I am a very good Bible teacher but if I don't open my house to the people I don't qualify to be a Bible teacher? Let me ask you a question, Christian. Many of you witness to people. Many of you possibly teach Bible classes but would you want to invite those students into your house to see how you really live? Those of you who are ministers and who are married, would you want to invite them into your house to see your marriage to see your relationship with your children? You see, being a witness is not just opening up your mouth. It is conformity to Christ. That is why it is so necessary for you to seek Christ in His Word to seek Him in prayer to seek to be like Him. We need to move on. He says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And then it says in verse 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. Do you hear what He is saying? Teach them to obey everything I commanded you. As a pastor as an evangelist as a Bible teacher or as a witness for Christ in the streets I am not only supposed to teach them I am not supposed to just teach them facts about the Bible I am not just supposed to teach them the commandments but I am to teach them to obey those commandments. I am required to teach them how to walk according to the commandments that I give them in the Word. So first of all I must be a person who obeys the commandments. And out of that life I must teach them. Young person many of you are so excited about doing evangelism. Can you teach them to be obedient as you are obedient? That is why we need to grow in Christ. And it says here and I am with you always even to the end of the age. Now in the English it just says I am with you always. But in the Greek it says I am with you all the days. That is very important. When you hear that Jesus is with you always it does not mean as much as I will be with you every day that you do this. Every day that you walk with me. He will never leave you. He will be with you every day. In every circumstance. How many of you have ever read the poem called Footprints? Okay, good. Now the guy is walking on a beach and good times in his life flash before him and when that happens he sees two sets of footprints. Him and Jesus. But in the bad times he only sees one set of footprints. And so he thinks Jesus is not with him. And he thinks Jesus was not with me in this period. So he asks the Lord why did you leave me in these difficult times? And the Lord says to him no, it was then that I carried you. That is really so. It's not true. It's really, really dumb. It really is. Dumb? Wrong? Bad? It really is. Listen to me believer. There's always only been one set of footprints in the sand. And they've always been his. Because he's always carried you. There's not been times when you've needed him more and other times when you've needed him less. He's always carrying you. And that is what makes you strong. It's him. It's all him. You say, well I'm afraid to witness. Good. He's not. Go with him. Trust in him. You say I'm weak. You're supposed to be. He's strong. I always tell people that we should be modern day Gideons. When God wanted to declare war against the Midianites he went and found the mighty warrior Gideon. No, he went to find the chicken Gideon. The most afraid person in all of Israel. Hiding from the enemy. The smallest of the smallest. And he calls him. And when Gideon gathered an army, God said to him, it's too big. And then when he made the army smaller he said, it's still too big. Why is that? Because God wants to do a work through the weakest of people so that everyone will know it was God. It was God. Now, I want us to go to 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3, verse 15. And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Here it speaks about childhood. Here it speaks about our childhood. But it doesn't mean teenager. It doesn't even necessarily mean 7 or 8 year old. It means baby. Little baby. For you parents, this is a good word. Do you talk to your baby even though your baby is 1 year old? Yes, you do. At least you better be talking to them. Then you also need to be sharing Scripture with them. Because the word of God is more important than your words. You say, well, they won't understand. Well, they don't understand when you go goo-goo-ga-ga, but you keep doing it. Now, let me tell you something about evangelism. Probably, at least in our culture, the most radical form of evangelism would be street preaching. And it is a good form of evangelism. Anytime there's been an awakening, there has been a rise in street preachers. But the street preacher will tell you something very important. That most of the time, the most important part of his ministry is when he steps off the chair or steps off the bench and talks to people one-on-one. And then the street preacher changes. From a John the Baptist type prophet to a scribe and a teacher in the kingdom of heaven. When he's standing up preaching, he is bold and makes bold statements in love. But when he comes down and begins to talk with the two or three people that are gathered there, he becomes a gentle and a patient teacher. This is something that I want you to see. Oftentimes, we are too quick in our evangelism. We give someone a tract, talk to them five minutes, and think, we've done our job. And sometimes, we're only given five minutes. Sometimes not even that. But as evangelists, as witnesses, we ought to seek to build relationships with people. We ought to seek to be able to sit down and explain them the way more clearly. I have a friend who works in Muslim countries. He's a pastor in a Muslim country. I can't tell you his name, and I can't tell you where. A few years ago, they sent out missionaries from their church, and the missionaries were all decapitated. He has won many, many people to Christ. This is what he told me. He said, sometimes it takes seven months to a year to win one person to Christ. Bible study after a year after Bible study. Counseling and counseling, praying and praying. He has to invest his life in that person. More and more, that is what is going to happen in the West. You're going to have to spend time with people and instruct them in the Word of God. Now, here's a little statement, a little riddle that will help you. How large a vocabulary do you need to teach a parakeet how to talk? Well, you need to have a larger vocabulary than the parakeet has. In the same way, Christian, you must know more of the Bible than the person with whom you're speaking. I know that many of you are great and wise. I know that wisdom was born with you. And wisdom will die with you. I know that you are full of all great arguments and beautiful illustrations and eloquent speech. Do you want to know what all that is worth? Zero. The power of salvation is found in the Gospel. He says that from childhood you have known the sacred writings. Someone had invested in his life. Giving him the Scripture year by year. And he came to know Christ. The Scriptures gave Timothy the wisdom he needed to understand and possess salvation. Sometimes people will come to me and they'll say something like this. Brother Paul, I've been witnessing to my father for years. But he just won't listen. He just doesn't understand. What can I say to him to make him understand? Do you honestly think that there's some little clever statement that I can give you that will make your father come alive? Do you honestly think I could give you a very clever argument that would make him understand? Let me share it this way. Hopefully you'll understand. It'll be kind of hard to translate. Let's say that you're witnessing to someone for ten years. And every time you tell them who God is, you tell them about their sin. You tell them that Jesus has risen from the dead. They must repent and believe. And you've told them that over and over and over. But one day you meet with them. You tell them about God again. You tell them about their sin. You tell them that Jesus died for them and rose again from the dead. And then you just happen to say and after he rose again from the dead, he was seen by over 500 witnesses. And the person says, stop! What did you say? He was seen by 500 witnesses. Why didn't you ever tell me that before? If you would have told me that ten years ago, I would have repented and believed. You see, that's not going to happen. If you've been witnessing to someone correctly for ten years, continue witnessing the same thing for ten years. More. And praying for them. Because it's not clever arguments. It's not giving them more information. It's just giving them the same gospel over and over and over again. And answering whatever questions they have with the scriptures. Just think about Noah for a moment. He preached the same message for 120 years. Could you see, you know, all of his children are gathered around the breakfast table? And Noah comes down for the daily devotion. And they said, dad, what are we going to study today for the daily devotion? It's going to rain. But dad, we've had the same devotion for 120 years. And then he goes out into the street. People gather around him. Oh, Noah, what is the great word from God today? It's going to rain. Why do you keep going on over and over? Because it's going to rain. That's the gospel preacher. We have one message. We do not have to fix it. We do not have to make it better. We don't have to change it so that people can understand it. We just keep preaching it and preaching it and preaching it. And if we will preach the gospel faithfully, God will save people. You say, but that's kind of boring, isn't it? If you ask that question, you don't understand the gospel. Let me share with you something about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether they will admit it or not, most people think this. That the gospel is like the first baby step to Christianity. And then you go on to different things, deeper truths. That's a lie. There is no deeper truth in the mystery of God than the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are going to understand every verse in the book of Revelation on the day that Jesus Christ comes back. But you will spend a thousand eternities in heaven and you will not even begin to comprehend the greatness of the gospel. It is the first step in Christianity. It is the middle step in Christianity. And it is the last step in Christianity. It's all about the gospel. Now, when you are dealing with people, you must learn to use the word of God. People do not need your opinion. They do not need to know what you think. They need to know what God has said. I had a young man call me years ago when I was in Peru. And he said, I want to come to Peru and work with you. I said, how is your knowledge of the scripture? How is your ability to teach the scripture to others? And he just said, well, the scriptures are not really my thing. I just want to come to Peru and give my life away to the people. I said, young man, no one here in Peru needs your life. They need God's word. And they need someone who can open up their mouth and teach God's word. Young men always come to me and young women asking, what do I need to do to be a missionary? You must personally know the one you want to share, Jesus Christ. You must give yourself to understanding this book. This is the only sword you have. You say, well, I'm filled with the spirit. This is the only sword the spirit has. This is the sword of the spirit. If you want a spirit-empowered ministry, you must use this book. Just real quick on how to become a missionary. First of all, you must be called. Second of all, be saturated with the word of God. Do you know what they said? Have any of you ever heard of John Bunyan? Pilgrim's Progress. They said about him that if you cut him with a knife, he would bleed the Bible. That's the way you and I must be. Another thing is, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. The moment you are converted, you are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you. But you must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You must be careful not to offend the Holy Spirit. You must learn to walk in step with the Holy Spirit. And you must cry out for greater and greater manifestations of the Holy Spirit in your life. Greater fillings. Greater empowerings. Realizing your weaknesses and going on with the Holy Spirit. Going away for four or five days, fasting and calling upon the name of the Lord. You cannot truly minister unless it is a Spirit of God empowered ministry. And this you should seek always. Now, I want to just quickly go to verse 16 of chapter 3 and talk about how to use the word of God, not only in witnessing, but also in discipleship. Verse 16 and 17 say, All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. I want you to notice two things that are extremely important here. It says, All Scripture is inspired. In verse 16. Do you believe that? You cannot minister in the power of the Holy Spirit by the word of God if you do not believe the word of God is inspired. That it is God breathed. That it is supernatural. That it is pure. The word of God is proven. It is without error. If you don't believe the word of God, if you don't believe that, there's very little you could ever accomplish in the kingdom of heaven. But most of you have heard of the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture. But have you heard of this doctrine? The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. It's found in verse 17. That the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. What do you need to carry out the Christian ministry? A correct and full understanding of Scripture. What else do you need? Nothing. You say, well, Brother Paul, should we read books? I mean, there's a book table over there. You should read books that help you understand the Scriptures. You should read books that talk to you about men who live the Scriptures. You have got to believe that this book contains everything you need for your ministry. You do not need psychology in any shape, form, or fashion. You do not need any Christian psychology. Because that in itself is a contradiction. You do not need secular anthropology. And you most definitely do not need secular sociology. All those disciplines were actually began in war against the Word of God. One of the great things that have weakened the Gospel proclamation is the mixture of psychology and sociology and anthropology with the Scriptures. They do not mix. Most of the counseling books written today in the Christian world are nothing more than baptized psychology. Are some of you angry? It's true. Let me give you an example about counseling the Christian psychologist. You walk into his office and he's seated there at his desk with the Bible. And he's got a large library behind him. And you say to him, because everything is about this one question, what is your authority? And he says, well, the Bible is my authority. And you look up and you say, well, there's a lot of other books up here that aren't the Bible. He says, well, I also use the truths that are found in secular psychology. And then you say, well, I have a question regarding secular psychology. I notice that you have the three major psychologists. You have Freud. You have Rogers. You have Skinner. All their books. And you use the truth that is found in them. Yes. But here's my question. Freud says that Rogers and Skinner are both ignorant. That they're idiots. That they don't understand anything. And Rogers says that Freud and Skinner are idiots. And Skinner says that Rogers and Freud are idiots, and so on and so forth. So, how do you know which one is right? And he says, well, I take the truth out of Freud, and I take the truth out of Skinner, and I take the truth out of Rogers. But do you see what he's doing? Now, your counselor is the authority. Now, your counselor is the authority. The psychologist has made himself the authority. So, he has determined what is true about these men. All three of them contradict each other. So, he determines which one of these guys is right. And then ask him the question. Isn't it true that all three of these men hated Christianity? Isn't it true that they all started their disciplines as an option to Christianity? Isn't it true that the major theories in psychology change about every three years? So, am I going to go to someone and help them with this? One of the most radical things you are ever going to have to believe is that the Bible is enough. And that's what the Bible says. The man of God may be adequately equipped for every good work. For every problem that arises in the life of a man. Now, of course, the Bible agrees with medicine. But medicine is a science. It is to minister to the physical part of a man. But the Bible will minister to every spiritual problem in the life of a man. And if you are going to help men, it will be because you are using the Scriptures. Now, I want us to look at four things just really quickly. It says in verse 16 that the Bible is profitable for four things. First of all, for teaching. Why do people perish? They perish because of a lack of knowledge. They perish because they have not been taught the right way. According to Jeremiah 9, the most important knowledge that you can have is knowledge of the person and work of God. Let me ask you a question. Those of you that have been in church for years, how many years have you been taught on the attributes of God? Can you give me a list of the attributes of God? Have each of those been explained to you? From your childhood to your adulthood. When was the last time you read a book on the attributes of God? Go into a Christian bookstore. How many of those books are written about who God really is according to the Bible? You see, we run around and read all sorts of things and learn all sorts of things, but we don't learn the most important things. We must be taught not just how to do certain things in the Christian life, but who is God? What is salvation? What are the works of God? We need knowledge of the Scriptures. Those of you who are married, how many years were you taught biblical marriage? Marriage is about the most important decision in your life. It's the most important relationship in your life. Yet how much have you been instructed out of Scripture regarding marriage? Your children are the most important responsibility that has been given to you. How many years have you been instructed on what the Bible says about children and how to raise them? Do you see how little teaching there actually is in Christianity? You young people, you young men who are looking for a wife, you know, I actually prayed last week that the men who came to this conference, the young men, some of them might find a wife. And after meeting some of you young men, I can see it's going to take a lot more prayer. Young people, how many months and months, maybe even years, have you been instructed by your parents regarding how to search for a wife? Young people, how many years or how much time have your parents instructed you on how to find a wife for your life? And what to do with her once you've found her? You see? There's just not a whole lot of Bible teaching out there, is there? We do everything according to what's right in our own eyes. We need teaching. But the Scripture also is for reproof. This word is extremely important for evangelism. And for the Christian life. Sometimes it is translated conviction. But here's what it really means. It's kind of a legal term. Let's say that you are a criminal. And I am the prosecuting attorney. In order to send you to prison, I'm going to gather all the evidence possible to prove that you did something wrong. And to prove how bad it was. That's what this term means. But we're not doing it to condemn someone. We're doing it to save someone. So there's a lost man. And I'm speaking to him. What am I going to do? I'm going to gather up all the evidence I can. Biblical evidence. And I am going to teach it to him in such a way as to literally entrap him. He has to recognize that he has sinned. He has to recognize how bad that sin is. So I get all the biblical evidence possible. And I use it to present before him great and terrible arguments about him. Until he cannot escape. He must recognize his sin. That's one of the first things that has to occur in order for a person to be saved. It's the same way with a believer. Say that there's a young man in the church who begins to hang around with ungodly young men. As a pastor or as a parent I don't just go to him and say what you're doing is wrong, stop it. I get all the scripture I can find. All the biblical evidence I can find. To show him he's wrong. To show him how bad his sin is. And to show him how dangerous the result will be. And I get him where he cannot escape. That he must recognize this. The Apostle Paul does the same thing. The book of Romans is the closest thing we have to a systematic theology in the Bible. Paul uses the first three chapters to simply trap all men. Great and mighty arguments about the depravity of man. So that all men will be trapped. So that they will see that they are condemned. And they will turn to Christ. The next word here is correction. Teaching, reproof, correction. Now, this word literally means that when something falls over, you set it back up the way it ought to be. If someone is falling, you grab them and put them back on their feet. So when we're doing evangelism, we don't just merely convict men of their sin. But we help them set back up again. We put things right by explaining to them the gospel. How their lives can be made new. How their sins can be removed. How they can walk in newness of life. It's the same way with the Christian. That young man who was going out with ungodly young men. I don't just convict him of that. I don't just take that away from him. But I help him stand up and walk in a way that is right. I teach him with the scriptures how to walk in a newness of life. I show him with the scriptures the opportunity of fellowship that he has with godly people. How to have biblical fellowship. And the result of it. And then finally there's training. Training in the word of God. Paul told Timothy to discipline or train himself with regard to godliness. That's what a Christian is supposed to do. You're supposed to be training yourself in godliness. Are you doing that? It says physical discipline is only of little profit. But godliness has profit in all things. Are you training yourself in godliness? Using the scriptures. Now I know we've gone on a long time but let me just quickly share with you how to do that. You think about your life for a minute. I'll put this in the context of young people. Think about where you are in life. You're young, you're single. Many opportunities are before you. Have you ever just asked yourself what am I supposed to be doing? How am I supposed to live? This is where training comes in. If you're living in the house of your parents then we have of course honor your father and your mother. How many of you know that commandment? How many of you have trained yourself in that commandment? Would you want me to ask you to come up here and tell us how you did it? Training yourself in that commandment goes something like this. You find out what it means. You find out all the things the bible says about that. You meditate on it. You memorize it. You want it engrafted in you. And then you start seeing how it changes your relationship with your mother and father. Your mother says, take out the trash. And you say, I don't want to. There's where the training starts. You remember those scriptures. You realize you've sinned against your mother. You go to her and apologize. You ask God to forgive you. And you take out the trash. And you keep doing things like that until it becomes a habit in you. In every situation you begin to ask yourself, how does God tell me to respond? When a trial comes, how should I respond? You begin to train yourself with the scriptures. It's not just in your head now. And it's not just in some super spiritual way in your heart. But it's coming out in your life. Little by little you become conformed to the image of Christ. Little by little you become conformed to the image of Jesus. And so you become a witness. Let's pray. In Jesus' name, amen.