Hey, go ahead and grab a seat. Well, are there any of us in the room this evening, who would describe ourselves as competitive? Only a few hands, some very competitively rising into the air. Do we have any athletes in the room here this evening? Do we have any former athletes in the room here this evening? That's correct. Who has joyously embraced the title? Back in my day, some of us, though, we were still competitive. But how many of you, when you hear this whole talk of competition and competitiveness, that is not you, right? You are here. You are proud to say, I am not a competitive person. I don't like the thought of winning. It doesn't appeal to me. Some of you, I can see it in your eyes, you're just shrinking into your chair. How can I hide from this competitiveness? But if you're not one of those people that's competitive – and there's no necessary virtue in being competitive – but if you're someone that would not think of yourself that way, is there anything that I could do to get you to be competitive, right? Is there any amount of money I could offer you to be competitive? No, no. I can see it in your eyes. Now you're like, there is no amount of money Pastor Bill that you could offer me. That's why I like the Bunny Run, because I'm just free to reject the word “run” entirely and walk. Right? I don't need to try to beat the St. Pierre brothers; I don't need to wear short shorts. And the congregation said amen to this. But what if there is something that God wanted you to do, where he wanted you to be in it to win it? What would you do then? What if God wanted you to participate in something, not just as a participation, and he was actually using competitive terms, how would that go with you? Well, I'd like to invite you to open your Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, and we are going to see what God has to say to us in this passage towards the end of chapter 9 that the apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthian church in the city of Corinth, right after the book of Romans in our Bibles. And once you found 1 Corinthians 9, we're going to look at starting in verse 19. And I'd invite you to stand as we pay attention to God's Word together. Once you’ve found it, please stand up and I will start reading in verse 19. 1 Corinthians 9:19-27. Paul writes:
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
That's the reading of God's Word. You may have your seat. Now, in this passage, we see Paul talking about his own life, his own example. But if you look specifically in verse 24 he's been talking about himself a lot, but then he says this, “So run that you may obtain it,” right? You, just everyone in the church in Corinth, you Christian. This is not just something that Paul is sharing to talk about his own life. He is sharing it because it is something that all of us need to consider and do in our lives. Paul is saying that God wants you to run the race to win souls. This is not just the race of life that he is referring to. It's the race for souls. And if we're not running to win in the race for souls, I don't know that we will come to the end of our lives and hear God say that we ran our race well.
A few weeks ago, when we studied Mark, chapter 1, verse 17, Jesus told his disciples that he was calling to himself. He's saying, “follow me and I will make you to become” what? fishers of men. If we're going to follow Jesus, what was he about? He was about winning souls over to his kingdom, to getting them out of the domain of darkness and into his kingdom. And if we're following Jesus, well, guess what? We're going to be following him in winning souls over for him to his kingdom. Now, I mean, as we think about, like, this is athletic terminology, right? Like I have to just come clean and say I am one hundred percent a has-been athlete. And what I was back in the day wasn't much to report about. Right? There weren’t many accolades. There wasn't much to refer to in college; I did not play intramural sports, where we're playing like other colleges. I'm playing inter-mural sports, where it's like the cure for all the wannabes who weren't good enough to make it in college. We all get together and compete with one another. And my sport was basketball. That was kind of the thing I enjoyed. I played a lot of that in high school, and I remember I went to this college, and so, I liked basketball. I was kind of a basketball nerd. And so, on a Friday night, what would you find me doing? I was in the gym, just shooting by myself. And this thing happened that I never expected would happen, where an NBA basketball player had graduated from the same small college that I went to, and at that point, he was playing on the Lakers with guys like Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. And this guy was playing on the Lakers not because he was tall, not because he was fast, but because he could shoot. And it would be Friday nights, and he would be on one side of the gym, and I would be on the other side of the gym, and he would just be stroking it. Right? Just making shot after shot. I mean, he's way far beyond the three-point line. And I would be in there with him for an hour. And I'm like, I think this guy has missed five shots the whole hour. And I was like, well, how's this guy doing this? And I would watch him, and I would see the way that he would position his hands, and I would see his footwork, and I started imitating him. And I was like, okay, like he shot it like this. Okay, I'm going to go like this. And as I did this – this happened a few different Friday nights – and even in just a very brief time of observing a professional athlete, like someone who is playing this sport at the highest level of competition that exists in the world, you know what happened? I got a lot better at shooting. And I was playing these intramural games, and I'm like, stroking it, and these people are like, we can't guard you. And I'm like, Yeah, I was watching this NBA player, and I learned from his example.
That's what we have here with the Apostle Paul. We have the person who is winning souls at the highest level. Right? We have someone who you think the best evangelist to Gentiles, who has won the most Gentiles over to the Lord in the history of winning Gentiles, is but the Apostle Paul. He has got to be right up there on the top of the list. Right? Someone that was so faithful, that was so effective, that was so useful for winning people over for God's kingdom. And we have his example, and he's giving it to us. And it's not just here for us to know what happened in history, his example is here for us to imitate. And so, we need to learn from this. And so, we're going to learn a few different things from his example here this evening. And look with me at what he says in verse 19. He says this phrase, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all.” And that word “servant,” you could really translate that word “slave”. I have made myself even lower than a servant. I have made myself a slave to all. But his first phrase is “For though I'm free from all,” what does he mean by that? And if you were to go back and look at what he says, you know he says in verse 3, “This is my defense to those who would examine me.” This is my defense to those who would examine me. So, we know that Paul is in the city of Corinth for quite some time, at least 18 months, maybe even longer than that, that he was in the city of Corinth planting this church. But then he was not in the city of Corinth, and he was on to the next city to try to share the gospel. There. Here. And so, after Paul had left, one of the things that seems like it had happened is that people had been talking badly about the Apostle Paul. There had been some shade that was thrown in his direction. And then in this kind of culture, back in the day, it would have been, you know, there's no internet, there's no television, there's no radio. And so, what's one of the things we do, we have people kind of come into our city and they've got some kind of message, they've got some kind of thing that they want to bring that they've brought from somewhere else, and we're here for it. We are here to listen to them. And one of the things that a lot of these people would do is they would come in and I've got this message, so pay me money. Right? And so, one of the things that Paul would say is, hey, you know we have the right. Verse 4, “Don't we have the right?” Or you could translate this word, “the authority” “to eat and drink or to take a believing wife.” He says in verse 5, “as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?” So then, he even gets into this thought about like being paid. Look at what he says, “Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things on human authority?” Verse 8, “Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.’ Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?”
So, he's even giving into the thought about his livelihood, about like, hey, I'm here, and I'm working to bring the gospel and to see people won over to the Lord. And it would even be a right expectation that I would have, that that would provide for my needs, that that would be something that God would use. And he uses this concerning oxen that is written in the law. And it's like, don’t muzzle the ox while it's threshing, right? I challenge you to work that into a conversation this week. Extra points if you do. But he's saying we even more. But then look at what he says at the end of verse 12. “Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.” Hey, I'm trying to reach people in a culture where people will come in and they are sketch with the money and they are scamming people and then taking the next train out of town, and they're nowhere to be seen or found, but the money is gone at that point, right? I don't want to put an obstacle in the way of the gospel, so I'm even going to be willing to work right. And then he keeps on proving his point that he would have an expectation, that it wouldn't be wrong for him to. He says in verse 13, “Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.” Wait. Verse 15, what's the first word? But? “But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing to secure any such provision.” Right? I'm free. I could have the expectation, like I'm the apostle to the Gentiles. I've seen the risen Lord, yeah, if anybody should be paid out, yeah, I could have that kind of expectation. But guess what? I'm not using it. I'm not using what I could use because, you know, what's more important to me than me is these other people, right?
So, if you're taking notes tonight, and I would encourage you to take notes, let's get this down for point number one: “Don't make it about you.” Right? It is quite possible that some of us in the room here this evening are not very effective at winning other people over to Christ, because our lives are too much about ourselves, because our thoughts are too much about ourselves. Paul is defending himself for people that would examine him. And he is saying, yeah, it would be totally fine if I did this, it would be totally fine if I did this, it would be totally fine if I would do this, but I'm not necessarily doing these things. Why not? Because it'd be wrong to do those things, but because it wouldn't be as helpful to win people over if I did those things. His thought is not, well, what do I want to do? Do I have the authority or the right to do? The thought is, what's going to be the best so that more people will come to know Jesus Christ? And I wonder if we were to think about this right now, not a lot of us trying to get our living by the gospel, right? A lot of us, we're just living life here in Southern California. But are there things that we need to do to adopt Paul's mentality, where it's like, hey, I'm free. I'm free to kind of make choices and kind of orchestrate life in the way that that I enjoy and is best.
But I'm actually not going to live that way. I'm going to live in a way where I'm thinking, I'm here to be a servant. And I'm not just here to be a servant to the people I already know and love. I'm here to be a servant to people that don't know Jesus yet. I'm here to win them over to Jesus, and that means I'm going to have to give up some things. I'm going to have to give up some things so that I can win people over to Jesus Christ. Now, I mean, this is kind of contrary to the very prevalent way that people think here in Southern California, where we like to define our life in a way that we like it, and we're kind of like, this is who I am, and this is the way I operate, and that's kind of the end of the story. Thank you very much, right?
Like some of us, we're the people that are going to say, you know who I am? I'm the person that gets eight hours of sleep a night, right? I subscribe to the sleep science, and that is what I am going to do, okay? Like, would you at any point be willing to give up sleep to win people over? That I could actually serve people by maybe like, hey, maybe I'm not going to do what I want to do that if I'm going to spend time meeting with someone, sharing the gospel with them, trying to care about them. Well, all these other things in my life, I still have to do that, and so all of those responsibilities are still going to be there. But you know what? The one thing is that I could maybe be flexible on just this one time when I'm trying to win this person over. How long do I sleep at night? Would I maybe be willing to stay up an extra hour or get up an hour even earlier if that would mean I could win someone over to Jesus Christ, right? Some of us, we like our schedule. Is anybody a calendar person here? You like to plan it out, right? You're like this laissez faire thing is not for you, right? This spontaneity. What is that? Right? Like you live, you die, you've got fifteen-minute increments. You are winning the day, right? Carpe Diem, more power to you. Well, what if you had to, kind of like, give up control over your schedule? Because what if God put someone in your path on a certain day where it's like, hey, I could actually win this person over if I'm willing to let God set the agenda for this afternoon, rather than my calendar setting the agenda, right? Some of us, what might we be willing to give up to see other people get saved? Is our me-time, our leisure time, right? I don't know if I know too many people in this room that, hey, I have no time for myself. I think actually, we have plenty of time for ourselves. We have more than enough time for ourselves. This morning, I got to do something I was very excited about. I've been teaching the Bible class, and we've been doing this series on evangelism and winning souls, and we've been talking about it for a while, but it's not just something we want to talk about, it's something we want to act on, it's something we want to do.
And so, we had the first ever Bible class evangelism field trip this morning, right? And I was so encouraged, because I could tell there are people, and we're talking about evangelism, and they're like, wait, what? Right? Like you want us to do…wait, wait, we're going to go talk to people we don't know? And I remember this one gal here at the church, she said, Pastor, Bill, I'm going to be there on Saturday. I'm nervous, but I'm going to be there on Saturday. I said, welcome to The Club. We'll be there together. And we went out into the neighborhoods, and we brought the ice cream truck, and we were knocking on people's doors. And you know what happened is everybody said, I'm going to be willing to give up whatever I could be doing on this Saturday morning, because the souls of these people in Huntington Beach matter to us. We're going to make ourselves a servant to these people, we're going to say no to something that we would want to do so that we could win more souls. Is that the way that you're thinking about your life? Is that, like, hey, I don't need to use my… Yeah, what do I want to do on a Saturday morning? This is my day off. Of course, right again. I'm not saying every Saturday morning you would go evangelize, but would you be willing to give up a Saturday morning? Would you be willing to give up time? Would you be willing to give up some sleep? Would you make yourself a servant to other people so that you could win them? Right?
Maybe one of the things that you should do in your Fellowship Group this week is maybe you guys should plan a time. We go out regularly on Saturday mornings. I don't know if you know this at the church, but almost every Saturday morning, at nine o'clock, there's training. At ten o'clock, people gather to go out, and we're going out into the neighborhoods, and we're inviting people to church, and we're trying to talk about Jesus with everyone. Would maybe your Fellowship Group kind of pick a day where you guys could say, hey, on this day, we're going to say no to whatever we would want to do, because we're going to be a servant to these people that need to know Jesus.
Like, if we're going to win people over, it's going to cost us. We're going to have to deny ourselves. We're going to have to say no to ourselves in a certain way. We're going to have to, like, reject the kind of life where it's like, no, I've got all of my leisure. I've got all my trips, and I’ve got all my hobbies, and I’ve got all this planned out. Wait, wait, wait, I'm looking at my calendar now, Pastor Bill, oh, November. November is when I have time to share the gospel with someone we don't know that we have till November, friends, we don't know that we have it. November is too far away. You know, one thing that we're going to have to be willing to give up is our comfort. I don't know. There aren't many of us that like talking to people we don't know, right? I mean those people, they're out there. And if you are one of those people, I salute you, I respect you. I'm not like you. I mean, I'm knocking on someone's door. I'm talking with someone I don't know, that's uncomfortable, right? Like, that's not my sweet spot, that's not my comfort zone. Like, are you the kind of person who, like Paul, is willing to get outside of his comfort zone? When Paul came to Corinth, he's saying, hey, you know the way I came to you. I was coming to you in fear and weakness and trembling. I was not like, hey Corinth, I'm Paul. Here we go. He was like, ah, this is intense, right? This is uncomfortable for me. I don't know how this is going to go. The Lord had to encourage him, even with a vision, saying, hey Paul, keep going. Don't be afraid. I've got many people who are in this city who are going to be my people. And then Paul stayed there for eighteen months to reach people, because he was confident, not in himself, but what? In what the Lord could do, what the Lord could do through him. Right? We're going to have to give up just saying, I'm only going to talk to the people I already like talking to in my life. If we're going to win the way that Paul won, we're going to have to make ourselves a servant to all. We can't be living our lives where it's about us. We're going to have to make a conscious choice. Hey, when I decided to follow Jesus, living life for me, I checked that at the door. Now it's all about him. And what is he all about? He's all about reaching people with the good news. He wants people to be safe. So now, what am I all about? I'm all about what he was all about. We're going to have to do this now.
Now look with me. He makes himself a sermon to all in verse 19, and then there's this word “that,” right? And this word, if you were to look at the Greek, is all throughout this passage, right? It's this word ina, and it's kind of like a purpose statement, like, well, why am I doing this? Why am I making myself a servant to all that I might win more of them. Winning is the goal, right? This word, “to win” or “to gain” in the Greek, and we see it over and over again. Then he says in verse 20, “To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to” – look at your Bible, what does your word say? What does it say right there? In order to “win Jews. o the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” Right?
So, you can see what he means by winning. He's meaning people being saved. He's meaning people coming to a saving faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, where they would repent and believe in the gospel and follow Jesus for the rest of their lives. That's his goal. That's what he means by winning. Winning is the goal. But did you see his example of what he did there? “To the Jews I” what? “I became as a Jew, to those under the law, I became as one under the law. To those outside the law, I became…” right? Paul edited himself. Right now, it's very clear. Paul never edited the message. Paul never edited the gospel. The gospel is the same, the gospel that every single soul on Planet Earth needs to hear. It does not change for culture, for context, for age, for social status, for anything, the gospel is the same to every single soul, but the way that we come alongside a soul to try to win them over, yeah, that's going to change the way I operate around this person so that I could convince them I'm not just trying to win an argument with them, that I'm trying to win them, that I care about them, that I'm actually talking to them because I'm in it for their good, that I want to see them full of joy. I want to see them know the Lord, yeah. Based on the people I'm trying to reach, that will change. That's Paul's example.
And this is the way that Paul kind of started off. It seems, in every city that he went into, who were the people that he tried to reach first? He tried to reach the Jews first. And so, it kind of talks about maybe even a specific place that he would go to reach the Jews. Do you remember what it is? The synagogue, right? And that would happen on the Sabbath, right? Paul's saying, I'm trying to reach Jews. It's Saturday morning. Where am I going to find the Jews? They're hanging out at the synagogue, right? I'm not going to find them in the marketplace. I'm not going to find them doing business as usual. So, if I'm trying to win Jews, what do I do? I go to the synagogue on the Sabbath, right? Like, I'm not saying, like, hey Jews, why don't you, like, ditch the synagogue and come over here. I'm not like, scheduling my tent, my talk in the open marketplace for the same time as they're in the synagogue, because I'm trying to win them, right? I'm going to think about how am I going to win these specific people? What do I need to do to try to come alongside them, right? Hey, you know, when I'm with these Jews? Yeah, I'm, I'm going to be kind of like, rolling with some of the customs that they do. They’ve got a lot of customs you know. I'm not going to be coming in with my BLT sandwich with the Jews, and I'd be like, Oh, this bacon is delicious, right? Like, I am not going to be doing that, because I'm thinking about the people that I am trying to win, right?
I'm going to actually not edit the gospel, but I'm going to edit myself to try to win these people over. And then, you know, as Paul would go, and he would try to reach the Jews, and it seems like in most cities, the Jews get fed up with him, and they kick him out. And now he's like, okay well, now I'm going, where's the other place? Where's the Hall of Tyrannus? Where's this other place that I can reach people? I'm talking to people in the marketplace. Where are the people? How do I need to operate? So even within the same city, it might seem that Paul would have operated slightly differently with the people that he is trying to win over. Paul made himself a servant to all, and that means he was willing to edit himself.
Now, it's very clear in this passage that Paul is not saying, I'm doing something wrong with these people, I mean when he talks about those being under the law, he says, “though not being myself under the law,” like just because these people are thinking this law is what makes them right before God, yeah, I'm operating in a way where I'm like coming alongside these people. But I'm not thinking the law saves me. I'm not doing works to gain my own righteousness. I'm not thinking that just because I'm a Jew and I know the law that that makes me right. I have an abandoned faith in Jesus Christ, right? But here they are, and that's where they're at. So, I'm trying to meet them where they're at. I'm trying to engage with them not where I would like them to be in the future, but where they're at right now. And then, when he says, “those outside the law,” the outlaws, right? Like not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ. So, hey, there are people that are not operating as if God's law is the rule of law for their lives. They're just operating based on whatever principle they want to operate. Well, I'm not expecting, I'm not like, hey, you didn't wash your hands like that. Whoa, what do you have leaven in your house? Whoa, whoa, what's going on here? Right? Like, I'm not making it about those things, because that's not what those people are doing right now. That's not how they are living right now. So, I'm trying to reach them where they're at. But this isn't the, hey, I should go to the bar and get drunk to reach bar people, right? This isn't I should go sin. Jesus, he ate with sinners. He didn't sin with sinners, right? We're still needing to be separate from the sin that is pervasive all around us, but we need to try to reach people where they are at. We need to be willing to edit ourselves, right?
So, get this down for point number two: “Become something to someone to win them,” right? And Paul's like, I did this with Jews. I did this. Those under the law, those outside the law, the weak. And he's like, I become all things to all people so that I might win them. My question to you is, are you becoming anything to anyone to try to win them, or are you just like, nope, edits are locked. Not going to edit myself. I'm not going to change the way I operate, because I operate this way, and this is the best way to operate. I mean, great. Operate the way that you think is best, but this is like, let me talk about how this might show up as we're trying to win souls here in Southern California.
I remember out of college, right, my wannabe days, right? Still living as a wannabe, I started going to this church, and I started serving in the high school ministry, and I'm trying to reach these high schoolers. And at that point, I'm not that old in my life. I'm not like this ancient, archaic person to these high schoolers, but I would try to get to know these young men in this small group, and you know what I'm doing? I'm calling them on the phone, right? Because I didn't get a cell phone until my sophomore year of college, right? And that's what bros did. Bros called one another on the phone. So, I'm trying to be bros with these high school kids, and I'm calling them and I'm leaving them very nice voicemails, right? Like I'm leaving them the best voicemails I’ve got in me. And you know what's happening? Nothing. No response. Do I have the right phone number? Wait, that was their voice on the voicemail, because kids still did that back in the day, right? Like, what's going on? And then I realized that, you know what these high schoolers do, they text each other. And this was the day where the phone that I have, it's like, if I want to write the letter C, I’ve got to press a button three times to initiate that letter into the text message. And the whole thought of like, I would send a text message about where we're going to meet and what time it is, and I would not be able to copy and paste that text message if I'm sending it to six people,. No such thing as group chats. I would have to actually hit all those buttons, all those times, just the same message. And you know what I did? I'm like, okay, I'm going to try this. These guys, they're texters. What if I tried this? And I sent my first text. And guess what happened? Less than twenty seconds later, I get a response. They are on their phones. This is like magic, like, how in the world did this kid respond that fast? They've got these different kinds of phones, the flip-out ones, where it's like they’ve got the keyboard on there, and these kids are booking it with their thumbs. And I started realizing, like, if I'm going to try to reach these kids, I can't operate as the voicemail person. I’ve got to adopt the text message. Oh, and at that point in my life, text messaging was not my friend. I was not for it. I was like, no, I do not like this development, right? Bros call each other on the phone. But ever since that day, you know what I've been doing? I've been sending people text messages, right? Because it's not about my preferred way of communication. My preferred way of communication could be whatever it is, whatever your preferred method of communication is, but that's not what matters. It's not me and what I prefer, hey, what's going to be the most helpful to reach these people? Right?
When I came here to Huntington Beach, I had to learn a new skill, how to edit myself, and it was in the realm of coffee, right? And when I had been serving in this high school ministry, and I was serving in the college ministry with some of these same students, we would go to Starbucks, right? And Starbucks was cool, and Starbucks was with it, and we would have Bible studies at Starbucks. And then I came here, and I realized none of these college students want to go to Starbucks. Do you know about this, right? How Starbucks burns their beans, right? And I'm like suggesting a meeting to get to know this person at Starbucks, and I am being met with looks of disdain, right? Like, how dare you, right? There became a point where Starbucks was for old people. And these people are not old people. And some of you guys like, wait, Starbucks is for old people. I didn't know this, right? And so, I had to learn about these other kind of coffee shops where it's like, no, it's really, I mean, Starbucks, those guys are just pushing a button. But here is craft, and there's art to it. And look at this flower on this latte. And I'm like, I could care less about the latte and the flower art. I'm like, okay, but do they have Frappuccinos, right? Like I don't know. And so, I had to realize, like, wait, if I'm going to try to reach these people, I'm going to have to edit what kind of coffee shop I go to. Okay? Editable, ready to change, right?
Like some of you, when you think about winning people over, you are a book person. You love books. You have shelves filled with books within your houses, and you found this book that's really handy called Exploring the Gospel, right? And it's great, and it's going to help people engage with the Bible. And you're like, I love this coffee shop because the tables are big enough for books, and we can have our Bibles out, and we could have our Exploring the Gospels out, and I'm going to get someone, and we're going to have a meeting; we're going to open up exploring the gospel, and they're going to get saved. But maybe you didn't realize this person you're trying to win, they're not a book person. The moment you handed them a book, you go through a book like, do you think maybe we're going to have to win people over to Jesus before we win them over to books? Or are we going to say, no, you’ve got to become a book person before we're going to win you before I'm going to win you because I'm a book person, so I'm going to win you. You're going to like books, and you should like books. And yes, they should like books, but they don't like books yet. Are you going to make them become a book person before you win them? Or are you going to win them right where they're at?
When someone gets won over through the gospel of Jesus Christ, they will love this book, right? They will become a book person after they get saved. We may not be able to use another book. We’ve got to use this book, right? That might be the one book we’ve got to do, and we're going to have to tell them what Jesus says. We're going to have to share the gospel with them, but we might not want to give them an additional book and expect that that's the way they're going to operate. I mean, what about just the preferences we have, right? I mean, are you an Angels fan? Are you a Dodgers fan? I mean, could we win people that like the opposite sports team that we like? Yes, we could. No. But some of you, I mean, you're so deep into your sports team, would you be willing to edit your love for your team to win someone from the rival? Not saying you have to wear the Dodgers hat if you're an Angels fan, not saying that you have to go root for the other team. But are you ready to make it not about baseball, and make it about Jesus? I mean, are you willing to edit yourself, right? Paul's saying, I became all things to all people, whatever it takes. I'm willing to edit myself in whatever way I need to edit myself, right?
Like, some of us in the room, I don't know how you think about yourself, but some of us in the room are older, right? Like maybe you should think this week, are there things about myself that I might need to edit so that I could win people who are younger? Or am I just going to write that generation off and they can all be judged by the Lord? Some of you in the room, you're younger, and there are things about yourself that you would need to edit if you're going to win people older than you. I had to look some of the young men in the college ministry in the face recently and say some of you are never going to win men older than you because you're too much acting like a child. You're not going to win older men with memes. You're not going to win older men with your slaying. You're going to say that, ooh, that guy's written you off before you even get the chance to get the gospel out. Right? Some of us are middle aged, right? And the young people are like, Pastor Bill, you're old enough to be my dad. And I'm like, thank you very much. Feel very young these days, right? And then I talked to some of you. You're like, Oh, you're so young. And I'm like, I can't win. I can't win. I'm in the middle, right? And if you're in the middle like me, well, I have got to be thinking about, what am I going to do to try to reach older people than me? And what am I going to try to do to reach younger people than me? I had to change my coffee shops for the young people.
But then, I started trying to win an old person. And I was like, all right, let's try Starbucks, right? And so, I tried Starbucks, and guess what, I was met with? A look of disdain. And this person knew. What they said to me. You know what we should do? We should go to Winchell’s. And go to Winchell’s we did. And go to Winchell’s we did, again and again and again. I became a frequenter of Winchell’s. And have you tasted the coffee at Winchell’s? It's not like these trendy coffee shops. It's not like Starbucks. It's raw. It's old school, right? Pour it in your car. You can get a few miles out of it. But that's the thing. Like, it's not about what coffee I like to drink. It's not about my personal preference. It's about, hey, this person is a Winchell’s person. Let me meet him where he's at. Let me go love this person. Let me care about this person, right?
We went out door to door this morning, and when you go door to door, it's like, what is coming at the door, right? Like you're knocking on the door, and you don't really know. But as we’re walking up some of these people, oh, these people must care about plants, because they have figured out the secret of how to keep them alive. And here they are, and they are beautiful and plentiful. Maybe you're not a plant person, but if you're at the front door of someone who is a plant person, would you be willing to talk about plants? Would you be willing to show them that you actually care about them as the individual soul that that they are? I mean, this gets really intense when people come to the door with animals, right? And to many of these people, these animals are not animals. They're people. They are people, right? They are adopted children. And, you know, I remember the day when I saw Pastor Bobby at a front door with someone who had a dog, right? And I grew up with Pastor Bobby. I'm his actual brother. And when we grew up, we had dogs, but they were not Bobby's dogs, like the dog we got, Boomer, and Boomer was my dog, but my mom, she was into chore lists, and so they rotated. And so, there were some months where it's like, Bobby, you know what your chore is, it's to clean up after Bill's dog. I mean, it seems unjust, right? Like, and Bobby's having to walk my dog, and I'm like, what was I doing with my life back then? I don't know. I was like young. And so, it's like, Bobby, to this day, is not a dog person, right? And rightfully so, because he had to clean up after my dog way back in the day. I'm here to apologize publicly, right? But you see Pastor Bobby at the door of someone who is a dog person. You know how he operates? Oh, what's the dog's name? Oh, that's a good boy. Oh. Because he's becoming all things to all people, because he wants to win them.
Some of us, would we be willing to be cat people? If there's a lady out there, who's a cat lady? Are we going to be willing to care about cats to win the cat person? I remember I was talking with the lady, and she's like, I'm a cat lady. I'm like, tell me about your cats. My cat. When we had a cat growing up, it left us. It moved in with the neighbors. Cats and I have never been, we've been estranged ever since, right? The relationship, it's complicated, right? But I want to hear about this lady's cats, because she's calling herself a cat person. She cares about these cats. When these cats are lost, she cries, and so I've started caring about her cats because I want to see her won to the Lord. And I care about her because she's a soul, she has value, she matters.
Are you willing to edit yourself? And look at what Paul says, right? I do this so that people could get saved. And look what he says in verse 23, “I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them.” The reason I'm willing to edit myself, the reason I'm willing to make myself a servant to all is so that the good news of Jesus Christ could be proclaimed to more and more people, so that more and more people would not be like, well, I’ve got to change this preference that I have, or these Christians won't like me. That we would not make it about us, about ourselves and our preferences, that we would make it about Jesus, so that he could be proclaimed, and they could come to know him just like we've come to know him, and we could share in the blessings of the gospel together, that your sins have been forgiven, just like my sins have been forgiven. You've got to hope, just like I've got a hope. He did it all for the sake of the gospel. The reason wasn't just let me just go befriend this person and be like a dog person, because I care about this person. No, it's like, I want to win them over to the gospel. Some of us, we might be really good at identifying with people and entering their world and caring about them, but I want to ask you this, do you actually get to the gospel with those people? Because if you don't get to the gospel, it's really all for nothing, because it's the gospel and not just becoming all things to all people, does not have the power to save. It's the gospel that has the power to save.
I want to ask you if God's saying to us that he wants us to be in the in the race for souls like we are in it to win it, and there are going to be things about ourselves. We're going to have to lay down. There's going to be things about ourselves, we're going to have to edit. But it's also that we can get to the gospel with people so we could tell them the good news about Jesus. If I were to bring the microphone up to your face tonight, are you ready that you at any moment of any day, you'd be ready to share the gospel, because it's all about that for you too, right? Like some of us, like we need to be ready to share the gospel, right? If the gospel is the main thing for Paul, then the gospel needs to be the main thing for us. Or are you ready to share the most important news that anybody in your life, whether this type of person or this type of person, it's the same gospel they all need. Are you ready to share it with them in a loving way where they can tell that this isn't just like a message to you, it's like your life. It's like what all your hope is in. It's like the best thing that ever happened to you when you heard the gospel and got saved and put your faith in Jesus. Are you ready to do that?
Go with me to Colossians, chapter 4. In Colossians, chapter 4, Paul is talking about prayer. He's talking about prayer. And he says in verse 2 of Colossians, chapter 4, he says, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving at the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ,” which is a way that Paul would often refer to this gospel, right? That for a long time, it’s been in prophecies, and it wasn't explicit. Jesus hadn't come yet, and now it's so it's this mystery, but now it's been made known. Now it's been revealed. Jesus has made it clear to us all that he is the Christ, that he is the one who died for our sins and rose on the third day so that we could have a new life in Jesus, right? “So that I might declare the mystery of the gospel on account of which I am in prison,” winning those outside the law in prison, right, “that I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak.” Right? That Paul's saying, hey, the Gospel, it's all about the gospel. And you know what I need to do? I need to be ready to make it clear to someone where they could understand the message of the gospel. Are you ready to make it clear? If you are, then are you actually praying regularly in your life? God open a door so that I could share the Gospel, so that I could make it clear to someone.
So, there's someone out there that right now they don't know they're confused about Jesus, and they've heard something that's off about Jesus. God, would you give me an opportunity so that I could share that with someone? Like, if it's all about the gospel and God wants us running the race, then we need to be praying, God open a door, right? Like, I'm here to knock on this person's door. I'm trying to befriend this coworker at work, or this person in my neighborhood, or this this parent that goes to my kid’s schools, or whoever it is, but God, I need you to open a door, and I want to walk through it with the gospel. I want to make it clear. I want to proclaim it wherever I'm at. I want to proclaim the gospel. It's all about the gospel.
Go back with me to 1 Corinthians 9. He says, it’s all I do. It’s all “for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them in its blessings.” But then look at what he says in verse 24, “Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” Okay, here's where it starts to get a little competitive. Is he saying, like, hey, you know how it works in a race, right? We’ve got these eight runners on the track. How many of them win? They're all winners, right? Orange County folks, right? Like, okay, no, I mean, one of them wins, right? Like, yeah. I mean, we're got these photos to where we're not even going to let there be ties, right? There's got to be a winner. One receives the prize. And then there's this command. This is not an optional thing, he says, “so run that you may obtain it.” Now this word for “obtain,” you could also translate it “seize,” right. Like when we are in Mark again, when we get to Mark, chapter 9, verse 18, when it's talking about the effect that a demon has on someone. It says the demon seizes him. Same word here in our text. So, there's this word for “win,” or there's this word for, like, the person who would “receive” the prize, but this word that Paul uses for “obtain” is like, “go get it.” It's like, “seize it.” It's like, “grab it, obtain it.”
When I was in high school, a friend of mine, his mom ran a catering company, a large catering company in the city of San Antonio, Texas. And what they did when they had their biggest event of the year was they put on the company picnic for the Baptist Health System, all the hospitals in San Antonio. So, they would have this ranch that they would throw these large-scale tens of thousands of employees coming out to the ranch for this company picnic. And at the center of it, all the main event that people, they're eating food. And what's the entertainment? Armadillo Races, right? And so, I got hired, you know, just on a kind of a short-term basis, to go and to work at this catering company. And when I get there, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm just there to work and earn some money as a high schooler. And she looks at me and she says, you know what you're going to do, you're going to call the Armadillo Races. And so, it's like, there are these four lanes and there are these armadillos. Do you know what an armadillo is? That thing that, like, goes up into the ball, and it's got the armored skin and everything. And I'm like, wait, wait, what am I going to do? And so, and they're like, there's someone who's showing me how to do it. And they're like, this is the microphone, and these are the lanes, and we’ve got these armadillos, and they're in these nice boxes. They're hanging out, they're chilling. And your job, you're going to have to give people gloves, because they're not going to touch armadillos, right? But you're going to give them the gloves, and then you're going to have to get the armadillo and bring it over to them so that we can have this race, and then you're going to call the race, and there's going to be a winner of the race, because that's the way races work. And what they taught me is that, like, here's this armadillo, and it's just kind of chilling over here, and he's like, put up your hand like this. And I'm like, okay. He's like, “You know what your hand is, it's a bird of prey, and what you need to do with your hand is you need to get the armadillo.” And he just went down and he grabbed it, and he is holding the armadillo in his hand, and I'm just like, teach me. Teach me the ways, right? And I remember, like, the first time I try it, it's not a bird of prey, it's like a bird of weak sausageness, right? And it's like, I'm trying to coax the armadillo, and it's not working. And the armadillo is like, like, doing like this, but then I actually learned how to do it, and it's like, boom, and I got it. And here's the armadillo. And it's like, I'm just all nice, boom armadillo, boom armadillo, and I'm seizing it like that is the word that is used here about winning the race. You're not going to leave it up to chance. You're not going to give an option to not win. You're going to seize it to obtain it. That's the way you need to run the race for souls, right?
Here's the problem, I think. With too many people who call themselves Christians, we're aiming to try not to win. Paul is saying, the command from the Lord is run in such a way that you're going to be the one who wins.
Let's get that down for point number three: Aim to win. Jesus has already won, and so we should aim to win right now. I know with every person we know that we're going to be trying to love them and trying to care about them and sharing the gospel with them. And people will reject the gospel. But are we thinking that if I keep sharing the gospel with people? I mean, are you the kind of person who's like, yeah, that wouldn't work, so I'm not even going to try. There are too many Christians who are like, the way that that we've been brought up in the in the church is, yeah, that doesn't work. I'm not even going to try, right? I mean, look what he says. He says, run in such a way that you may obtain it. And then he starts talking about these athletes, and these athletes, every athlete exercises self-control in all things, right? Self-control in all things. And I remember the days. Do you remember when we cracked the slow motion code in broadcast television, right in the Olympics, and it's like the sprinters, and we got Michael Johnson, and now it's like, slow mo, and you can see this guy, and it's not just he's running super fast, it's like, we're slowing it down, and we can see all the movements. And you're just like, dude, how many muscles does that guy have? Right? I thought this guy was a runner, but this dude, this dude's cut, this dude's like, got muscles all over the place. And here he is, and he's winning a gold medal. And he didn't just get that way by signing up for the race an hour beforehand, this man, exercises self-control. If you're going to win a race, you're going to have to be exercising a lot of self-control to get to that spot. A lot of saying no to yourself, right? I don't want to get out of bed. I get out of bed, right? I want to eat cupcakes. I don't eat cupcakes, right? I am going to be saying no to myself again and again and again so that I can actually win this race, right? Like, are there things that you need to say no to if you're going to run in such a way that you're going to win, right? What are the things that maybe you need to say no to?
I mean, some of us, we are up to date on all of our shows. But are you up to date on talking to people about Jesus? Maybe some of us, we’ve got people in our life that we know we're the one Christian they know. Are we up to date on really trying to pray for an open door with that person? And whatever we can, editing ourself in any way we need to, so that we can show them we care about them. They like to go to lunch at this restaurant that I don't like to go to at work, so I don't go to lunch with them, but that's where they're going to lunch. Maybe Are you willing to go to lunch with them and say, hey, has anyone ever explained to you the main message of the Bible? Have you ever heard the good news about Jesus? Can I share that with you? You might have to say no to yourself, right? Some of us, I mean, we didn't miss the gym last week, but we missed a lot of opportunities to talk to people about Jesus.
Some of us, we might have to exit like this whole thought of running, I do not like running, right? Like running is not my thing. I don't understand the shorts. I don't understand that. Like, I feel like I want to throw up, but I'm doing this anyways, right? Like that has never appealed to me, right? Like some of you, you're like, well, yeah, you feel like you're going to throw up the first time, that was enough for me, right? Like, I was out after that. I threw up long distance running, not for me, but that's like, if you're a runner, you know the cramp is coming. You know the discomfort is coming. And you know, like when that discomfort comes, when it gets hard, guess what I'm going to have to do? I'm going to have to say no to myself. I'm going to have to not give in to the difficulty, to the pain, to the discomfort, I'm going to have to keep going. That is something every single one of us will have to do. We will have to exercise self-control, because the way we want to think about it is this winning souls race. It's like a quick sprint. And I went and I knocked on those people's doors, and none of them got saved. So, I guess my work here is done. Oh, I started planting this church, and I remember the days when it was just like, souls, let's go get them, and I was going to get them. What about lately? Are you seeking to win souls today, or have you dropped out of the race, right?
We're going to have to exercise self-control in all things and it says that they do it, what do they do it for? A perishable wreath, but we are an imperishable, like, there are people that they are going to great lengths to harness their physique, to harness their body to do whatever it is athletically they want to do. And they're doing it for what? For nothing, something that's going to burn, something that's going to perish, something that, in the end, is going to mean absolutely nothing. But we, we're doing it for something that would never fade away. The fact that I could be in heaven, and I could be there with someone that I was so privileged to be able to use by the Lord to share the gospel with this person, and God was so gracious that he saved their souls. And now we are here, and we are worshiping the Lord together. The joy of that is never going to fade, my friends. You're not going to find many things in this life that compare to that. That's really worth running. For some of us, we're competitive, but the things we're competing about don't matter, and maybe we need to compete about those things less, and we need to get in the game that does matter, the game for souls. That's the race God wants us to win. They do it. We are an imperishable, so I do not run aimlessly, right? Some of us, like tonight, God is pointing the way to the track for souls. Some of us, you know what we're doing. Oh yeah, I'm running to the Snack Shack. Right? Where can I get some nachos with jalapenos? The race is over here, my friends, it's not about just feeding ourselves whatever we want. It's about the souls. Paul's like, I box, but I'm not, like, just beating the air. I'm a boxer. No, you’ve got to land punches like that. That's the reason you're doing it. I don't do that, but I discipline my body and I keep it under control, lest, after the preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified.
One of the things we're going to have to say no to again and again and again is temptations to sin, right? All kinds of temptations we're going to have to hey, you know, one of the many reasons why I want to be holy and set apart from sin is, I don't want to be disqualified. I don't want people thinking in the future, hey, he said it to me, but he didn't really believe it himself. He said I should follow Jesus. I should obey the Lord. But here this person is, and they're not really obeying the Lord. They're getting involved with sin, right? We're going to have to say no to ourselves. And the thing is, did you catch what he said in verse 24? “Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize.” If this is the race for souls, do you realize that other people are running, and they're running for the souls that you need to be running for, and there's other religions out there, and they're preaching a different Jesus, and they're in the race. There are other religions out there, and they're saying you can become a god one day, and they're giving up two years of their lives to go try to convince people to join them. Satan is in the race, and he loves these other religions, and he loves the distractedness of Christians, because he loves that Christians are not running the race for souls, because he's running the race for souls, and he's running to win. And we need to win.
And Jesus has won, and he wants you to participate in his victory. He wants you to see his power, that he can take someone who is very far from the Lord, someone who is very unlike you, and he can teach you how to have compassion on that soul and how to care about them. He could use a sermon where Paul gives his example to change the way that you think, so that you would think, hey, I need to stop thinking about myself so much, and I need to start caring more about other people, and I need to actually start having some kind of strategy. How am I running to win people? Are there things in my life that I need to change when I'm trying to win this person? Do I need to operate in a different way so that I can actually get to the gospel with this person, so I can actually share with them the good news about Jesus? And you know what Jesus wants? He wants you to experience his power, that it's like, wait, I didn't have it. I wasn't the person who could do it, but God did this, and this person got saved, and now they're here, and now they're worshiping Jesus. I never thought this person would get saved, but Jesus is here to win, and he wants us to be here to win, as well. We are here to win souls. The gospel is the power of God to save, so if we're doing whatever we need to do so that we can proclaim the gospel to people, you should have the expectation that you will win. Not just, oh, I'm going to try and I'm never going to succeed. I go. We're going to be out there trying to reach people with our ice cream truck, but nobody's going to really come. Nobody's life is going to get changed. That is not the story of our church. The story of our church is like, Jesus is there to win souls, and the gospel has power, and we have seen lives transformed.
And my question to you tonight is, are you going to join the many of us that are running this race, and some of you, you've been running this race for a while, and you're getting tired and you're getting weary, and you're thinking, maybe I should just focus on the people who are already Christians. God wants you to keep running. Say no to yourself, keep running for souls. Who Have you won to the Lord lately? Who are you striving for right now, that you're praying for an open door, that you're like, God, I want to win someone, and it's like I'm praying for this person, but I'm also willing to for God to open that door with another person, because I want to win souls. I want to see people get saved. We've been blessed with Paul's example, the person who seemed like he was maybe more effective at it, better at it, more used by the Lord than possibly any other person has written down the way he thought about winning souls. My question to you is, are we going to be willing to change our minds and imitate Paul's examples? Are we going to be willing to make ourselves a servant to all that we would become all things to all people, so that we could win them. That we're going to have to say no to ourselves and exercise self-control, but we're going to do what Jesus tells us to do. We're going to do what God wants us to do, which is to run to win. What are we here to do? My friends, we're here to win. We're here to win souls and to tell them the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, let me pray and ask that God would help us.
And God, we just lift up how powerless we are. God on our own, we are not strong, we are not wise. God, we are not the most persuasive people on this planet. But God, that's not what it's about. God, it's not about us, God, it's about us getting out of our own way so that we can tell people about you. And God, we're so thankful for your example that Paul imitated. God, how you were a friend to sinners. God, that you cared about them. God, you went and you spent time with them so that you could proclaim the good news to them. God, you stayed separate from the sin, but you cared about them. God, teach us to do that. God, use Paul's example. God, someone who is not divine, God, but who is human, who encounters all the nervousness and the temptation to be afraid, just like we do, but who is committed to keep the gospel the main thing, and to not make it about all these other things, but to make it about the good news of Jesus Christ. And so, God, I pray that we would go, that we would do the same. God, I just think about the millions of people within driving distance of our church. God that right now they're perishing. God, right now they are not on their way to glory, and you want to see them won, and that's why you have us here, because you desire all to be saved. God, you don't want them to perish. You want them to reach repentance. You want them to reach salvation, and you've sent us to deliver your message to them. And God, forgive us. Too many of us, God, we're not even trying. We're not even praying. We're not even striving at all. God, there's no effort being expended. God, change our minds here tonight. God, help us to see that with you we can win souls. Lord, it's not about us. It's about your gospel and your power. But let us do what you've called us to do. God, let us run so that we would win. And do this all for your glory, so that more people will praise you for your salvation, so that the name of Jesus would be exalted all throughout Southern California. God make this summer that is ahead of us the best summer of winning souls to Jesus Christ we've ever experienced. Do that for your name's sake, we pray. And all God's people said, Amen.