What if sharing your faith felt less like a pitch and more like a real conversation? We open with a candid look at why evangelism makes many of us anxious, then introduce a simple framework—Good–God–Gospel—that helps you move from desire to discipline without sounding scripted. It’s a posture of listening first, spotting God’s character in everyday life, and naturally pointing to Jesus.
From there, the service blooms into three baptism testimonies that carry the weight and wonder of grace. Liam speaks to the pressure of playing the “good kid,” hiding questions, and finally hearing that repentance and belief mean your past no longer defines you—Christ does. Bennett reminds us that quiet faith is not small faith, and that courage sometimes looks like going public when your story isn’t sensational. Silas shares a raw journey through adoption, confusion, double lives, and the hollow promise of control, before discovering rest in Jesus and learning to choose Him daily. Their voices together show how ordinary honesty becomes extraordinary witness.
Scripture anchors the moment. Isaiah 43 turns witness into a sacred identity, not a hobby. John 4’s woman at the well models the simplest testimony—come and see. Acts 1:8 assures us that the Spirit supplies power when our words feel weak. Along the way, a funeral story surprises us with hope and reminds us that a single faithful declaration can ripple through a room. We close with practical next steps: use encouragement cards to ground baptisms in prayer, practice Good–God–Gospel in everyday conversations, and treat your life like sworn testimony—truthful about the mess, clear about the mercy.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
Well, good morning, church.
Excited to hang out with you.
This is gonna be a really,really fun Sunday.
Couple of things as you'resitting, band.
I think y'all may help me withsomething in a minute.
I'm not sure.
Are you?
I think the ushers have them.
Bennett, maybe if you guys wantto head that way.
All right.
Uh, a couple of things veryquickly.
Whenever we do a baptism, wealways want to make these little
baptism cards available to youguys.
(01:54):
Hopefully, you can see themaround you.
You will also find them in thefoyer.
I love when an idea turns intoculture, and it's already
happened because as I waswalking through, I saw three
jars with names on it, and allof them already had cards of
encouragement.
Why do we do this?
Well, we're gonna have threefolks get baptized today.
Uh, you will get to hear threeof those stories.
(02:16):
Two are getting baptized in thefirst service, and we want to
send them out withencouragements so these little
cards exist so that you canshare with them a verse, a
scripture, a prayer, or anencouragement so that this day
lives on and longer for them.
So please take advantage ofthat.
If you need to find one, you'llsee them in the foyer afterward.
(02:37):
Hey, uh, we do thisoccasionally.
If you ever want to know some ofour hidden intentionalities here
at the church, this is one ofthem.
Every fifth Sunday, which todayis the fifth Sunday, we want to
do one or two things that are alittle bit unique.
And so what I want us to do, uhsee if uh see if my slides are
(02:57):
up and if you can hit them.
Uh, what I wanted to do was tocarry us from last week.
We talked about generosity andmove us more in into a
storytelling Sunday, but Irealized this.
Uh I I've been in ministry for along time.
I'd go with the one on themiddle if I had to guess.
Um, I've been in ministry a longtime, and there is something
(03:19):
that generally speaking makespeople pretty nervous when it
comes to being a Christian andbeing discipled.
It starts with an E and it endswith evangelism.
And there are a couple of peoplein the room who are like, who's
nervous to share their faith?
You're the weirdos in the room.
I just want you to know it.
Like, I love how weird God hasmade you for his kingdom.
(03:42):
All Christians are called to beweird in some capacity.
I love that about you.
But for a lot of believers, it'svery hard.
And so on this fifth Sunday, Ikind of wanted to give us a
little bit of a discipleshiptoolbox.
And last week we talked aboutthis concept of desire to
discipline to devotion.
And I just want to give you atool that will help you share
(04:03):
your faith.
And I want it to legitimately beeasy to do.
So if you've got your phone, I'mgonna put a QR code up in a
minute.
You can grab it and just sit onit for a second.
But what we talked about lastweek is as a Christian, part of
discipleship is us walkingthrough these three D's, having
a desire for something.
I want to reflect God's, youknow, characteristic.
(04:25):
Uh maybe when it comes toevangelism, we want to we want
to reflect God's story.
This is who God has been, fromGenesis to Revelation.
Pick any passage you want inscripture and you will find a
storytelling God.
But desire isn't enough.
If you've never had a desire toshare the story of God, that is
a great first step.
But eventually we need to get toa place where we have a
(04:46):
discipline, we have a plan, andwe're able to practice it with
joy.
Most believers, most churchgoersfall off the bandwagon when it
comes to evangelism from one totwo.
All of us want this.
We just want it to be so easy.
We want somebody to walk up tous on the street and be like,
will you explain the gospel ofJesus Christ to me so that we
(05:07):
can be like, hey, I evangelized.
But getting to that point takestime.
And just for those of you whowere not here, not all of us
will get to the third step inevery characteristic of God.
Not all of us will get to aplace where we delight in going
above and beyond.
The people who do that becomemissionaries and pastors and
(05:27):
evangelists and things likethis, but all of us should try
to get to number two.
So let me just give you quicklythis morning, as you get ready
to hear other people's stories,a very easy discipleship tool.
If you don't want to scan the QRcode or you have any trouble
with it, good God gospel, youcan just type that into a search
bar and it will pull up awebsite for you.
By the way, they also have anapp that you can put on your
(05:51):
phone.
If I were in the years past,this is how I used to explain to
people sharing the gospel.
In fact, we just had amembership class and we walked
through it God, man, ChristResponsor, Creation, Fall,
Redemption, Restoration.
I think those are really great.
When I was sitting around atable with a number of pastors
two weeks ago, someone broughtthis up and just said, it's been
(06:13):
life-giving to my congregation,and you guys may want to share
it with yours.
And the way that it works, goodGod gospel, is it takes a lot of
the pressure off.
And they say one of the thingswe realize about Christ was he
got into a lot of goodconversations with people.
That there wasn't a sort of ahook at the end of the line.
Jesus loved people, he loved thepeople he created in his own
(06:36):
image and wanted to talk to themabout their lives, even though
he knew it better than they did.
Think about that.
God wanted to hear theirperspective of their story, even
though he wrote it and knew whatwas coming in it next.
And then from those goodconversations, focus on having
good conversations, look for aplace where you can see a
(06:58):
characteristic of God.
This is not very hard.
Something of his nature.
And then from that place, pointto the gospel.
One of the things that I reallylike about this, I'll show you
their website here, if it'llallow me to.
One of the things that I reallylike is it allows us to simply
(07:20):
engage in well, that isn't it atall.
Man, see, I test this stuff somuch before y'all walk in.
I'm not even gonna fool with it.
Just go to the website.
Oh, wait, it worked.
There we go.
One of the things that I reallylike about this is sometimes
you're just gonna have a goodconversation.
And I don't know about you, butit can be difficult to feel like
(07:41):
a failure every time you engagewith somebody who isn't a
believer or you would like tosee take steps in their walk
with Christ or toward Christ,and it never feels like the
conversation lands there.
This allows you to realize thatsometimes it's just about having
a good conversation that laysgroundwork, then moving it on
into transitioning intoquestions, comments, attributes
(08:04):
of God, and then finally sharingthe gospel.
If you look this up, it willeven walk you through some of
those things that you can sharewith folks.
And so I wanted to take a momentand share that with you guys
just as a very easy way to putthis in your back pocket.
And one of the reasons isyesterday I was at one of the
(08:25):
best funerals I have ever beenat.
Um typically weddings are morefun than funerals.
Somebody asked me uh on thephone yesterday, do you like
weddings or funerals more?
And I said, Well, it depends.
I would rank it in threedifferent ways.
My favorite would be the funeralof a believer.
If I know that somebody has gonehome to be with the Lord, that
(08:48):
is an awesome celebratory time.
Then a wedding, and then afuneral of somebody who I'm
unsure about.
It's an opportunity to share thegospel with people who have a
lot of questions, but itwouldn't be my favorite.
And I wanted to let you guysknow uh that Steve Bland, who
came to church here, since wehave been at Impact, passed away
(09:08):
about a week ago.
This is a picture of Steve.
Many of you may recognize himfrom the foyer or uh being in
here, I had the privilege of uhofficiating his funeral
yesterday.
And my favorite part of thefuneral was my scariest part of
any funeral.
It was like hours before, okay?
When you're officiating afuneral, you like to have your
(09:30):
ducks in a row.
Hours before the family said,Hey, well, after the eulogy,
we'd like to do an open mic ifanyone wants to share.
That's when you start sweatingand move from like uh from
deodorant to anaperspirant.
Like, that's no joke becauseyou're the one who's in charge
of that service.
And they basically just said,let's see what's gonna happen.
(09:51):
All right.
So they they decided they wantto do open mic.
You want to honor the family?
You're like, absolutely.
I'm sitting in a funeral home inHamilton, and I say, if anybody
has a brief story that theywould like to share about Steve,
his life, or his faith, pleasefeel free to come forward.
About four people dead, and itwas unbelievable.
(10:14):
Unbelievable.
The first person came up andtalked uh about the the fact
that what they had most incommon was flight and aviation
and Jesus.
Next person came up and said,Steve had always been incredibly
generous to me, but I'll neverforget a conversation as a
teenager when the internet wentout one night before a term
(10:36):
paper was due, and I was like,Dad, I can't get it to work.
I can't get it to work.
And my dad, Steve, came to meand he said, I feel like I'm
letting you down.
It is my job to provide for you,and I feel like a failure.
And all these years later, thatmoment of a dad looking in the
eyes of a kid and saying, It ismy job to provide for you.
And I feel like he eventuallygot it working, turned paper
(10:58):
worked out, and she did great onit.
And then an older gentleman cameup and he said, I I don't have
much to say, but I feel like theLord would have me say this.
Steve attended a Bible studythree weeks ago.
He doesn't usually come to ourBible study, it was the very
first time he had shown up.
And Steve asked the guy who wasleading the Bible study if he
(11:21):
could share for a few momentsbefore we dove into God's word.
And the the leader of the Biblestudy said, Yeah, go for it,
Steve.
And Steve simply shared histestimony, the story of how he
came to Christ, and at the endof it, he said this I felt like
I needed to declare to a roomfull of people what Christ had
(11:43):
done for me, that my faith andtrust is in him, and that my
hope is in him in this life andin the life to come.
And the and the man just said, Ifelt like you guys needed to
hear that.
And he went and he sat down.
As we get ready to hear Liam'stestimony, Liam's gonna be
coming up first, as Liam getsready to share his testimony,
(12:05):
Christians in the room.
Can I just tell you this?
We are called to be people whoare ready to talk about good God
gospel 24-7-365.
But there is something uniquelyspecial about the moment you
stand in front of a congregationand you say, I'm declaring my
faith and trust in Jesus.
(12:26):
Here is my story.
And what I've told everyone isthis.
So please do not let me down.
You are in a room full ofcheerleaders, and there are one
of two people in the room.
There's somebody who needs tohear this because God is calling
them to himself, and your storywill be one more magnetic pull
that draws them to the cross ofJesus Christ, or it's a brother
(12:48):
or a sister who remembers thismoment.
And for some of them, it mayhave been many, many years ago,
but you are gonna sit in a roomof cheerleaders who are excited
about this step that you aretaking in your walk with Christ.
So as we watch people walk inand as we celebrate someone who
has walked into the next step,let's be a people who really
(13:10):
enjoy the stories that God iswriting all around us.
Would you guys welcome LiamAnderson up?
SPEAKER_02 (13:24):
Good morning, Mitri.
My name is Liam Anderson.
I was born into a Christian homewith two loving parents who love
Jesus.
I've always gone to church,either being in kids' church or
what we call a big church.
Throughout my entire life, I'vealways known who Jesus was and
the role he plays in my life.
I've been blessed to say thatI'm the brother to six of my
(13:45):
siblings.
Life is a little crazy, but Ilove it.
Having a brother that has hardtimes with certain things is
hard because I have to see myparents struggle and dealing
with how to handle him andmanaging a full house at the
same time.
So my entire life I have livedwith watching my parents fight
to figure out how to help him.
It not only took a toll on them,but it took a toll on me as
(14:06):
well.
Sometimes it was hard to talk towith my parents about stuff that
I was going through because ofthe things that my brothers were
going through.
So I kept it to myself.
I feared that if I told themthese things, it would break
them and make them feel likethey failed me.
So I had to make it seem like Iwas a perfect child that loved
Jesus and didn't have anythingwrong with me.
(14:27):
And that made it a struggle withmy walk with Christ.
Because I was doing it to pleasemy parents and make them happy
because that's all I wanted, wasto please the people around me,
but I never wanted it formyself.
I lived a life where I knew whoJesus was, knew all all about
him, but didn't love him anddidn't give my whole heart to
him.
I fell into sin and regret thatpushed me to where I didn't want
(14:48):
to be at church.
I didn't want to have the talkswith my mom about when she asked
me when I was going to getbaptized, and I was crumbling.
I was still showing theappearance of how I love Jesus
and how I'm a good kid, but downinside I didn't want that
Christian life.
But I was thanking it to makeother people happy.
I could never find true joy.
I could only find happiness formoments.
(15:10):
Finding out the struggles thatmy mom was facing took a toll on
me.
It hurt me so much because themother that I have was hurting
inside, and it is the hardestthing for me to know that my
mom, my bet, was struggling withsomething that I could to do
nothing to help her.
So that pain that I was feelingwas put into other things that I
(15:31):
could that I thought would easethe pain, but it didn't.
I went to our Laguna Beach triplike I do every year.
This year was different becauseI had no intentions of growing
my relationship with God, butall the intentions to have fun
and just enjoy my time with myfriends.
But this is when God swooped inand showed me the light that
I've been needing to see allthis time.
I was listening to Thomas preachabout Jonah and he said a line
(15:54):
that I'll never forget.
If you repent and believe, nomistake or some serious mistakes
will define you.
Christ defines you.
This just made me want thatthing for myself and not because
someone else wants it for me.
I have now become a truebeliever and lover of Jesus
Christ and will never stoploving him.
I've been growing in my faithever since.
(16:14):
I always had questions that Iwanted to be answered about
Jesus and the Bible, but I wasalways afraid that I was the
only one that ever thought aboutthem.
But when I finally asked andwasn't afraid of being judged
for what I had to ask, I wasn'tthe only one thinking about the
same things.
I found out that I should neverfeel judged about questions that
I wanted to be answered.
God has truly shown me how greathe is and how he works wondrous
(16:37):
deeds through his word.
In Hebrews eleven it says,Without faith it is impossible
to please him, for whoever woulddraw near to God must believe
that he exists and that herewards those who seek him.
I have been rewarded withknowing what true joy is in my
heavenly Father, because withoutGod and the love of God, people
think that they can find joy inother things.
But that is not true joy.
(16:57):
That is happiness that ismomentary.
It will not last forever, butthe only everlasting thing is
God's love for me and the joythat He brings me to the very
(17:43):
proud moment.
SPEAKER_05 (17:51):
And we have we just love you so much.
So after hearing your testimony,hearing all this, and as Christ
calls us in Matthew 28, 19, um,we want to baptize you in the
(18:13):
name of the Father and the Sonand the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_06 (18:27):
I don't know if you guys know this or not.
SPEAKER_00 (18:28):
Um there's a protocol for how to do a baptism
to serve people well.
Uh they hold their nose, theyhold their arms so that you have
something to hold on to,especially if it's a big guy,
you want something.
I I'm like walking it throughwith Jan on the phone yesterday,
and he's like, he said, Well, Iknow how to dunk my kid.
I got it.
(18:49):
Been doing it a long time.
Congratulations, Liam.
Please remember there are cardsuh waiting there for you to
share a scripture andencouragement or a prayer.
Uh before we have the next onecome up, I'd like to point to a
scripture as I encourage us notto just be remembered, Psalm 66,
16.
The goal is not just for us tohear, the goal is for us to tell
(19:10):
our stories as well.
God has always worked throughtelling stories, and he's always
worked through empoweringwitnesses.
Will you guys hit the littlebutton back there for thanks?
This is Isaiah 43, 10.
Now I want you to understandsomething.
Testimony is not just a churchyword.
(19:31):
Uh, when we think of a testimonyand you don't think of the word
at church, where else in lifemight it come up?
Okay, in court, right?
This is also where we see theconcept of witnesses.
In fact, in the old testament,the term witness and a testimony
would have been in a courtroomsetting.
(19:51):
And I want to invite you in tothis one passage in Isaiah
chapter 43.
You are my witnesses, declaresthe Lord, that you may know and
believe me and understand that Iam He.
In the Old Testament, whatIsaiah the prophet is doing is
he is opening up a courtroomscene in this book of the Bible.
(20:12):
And there are a couple of thingsthat are happening.
One, God is calling his peopleonto the witness stand.
And he's asking them questionslike, Have I made promises?
Yes, Lord, you have madepromises.
Have I kept my promises?
Yes, Lord, you have kept yourpromises.
Can I be trusted?
(20:33):
Lord, you can always be trusted.
You have kept every promise youhave ever made.
And then he turns, and while thewitnesses, while the testifiers
are on the stand, he says, thenlet the nations know.
Deuteronomy would say, Take thiswitness to your children.
God does not just call us, hegives us a new identity.
(20:58):
If you are a Christian,according to this passage, if
you're a Christian, it doesn'tmatter what church you go to.
It doesn't matter if you're amember or not a member of that
church, it doesn't matter ifyou've been a Christian for 20
years or 20 minutes.
The moment we become a believerin Christ, our identity shifts.
Why?
Because we move from one side ofthe gavel drop in a courtroom to
(21:19):
the other.
We move from guilty to notguilty.
And at the same time, God says,don't just take the benefits of
my payment for you.
Join the team.
Take the stand.
Tell the story.
Let me ask your life questionsthrough the highs of blessings
that I give you.
Let me ask your life questionsthrough the lows and the
(21:43):
difficulties that I allow.
Because in all of these things,you are my witnesses.
You have taken the stand for anonlooking world to see.
A testimony isn't just a churchyword about telling a story.
It's one of test it's one ofScripture's oldest patterns.
(22:03):
All through the Old Testament,God calls his people onto the
witness stand.
At Sinai, the law itself iscalled the testimony.
In Deuteronomy, parents arecommanded to tell their children
the story of Egypt and the Godwho rescued them.
Joshua, which we just finished,gathers the tribe together and
(22:23):
says, You are witnesses, buildthese stones up so that when
people walk by, they say, Why isthis here?
And you have one moreopportunity to hop on the stand
in the courtroom and say, Thisis my God who makes promises.
This is my God who keeps them.
The Psalms would echo the samething.
Come and hear, and I will tellyou what God has done for my
(22:46):
soul.
And as you see in Isaiah, he'sopening up the doors to the
courtroom and inviting the worldto look in.
The pattern is unmistakable.
God saves people and then hecalls them to speak.
There is no place in the Biblefor someone to respond to
(23:06):
salvation and find themselves insilence.
None.
All throughout scripture, we arecalled to be testifiers.
And so you'll hear two more ofthose testimonies now.
And the first one is BennettMask.
If you guys would welcomeBennett up.
(23:35):
Keep trying.
Don't give up.
Hello?
There you go.
SPEAKER_03 (23:39):
Okay, my name is Bennett Mask, and this is my
testimony.
To start, this wasn't an easytestimony for me to write
because I thought I had to havea crazy story about addictions
or drugs.
But I realized that a testimonyis about how God worked and is
working in my life.
I started writing this testimonyon my own at night when my
parents thought I was alreadyasleep.
It took it was the night thatCharlie Kirk had been shot and
(24:00):
killed.
I felt angry and confused aboutwhat had happened and why it
happened that day.
The week before, my dad and Iwatched a few of his videos and
we were talking aboutChristianity.
His death motivated me to sharemy faith in Christ boldly, like
he did.
Every time I listened to Charliespeak about Christianity before
he was killed, I thought, howcan people not believe
(24:21):
Christianity is true?
You see, I grew up in aChristian household, but it was
really just my parents' faith.
Even though I believed Jesusmade me, I did not take personal
responsibility for my faith.
I had not taken the time toacknowledge and study the Bible
and the gospel for myself.
When I was nine years old, Iwent to a vacation Bible school
at New Hope Baptist Church inPeace Tree City, where I really
(24:43):
understood the gospel.
I understood that the only wayto know God and have a
relationship with him was by himdying on the cross and saving me
for my sins.
I realized someone had to die inplace for my sins, and I'm
learning his resurrection showedme that Jesus conquered my sin
and death.
But there was a huge transitionin my life right after that,
(25:04):
where my family moved from PeaceTree City, the only place I
called home, the Pine Mountain.
This was a tough move for mebecause of how connected I was
at my school.
We prayed that my new schoolwould be a great fit for me, but
it really wasn't.
I ended up moving schoolshalfway through the year and
finally felt settled.
I moved after moving schools, Ilooked back and realized how
good God is and how He had anultimate plan for me.
(25:26):
This hard time taught me to bemore empathetic to others that
weren't connected because Iwasn't.
This has allowed me to noticeothers who are struggling.
Through all this, I've beenmemorizing Joshua 1.9, which
says, Be strong and courageous,do not be fearful, and do not be
dismayed, for the Lord your Godis with you wherever you go.
This verse has made me realizethat God will always be with me
(25:47):
through the hard times of mylife.
While all this was happening, Istarted going to Midtree Youth,
where I met Thomas Crocky.
He's been such a contributor inmy life, and I can't thank him
enough.
He did not pay me to say that.
(26:14):
I also seem to think more aboutGod in my everyday life and what
he's done for me.
Lately I've realized I've beenfollowing the Lord but haven't
been baptized.
Charlie Kirk once said, I wantto be remembered for courage of
my faith.
That's the most important thing.
The most important thing is myfaith.
Hearing this, I also want myfaith to be the most important
thing as well.
This is me taking a faith stepinto the next chapter of my life
(26:36):
and what God has in store forme.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (26:50):
So Bennett is the second of three um stories.
Two other guys were baptizedtoday.
Um the first guy, Liam, that weheard from, he uh had a
testimony of uh grew up in kindof a Christian household and he
strayed.
He strayed into very tangiblesin, outright um rebellion, and
the Lord brought him back.
(27:11):
And the third guy that we willhear from, Silas, um, his story
starts very far from where he istoday, physically in a different
country, in a different um placewhere he's adopted in.
Bennett sits in the middle ofthese two guys sharing a story
about how he was generally agood kid, generally a good
person.
(27:31):
And oftentimes we in the church,this is the hardest story for us
to get on the stage.
This is the hardest story for usto get into the baptismal
because what we as a church aredoing is convincing good good um
people that they're not goodenough to earn their salvation,
that they're not good enough tobe right with God, and Bennett
(27:51):
has recognized that, he realizesthat, he he knows um his need
for a savior, and he knows thatJesus uh paid that price for
him.
And so, Bennett, with your uhconfession of faith in the
Father, the Son, and the HolySpirit, it is my honor and my
joy to baptize you.
SPEAKER_00 (28:20):
When Bennett began sharing his story, one of the
first things that he said issomething that probably many of
us have heard or felt.
I thought if I was gonna sharemy story, I needed to have drug
addiction, I needed to havesomething, which which is a
funny thing as a parent.
Um, I'm looking at people whohave shared their testimony in
this room.
And one of the really fun thingsis when you hear a testimony
(28:42):
that is so wild and out of theblue that you're just like, oh
my gosh, that's insane.
And yet every parent in the roomis praying that their child's
testimony is like the mostboring testimony ever.
Uh every parent's like, lettheir biggest thing be that
their uh tree house burned downand they did not know how the
(29:02):
world was going to go on.
One of my favorite passages whenit comes to us being a
storytelling people comes out ofJohn chapter four.
It would be well known to youguys.
A woman, uh, you know, I hatesaying that.
You may be new to the church,you've never heard this story.
I hope this becomes a well-knownstory if you don't know it
already.
A woman from Samaria came todraw water, and Jesus said to
(29:27):
her, Give me a drink.
Now she looks at Jesus and shesays, Why are you asking me?
I'm a Samaritan and you're aJew.
We're not really supposed tohang out.
Uh like one of us could get introuble.
Our people do due to racism andsocioeconomic politics.
We're not supposed to talk,we're not supposed to hang out.
You're a male, I'm a female.
Like, this is not supposed to behow conversation works.
(29:51):
But what does Jesus do?
He begins a really goodconversation.
He starts talking with her aboutlife.
He starts talking with her aboutfaith.
She begins asking questionsabout worship.
And Jesus looks at her and helooks at this well, and he says,
I'd like you to get me somewater.
And she says, This isn't evensupposed to be happening.
(30:12):
And then Jesus said, Everyonewho drinks of this water will be
thirsty again.
But whoever drinks of the waterthat I will give him will never
be thirsty again.
The water that I will give himwill become in him a spring of
water, welling up to eternallife.
Now she doesn't understandwhat's happening at this point.
(30:34):
She looks to him and literallysays this question Do you have a
better well than the one thatJacob put in?
Like, do you have some waterpurification source that we
don't know about?
Do you have a technology?
It's not clicking.
Jesus is just having a reallygood conversation, but it's
beginning to point to something.
This woman in her life has goneto the well of hope, the well of
(30:58):
relationships, the well oftrying to make a meaningful life
multiple times.
And what Jesus is saying to heris this if you'll quit trying to
write your story, I've got abetter one written.
If you will put down the pen ofdeciding what every one of your
days and every one of yourdecisions is supposed to look
like, if you would live insurrender, which is what Bennett
(31:19):
just talked about, and let mewrite your story, it would be a
better story than you couldpossibly imagine.
And Jesus said to her, Go callyour husband and come here.
Now, does Jesus know her storybefore he begins it?
Is it fascinating that Jesuslets us talk?
It is a fascinating thing thatGod wants to listen to us when
(31:39):
we pray.
We bring no new information tothe conversation.
Have you ever had a conversationwith your kid when you are busy
and you already know how theconversation is going to begin
and the body paragraphs and theconclusion?
Or are y'all just better peoplethan me?
And you're not like, uh-huh,uh-huh.
Get to the punchline, we'rethere, and now here is why you
(32:00):
can't have spend the nightcompany.
That's usually how it like playsout.
Jesus, sorry, Jesus knows thewhole story and he asks
questions.
This is a fascinating reality ofthe God that we love.
Jesus said to her, Go, call yourhusband and come here.
And the woman looks at him andshe says, I have no husband.
(32:24):
Jesus says, You're right insaying it, but you haven't told
the whole truth.
You've had five husbands, andthe man that you're with now
isn't your husband.
How has writing your own storygone?
He would say to her.
And he would say to all of us.
And as soon as Jesus revealsthis, I know you, I care about
(32:46):
you, and I have a better storyfor your life.
All of us have to decide if webelieve him or not.
Are we gonna go to the well ofour own making, or will we trust
him?
So the woman left her water jarand went away into town and said
to the people, Come here, and Iwant you to see something.
(33:08):
Jesus remains there.
She leaves her water jug behind,walks into the village.
This would be a woman ofdisrepute.
This would be somebody whocrowds do not listen to.
They talk behind her back.
That's who this woman is.
She has done nothing but madetrouble.
She has not had the story thather mom or her dad wanted for
(33:28):
her.
But here she comes into the townand she says, Hey, I know that I
may never have had anythingworth you listening to before.
I know that many of you havediscredited my story because of
the life that I have lived.
I want you to come and I wantyou to see someone who told me
all I ever did.
What is fascinating about this?
(33:49):
That God knows her, that Godcares.
They went out of the town andthey were coming to him.
Jesus looks at his disciples.
I want you to picture this.
The woman leaves, jar still onthe well.
She walks in and gathers theattention of a crowd in a
village.
While that's happening, thedisciples go by very confused.
(34:11):
Why is Jesus talking to thiswoman?
Doesn't he know it's going toruin his ministry to talk to
her?
This is going to make peoplequestion him, but not in the
right kind of way.
The disciples get there, andhere is what Jesus says as
crowds are beginning to come.
You can see them off in thedistance.
This group moving slowly towardthe well.
And Jesus says, Do you not saythere are yet four months and
(34:36):
then comes the harvest?
We live in an agrarian culture.
Don't we talk about this?
Don't we look forward toThanksgiving?
Don't we look forward to theharvest?
Don't we say we have planted andGod has watered and the sun has
risen and there has been growth?
So let's get together andcelebrate the God of the
harvest.
Do we not say this?
(34:56):
He says to his followers.
Look, I tell you.
I want you to imagine this.
The woman has left and the crowdis coming, and Jesus looks at
the twelve and he says, Look.
Do you see what's happeningright now in your midst?
Look.
Lift up your eyes and see thatthe fields are white for
(35:19):
harvest.
Many unexpected people from thattown believed in him.
Please notice this.
Because of one of the mostregular stories you could ever
tell.
Do you want to know what hertestimony was?
(35:40):
I went to church and I felt likeGod knew me.
You should come in here too.
That was her testimony.
Her testimony was there's a man,Jesus, who knows everything
about me and he still cares.
He knows all my brokenness andhe doesn't turn away.
He knows that I have nothinggood to give this world, and he
treats me like I'm valuable.
(36:02):
Because of the woman'stestimony, many Samaritans from
that town believed.
So when the Samaritans came tohim, they asked him to stay with
them, and he stayed there twodays, and many more believed
because of his word.
They said to the woman, It is nolonger because of what you said
(36:25):
that we believe, for we haveheard for ourselves, and we know
that this is indeed the Saviorof the world.
Everyone who comes toward this,and I know that there are many
of you in the room who have goneto the class and you're thinking
it through.
I know that we have two or threemore testimonies in the months
ahead.
I know that there are many ofyou in the room who are thinking
(36:45):
this.
I've been going to church fortoo long and I'm too old.
It's going to be too bizarre ifI say, hey, I'm 43 years old and
I've never been baptized.
God knows we're good together.
Like we've got it figured out.
I know that that happens in asetting like this.
But do you realize what God putson display?
Many people believe because aperson told a simple story of
(37:09):
how God entered into their lifeand cared about them, and then
they came and heard the goodnews of Christ.
For we have heard for ourselves,and we know that this is indeed
the Savior of the world.
And for all of us who arebelievers, this is what happens.
(37:30):
In the Old Testament, we werewitnesses that took the stand.
In the New Testament, Jesussays, Now get off the stand and
go into the world.
But you will receive power whenthe Holy Spirit has come upon
you, and you will be mywitnesses.
In Jerusalem, but don't stopthere.
(37:51):
And to all Judea, don't stopthere.
To Samaria, where this womanwas, but don't stop there.
And to the end of the world.
She simply told her story.
A story that included guilt andshame and embarrassment.
But more importantly, it was astory that included Jesus.
(38:13):
And when we take this with us,we get off the stand as
witnesses and we go into anon-looking world.
And God guarantees that He willfill us with the Spirit to have
the ability to witness.
And so as we get ready to hearour final story, I just want to
(38:34):
encourage you with this.
I don't know where you are onthis today.
I hope you at least have adesire to share the story of
what God has done.
I hope that you would move intohaving a plan and practicing it
with joy, whether you do goodGod gospel or something else,
that you would realize that itis normal stories that include
Jesus that change towns andvillages and the world.
(38:58):
Let us be a people who lovetelling these stories, even as
we get ready to hear one morefrom Silas Hodge about grace
stronger than all my sin.
Silas, I'm looking for you.
Where are you at?
There you go.
SPEAKER_04 (39:21):
Hey Mitri.
My name is Silas Hodge.
Um I'm originally from Uganda.
I was adopted when I was four.
I don't know how manyfour-year-olds have vivid
memories, but seeing whitepeople for the first time will
do it.
(39:42):
It wasn't long until myextroverted big back self was
giving my new siblings, Landry,um Jeb, and Ruthie, piggyback
rides and eating everything onInsight.
I became the son of Adam andJill Hodge and came to America
in 2009.
With my adoption came lies,confusion.
And confusion, yeah.
Whether it was the adoptionagency, my biological parents,
(40:04):
or both, there was a fabricatedstory about my father's death
and my mother abandoning me.
That story allowed me to beadopted, but I remembered seeing
my dad before I left, so Icouldn't accept that he died.
When the truth finally came outthat he was alive, more evidence
pointed to the possibility thatthe adoption may have been
motivated by money rather thanmy well-being.
(40:26):
We learned all of this when Iwas seven.
The crazy part, um, mybiological parents wanted me
back because the deal they hadmade didn't work out.
Um my adopted parents, Adam andJill, putting my best interests
first, asked me if I wanted toreturn.
And honestly, that that's wheneverything began to unravel.
(40:47):
I don't underst I didn'tunderstand it at the time, but
now I see that fear and doubttook over.
I began fearing that they didn'tlove me.
I doubted they actually wantedme.
I tried to turn my biologicalparents into the good guys
because I couldn't accept thepossibility that they might have
given me away for money.
But I was too afraid to bringthese questions and feelings
(41:08):
into the light.
So they turned into fears thatled me to live two different
lives.
On the outside, I tried to beperfect and obedient, hoping to
earn love and approval.
That was one life.
The face I showed the world tomy friends.
Um but at home, I was theopposite.
I became annoying, controlling,agitating, a bully, a liar.
(41:30):
Just truly frustrating.
Deep down, I was testing theirlove.
Will you still want me if I makemyself unlovable?
This landed me in trouble almostevery day.
I would come home from schoolalready in trouble for something
I'd done in the 30 minutesbetween waking up and getting to
school.
If my parents had ChatGBT backthen, they would have been
(41:51):
asking for new creativepunishments because they had
already used them all.
Eventually, pornography becamemy way of dealing with the
frustration, pain, andconfusion.
It felt like the only worldwhere I was in control, but that
wasn't true.
It was controlling me.
It led me into foolish choices.
By the age 12, the fruit ofpornography and years of
(42:13):
rebellion brought me to a placewhere I was no longer trusted in
my own home.
So I was sent to a boardingschool in the middle of nowhere,
uh, French camp, Mississippi.
There the Lord opened my eyes.
I saw a world of brokenness,brokenness around me.
So many kids had no fathers orhad fathers who were abusive or
(42:33):
addicted.
But God humbled me and helped mesee the blessings he had given
me, a family who did love me,the opportunity to live in
America.
And after a year at a boardingum at the boarding school, the
vice president of the schooltook me into his family and
discipled me and invested intome for the next four years of
(42:53):
high school.
That season taught me how toread the word grown integrity
and serve.
I haven't mentioned Jesus yet.
I did it on purpose, because ifyou were hearing my story, you
might assume Jesus saved me atFrench camp, since that's where
things seemed to start comingtogether.
But that's not where Jesus choseto meet me.
Jesus came into my life sixmonths before I was sent to the
(43:17):
boarding school.
I wasn't seeking him.
I wasn't I was living inrebellion while looking good on
the outside.
I could play the partphysically, but my heart was
tired, tired of deception, tiredof lies, tired of walls.
Come to me all who labor andheavy laden, and I will give you
rest.
That's Matthew 11, 28.
(43:37):
Um and I believed, I believedJesus when he said that.
I gave my heart to him that day,but as will has preached through
Joshua.
Following Jesus is a choice wemust make every single day.
I'll be the first to admit thatI choose my flesh more often
than I'd like to admit.
Some days my selfishness hurtspeople, and some days the spirit
(43:58):
empowers me to love them.
I've learned not to let theseverity of my sin make me doubt
the grace of God, but also notlet the grace of God make me
forget the severity of my sin.
I'm I'm thankful that the Lordhas given me his spirit who
guides, convicts, and comfortsme.
I'm grateful for his word whichrealigns my heart to what is
(44:19):
true.
I'm blessed to have fellowbelievers, the church who walk
alongside me, encouraging me andbuilding me up.
And thank you, Impact 360, it'sa gap year program that I was
able to do last year for afruitful, a year of fruitful
study of God's word and theworld around me.
Um God, thank you for beingfaithful to finish what you
(44:40):
start, because Christ wasobedient to finish what he
started, giving his life so thatI may have life.
I know you will complete thegood work you began in me,
sanctifying me and making me alittle bit more like Christ day
by day.
SPEAKER_00 (45:14):
If there are things that you could leave out that
you chose to include, and Ithink that was a gift, I would
also say recognizing that wehave so many adoptive and foster
care families.
One of the greatest realities ofSilas's story is that as
believers enter into the messthat is broken families and
(45:37):
adoption and fostering, one ofthe great gifts and one of the
great realities is every one ofus is an orphan in need of a new
father.
And that is true for those of uswho have simple stories, and it
is true for those of us who haveincredibly complex stories.
And I just want you to know howmuch I appreciate you sharing
that.
Um, Silas, because of your faithin Jesus Christ, we baptize you
(46:02):
in the name of the Father andthe Son and the Holy Spirit.
If you guys haven't had theopportunity uh to meet or love
on Silas, I would encourage youto do so.
Band, if you guys want to goahead and start coming this way.
(46:24):
This morning has been a morningof sharing stories.
I've done what I could on thepastoral side, on the scriptural
side to encourage us with this.
Let's be a people who never stopbeing stretched by the Spirit of
God.
Let's be a people who sing out.
Let's be a people who pray forand receive prayer.
If you need prayer, if you wantto celebrate, we'll have some
(46:46):
folks on the back porch to praywith you.
But let's be a people who tellour stories.
Anytime Jesus enters in, it is agreat, great story.
So let's be a people who shareit.
If you would go ahead and standas we get ready to sing and give
God the breath that He has givenus back to Him.
Well, good morning, church.
Excited to hang out with you.
This is gonna be a really,really fun Sunday.
Couple of things as you'resitting, band.
I think y'all may help me withsomething in a minute.
I'm not sure.
Are you?
I think the ushers have them.
Bennett, maybe if you guys wantto head that way.
All right.
Uh, a couple of things veryquickly.
Whenever we do a baptism, wealways want to make these little
baptism cards available to youguys.
(01:54):
Hopefully, you can see themaround you.
You will also find them in thefoyer.
I love when an idea turns intoculture, and it's already
happened because as I waswalking through, I saw three
jars with names on it, and allof them already had cards of
encouragement.
Why do we do this?
Well, we're gonna have threefolks get baptized today.
Uh, you will get to hear threeof those stories.
(02:16):
Two are getting baptized in thefirst service, and we want to
send them out withencouragements so these little
cards exist so that you canshare with them a verse, a
scripture, a prayer, or anencouragement so that this day
lives on and longer for them.
So please take advantage ofthat.
If you need to find one, you'llsee them in the foyer afterward.
(02:37):
Hey, uh, we do thisoccasionally.
If you ever want to know some ofour hidden intentionalities here
at the church, this is one ofthem.
Every fifth Sunday, which todayis the fifth Sunday, we want to
do one or two things that are alittle bit unique.
And so what I want us to do, uhsee if uh see if my slides are
(02:57):
up and if you can hit them.
Uh, what I wanted to do was tocarry us from last week.
We talked about generosity andmove us more in into a
storytelling Sunday, but Irealized this.
Uh I I've been in ministry for along time.
I'd go with the one on themiddle if I had to guess.
Um, I've been in ministry a longtime, and there is something
(03:19):
that generally speaking makespeople pretty nervous when it
comes to being a Christian andbeing discipled.
It starts with an E and it endswith evangelism.
And there are a couple of peoplein the room who are like, who's
nervous to share their faith?
You're the weirdos in the room.
I just want you to know it.
Like, I love how weird God hasmade you for his kingdom.
(03:42):
All Christians are called to beweird in some capacity.
I love that about you.
But for a lot of believers, it'svery hard.
And so on this fifth Sunday, Ikind of wanted to give us a
little bit of a discipleshiptoolbox.
And last week we talked aboutthis concept of desire to
discipline to devotion.
And I just want to give you atool that will help you share
(04:03):
your faith.
And I want it to legitimately beeasy to do.
So if you've got your phone, I'mgonna put a QR code up in a
minute.
You can grab it and just sit onit for a second.
But what we talked about lastweek is as a Christian, part of
discipleship is us walkingthrough these three D's, having
a desire for something.
I want to reflect God's, youknow, characteristic.
(04:25):
Uh maybe when it comes toevangelism, we want to we want
to reflect God's story.
This is who God has been, fromGenesis to Revelation.
Pick any passage you want inscripture and you will find a
storytelling God.
But desire isn't enough.
If you've never had a desire toshare the story of God, that is
a great first step.
But eventually we need to get toa place where we have a
(04:46):
discipline, we have a plan, andwe're able to practice it with
joy.
Most believers, most churchgoersfall off the bandwagon when it
comes to evangelism from one totwo.
All of us want this.
We just want it to be so easy.
We want somebody to walk up tous on the street and be like,
will you explain the gospel ofJesus Christ to me so that we
(05:07):
can be like, hey, I evangelized.
But getting to that point takestime.
And just for those of you whowere not here, not all of us
will get to the third step inevery characteristic of God.
Not all of us will get to aplace where we delight in going
above and beyond.
The people who do that becomemissionaries and pastors and
(05:27):
evangelists and things likethis, but all of us should try
to get to number two.
So let me just give you quicklythis morning, as you get ready
to hear other people's stories,a very easy discipleship tool.
If you don't want to scan the QRcode or you have any trouble
with it, good God gospel, youcan just type that into a search
bar and it will pull up awebsite for you.
By the way, they also have anapp that you can put on your
(05:51):
phone.
If I were in the years past,this is how I used to explain to
people sharing the gospel.
In fact, we just had amembership class and we walked
through it God, man, ChristResponsor, Creation, Fall,
Redemption, Restoration.
I think those are really great.
When I was sitting around atable with a number of pastors
two weeks ago, someone broughtthis up and just said, it's been
(06:13):
life-giving to my congregation,and you guys may want to share
it with yours.
And the way that it works, goodGod gospel, is it takes a lot of
the pressure off.
And they say one of the thingswe realize about Christ was he
got into a lot of goodconversations with people.
That there wasn't a sort of ahook at the end of the line.
Jesus loved people, he loved thepeople he created in his own
(06:36):
image and wanted to talk to themabout their lives, even though
he knew it better than they did.
Think about that.
God wanted to hear theirperspective of their story, even
though he wrote it and knew whatwas coming in it next.
And then from those goodconversations, focus on having
good conversations, look for aplace where you can see a
(06:58):
characteristic of God.
This is not very hard.
Something of his nature.
And then from that place, pointto the gospel.
One of the things that I reallylike about this, I'll show you
their website here, if it'llallow me to.
One of the things that I reallylike is it allows us to simply
(07:20):
engage in well, that isn't it atall.
Man, see, I test this stuff somuch before y'all walk in.
I'm not even gonna fool with it.
Just go to the website.
Oh, wait, it worked.
There we go.
One of the things that I reallylike about this is sometimes
you're just gonna have a goodconversation.
And I don't know about you, butit can be difficult to feel like
(07:41):
a failure every time you engagewith somebody who isn't a
believer or you would like tosee take steps in their walk
with Christ or toward Christ,and it never feels like the
conversation lands there.
This allows you to realize thatsometimes it's just about having
a good conversation that laysgroundwork, then moving it on
into transitioning intoquestions, comments, attributes
(08:04):
of God, and then finally sharingthe gospel.
If you look this up, it willeven walk you through some of
those things that you can sharewith folks.
And so I wanted to take a momentand share that with you guys
just as a very easy way to putthis in your back pocket.
And one of the reasons isyesterday I was at one of the
(08:25):
best funerals I have ever beenat.
Um typically weddings are morefun than funerals.
Somebody asked me uh on thephone yesterday, do you like
weddings or funerals more?
And I said, Well, it depends.
I would rank it in threedifferent ways.
My favorite would be the funeralof a believer.
If I know that somebody has gonehome to be with the Lord, that
(08:48):
is an awesome celebratory time.
Then a wedding, and then afuneral of somebody who I'm
unsure about.
It's an opportunity to share thegospel with people who have a
lot of questions, but itwouldn't be my favorite.
And I wanted to let you guysknow uh that Steve Bland, who
came to church here, since wehave been at Impact, passed away
(09:08):
about a week ago.
This is a picture of Steve.
Many of you may recognize himfrom the foyer or uh being in
here, I had the privilege of uhofficiating his funeral
yesterday.
And my favorite part of thefuneral was my scariest part of
any funeral.
It was like hours before, okay?
When you're officiating afuneral, you like to have your
(09:30):
ducks in a row.
Hours before the family said,Hey, well, after the eulogy,
we'd like to do an open mic ifanyone wants to share.
That's when you start sweatingand move from like uh from
deodorant to anaperspirant.
Like, that's no joke becauseyou're the one who's in charge
of that service.
And they basically just said,let's see what's gonna happen.
(09:51):
All right.
So they they decided they wantto do open mic.
You want to honor the family?
You're like, absolutely.
I'm sitting in a funeral home inHamilton, and I say, if anybody
has a brief story that theywould like to share about Steve,
his life, or his faith, pleasefeel free to come forward.
About four people dead, and itwas unbelievable.
(10:14):
Unbelievable.
The first person came up andtalked uh about the the fact
that what they had most incommon was flight and aviation
and Jesus.
Next person came up and said,Steve had always been incredibly
generous to me, but I'll neverforget a conversation as a
teenager when the internet wentout one night before a term
(10:36):
paper was due, and I was like,Dad, I can't get it to work.
I can't get it to work.
And my dad, Steve, came to meand he said, I feel like I'm
letting you down.
It is my job to provide for you,and I feel like a failure.
And all these years later, thatmoment of a dad looking in the
eyes of a kid and saying, It ismy job to provide for you.
And I feel like he eventuallygot it working, turned paper
(10:58):
worked out, and she did great onit.
And then an older gentleman cameup and he said, I I don't have
much to say, but I feel like theLord would have me say this.
Steve attended a Bible studythree weeks ago.
He doesn't usually come to ourBible study, it was the very
first time he had shown up.
And Steve asked the guy who wasleading the Bible study if he
(11:21):
could share for a few momentsbefore we dove into God's word.
And the the leader of the Biblestudy said, Yeah, go for it,
Steve.
And Steve simply shared histestimony, the story of how he
came to Christ, and at the endof it, he said this I felt like
I needed to declare to a roomfull of people what Christ had
(11:43):
done for me, that my faith andtrust is in him, and that my
hope is in him in this life andin the life to come.
And the and the man just said, Ifelt like you guys needed to
hear that.
And he went and he sat down.
As we get ready to hear Liam'stestimony, Liam's gonna be
coming up first, as Liam getsready to share his testimony,
(12:05):
Christians in the room.
Can I just tell you this?
We are called to be people whoare ready to talk about good God
gospel 24-7-365.
But there is something uniquelyspecial about the moment you
stand in front of a congregationand you say, I'm declaring my
faith and trust in Jesus.
(12:26):
Here is my story.
And what I've told everyone isthis.
So please do not let me down.
You are in a room full ofcheerleaders, and there are one
of two people in the room.
There's somebody who needs tohear this because God is calling
them to himself, and your storywill be one more magnetic pull
that draws them to the cross ofJesus Christ, or it's a brother
(12:48):
or a sister who remembers thismoment.
And for some of them, it mayhave been many, many years ago,
but you are gonna sit in a roomof cheerleaders who are excited
about this step that you aretaking in your walk with Christ.
So as we watch people walk inand as we celebrate someone who
has walked into the next step,let's be a people who really
(13:10):
enjoy the stories that God iswriting all around us.
Would you guys welcome LiamAnderson up?
SPEAKER_02 (13:24):
Good morning, Mitri.
My name is Liam Anderson.
I was born into a Christian homewith two loving parents who love
Jesus.
I've always gone to church,either being in kids' church or
what we call a big church.
Throughout my entire life, I'vealways known who Jesus was and
the role he plays in my life.
I've been blessed to say thatI'm the brother to six of my
(13:45):
siblings.
Life is a little crazy, but Ilove it.
Having a brother that has hardtimes with certain things is
hard because I have to see myparents struggle and dealing
with how to handle him andmanaging a full house at the
same time.
So my entire life I have livedwith watching my parents fight
to figure out how to help him.
It not only took a toll on them,but it took a toll on me as
(14:06):
well.
Sometimes it was hard to talk towith my parents about stuff that
I was going through because ofthe things that my brothers were
going through.
So I kept it to myself.
I feared that if I told themthese things, it would break
them and make them feel likethey failed me.
So I had to make it seem like Iwas a perfect child that loved
Jesus and didn't have anythingwrong with me.
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And that made it a struggle withmy walk with Christ.
Because I was doing it to pleasemy parents and make them happy
because that's all I wanted, wasto please the people around me,
but I never wanted it formyself.
I lived a life where I knew whoJesus was, knew all all about
him, but didn't love him anddidn't give my whole heart to
him.
I fell into sin and regret thatpushed me to where I didn't want
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to be at church.
I didn't want to have the talkswith my mom about when she asked
me when I was going to getbaptized, and I was crumbling.
I was still showing theappearance of how I love Jesus
and how I'm a good kid, but downinside I didn't want that
Christian life.
But I was thanking it to makeother people happy.
I could never find true joy.
I could only find happiness formoments.
(15:10):
Finding out the struggles thatmy mom was facing took a toll on
me.
It hurt me so much because themother that I have was hurting
inside, and it is the hardestthing for me to know that my
mom, my bet, was struggling withsomething that I could to do
nothing to help her.
So that pain that I was feelingwas put into other things that I
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could that I thought would easethe pain, but it didn't.
I went to our Laguna Beach triplike I do every year.
This year was different becauseI had no intentions of growing
my relationship with God, butall the intentions to have fun
and just enjoy my time with myfriends.
But this is when God swooped inand showed me the light that
I've been needing to see allthis time.
I was listening to Thomas preachabout Jonah and he said a line
(15:54):
that I'll never forget.
If you repent and believe, nomistake or some serious mistakes
will define you.
Christ defines you.
This just made me want thatthing for myself and not because
someone else wants it for me.
I have now become a truebeliever and lover of Jesus
Christ and will never stoploving him.
I've been growing in my faithever since.
(16:14):
I always had questions that Iwanted to be answered about
Jesus and the Bible, but I wasalways afraid that I was the
only one that ever thought aboutthem.
But when I finally asked andwasn't afraid of being judged
for what I had to ask, I wasn'tthe only one thinking about the
same things.
I found out that I should neverfeel judged about questions that
I wanted to be answered.
God has truly shown me how greathe is and how he works wondrous
(16:37):
deeds through his word.
In Hebrews eleven it says,Without faith it is impossible
to please him, for whoever woulddraw near to God must believe
that he exists and that herewards those who seek him.
I have been rewarded withknowing what true joy is in my
heavenly Father, because withoutGod and the love of God, people
think that they can find joy inother things.
But that is not true joy.
(16:57):
That is happiness that ismomentary.
It will not last forever, butthe only everlasting thing is
God's love for me and the joythat He brings me to the very
(17:43):
proud moment.
SPEAKER_05 (17:51):
And we have we just love you so much.
So after hearing your testimony,hearing all this, and as Christ
calls us in Matthew 28, 19, um,we want to baptize you in the
(18:13):
name of the Father and the Sonand the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_06 (18:27):
I don't know if you guys know this or not.
SPEAKER_00 (18:28):
Um there's a protocol for how to do a baptism
to serve people well.
Uh they hold their nose, theyhold their arms so that you have
something to hold on to,especially if it's a big guy,
you want something.
I I'm like walking it throughwith Jan on the phone yesterday,
and he's like, he said, Well, Iknow how to dunk my kid.
I got it.
(18:49):
Been doing it a long time.
Congratulations, Liam.
Please remember there are cardsuh waiting there for you to
share a scripture andencouragement or a prayer.
Uh before we have the next onecome up, I'd like to point to a
scripture as I encourage us notto just be remembered, Psalm 66,
16.
The goal is not just for us tohear, the goal is for us to tell
(19:10):
our stories as well.
God has always worked throughtelling stories, and he's always
worked through empoweringwitnesses.
Will you guys hit the littlebutton back there for thanks?
This is Isaiah 43, 10.
Now I want you to understandsomething.
Testimony is not just a churchyword.
(19:31):
Uh, when we think of a testimonyand you don't think of the word
at church, where else in lifemight it come up?
Okay, in court, right?
This is also where we see theconcept of witnesses.
In fact, in the old testament,the term witness and a testimony
would have been in a courtroomsetting.
(19:51):
And I want to invite you in tothis one passage in Isaiah
chapter 43.
You are my witnesses, declaresthe Lord, that you may know and
believe me and understand that Iam He.
In the Old Testament, whatIsaiah the prophet is doing is
he is opening up a courtroomscene in this book of the Bible.
(20:12):
And there are a couple of thingsthat are happening.
One, God is calling his peopleonto the witness stand.
And he's asking them questionslike, Have I made promises?
Yes, Lord, you have madepromises.
Have I kept my promises?
Yes, Lord, you have kept yourpromises.
Can I be trusted?
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Lord, you can always be trusted.
You have kept every promise youhave ever made.
And then he turns, and while thewitnesses, while the testifiers
are on the stand, he says, thenlet the nations know.
Deuteronomy would say, Take thiswitness to your children.
God does not just call us, hegives us a new identity.
(20:58):
If you are a Christian,according to this passage, if
you're a Christian, it doesn'tmatter what church you go to.
It doesn't matter if you're amember or not a member of that
church, it doesn't matter ifyou've been a Christian for 20
years or 20 minutes.
The moment we become a believerin Christ, our identity shifts.
Why?
Because we move from one side ofthe gavel drop in a courtroom to
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the other.
We move from guilty to notguilty.
And at the same time, God says,don't just take the benefits of
my payment for you.
Join the team.
Take the stand.
Tell the story.
Let me ask your life questionsthrough the highs of blessings
that I give you.
Let me ask your life questionsthrough the lows and the
(21:43):
difficulties that I allow.
Because in all of these things,you are my witnesses.
You have taken the stand for anonlooking world to see.
A testimony isn't just a churchyword about telling a story.
It's one of test it's one ofScripture's oldest patterns.
(22:03):
All through the Old Testament,God calls his people onto the
witness stand.
At Sinai, the law itself iscalled the testimony.
In Deuteronomy, parents arecommanded to tell their children
the story of Egypt and the Godwho rescued them.
Joshua, which we just finished,gathers the tribe together and
(22:23):
says, You are witnesses, buildthese stones up so that when
people walk by, they say, Why isthis here?
And you have one moreopportunity to hop on the stand
in the courtroom and say, Thisis my God who makes promises.
This is my God who keeps them.
The Psalms would echo the samething.
Come and hear, and I will tellyou what God has done for my
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soul.
And as you see in Isaiah, he'sopening up the doors to the
courtroom and inviting the worldto look in.
The pattern is unmistakable.
God saves people and then hecalls them to speak.
There is no place in the Biblefor someone to respond to
(23:06):
salvation and find themselves insilence.
None.
All throughout scripture, we arecalled to be testifiers.
And so you'll hear two more ofthose testimonies now.
And the first one is BennettMask.
If you guys would welcomeBennett up.
(23:35):
Keep trying.
Don't give up.
Hello?
There you go.
SPEAKER_03 (23:39):
Okay, my name is Bennett Mask, and this is my
testimony.
To start, this wasn't an easytestimony for me to write
because I thought I had to havea crazy story about addictions
or drugs.
But I realized that a testimonyis about how God worked and is
working in my life.
I started writing this testimonyon my own at night when my
parents thought I was alreadyasleep.
It took it was the night thatCharlie Kirk had been shot and
(24:00):
killed.
I felt angry and confused aboutwhat had happened and why it
happened that day.
The week before, my dad and Iwatched a few of his videos and
we were talking aboutChristianity.
His death motivated me to sharemy faith in Christ boldly, like
he did.
Every time I listened to Charliespeak about Christianity before
he was killed, I thought, howcan people not believe
(24:21):
Christianity is true?
You see, I grew up in aChristian household, but it was
really just my parents' faith.
Even though I believed Jesusmade me, I did not take personal
responsibility for my faith.
I had not taken the time toacknowledge and study the Bible
and the gospel for myself.
When I was nine years old, Iwent to a vacation Bible school
at New Hope Baptist Church inPeace Tree City, where I really
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understood the gospel.
I understood that the only wayto know God and have a
relationship with him was by himdying on the cross and saving me
for my sins.
I realized someone had to die inplace for my sins, and I'm
learning his resurrection showedme that Jesus conquered my sin
and death.
But there was a huge transitionin my life right after that,
(25:04):
where my family moved from PeaceTree City, the only place I
called home, the Pine Mountain.
This was a tough move for mebecause of how connected I was
at my school.
We prayed that my new schoolwould be a great fit for me, but
it really wasn't.
I ended up moving schoolshalfway through the year and
finally felt settled.
I moved after moving schools, Ilooked back and realized how
good God is and how He had anultimate plan for me.
(25:26):
This hard time taught me to bemore empathetic to others that
weren't connected because Iwasn't.
This has allowed me to noticeothers who are struggling.
Through all this, I've beenmemorizing Joshua 1.9, which
says, Be strong and courageous,do not be fearful, and do not be
dismayed, for the Lord your Godis with you wherever you go.
This verse has made me realizethat God will always be with me
(25:47):
through the hard times of mylife.
While all this was happening, Istarted going to Midtree Youth,
where I met Thomas Crocky.
He's been such a contributor inmy life, and I can't thank him
enough.
He did not pay me to say that.
(26:14):
I also seem to think more aboutGod in my everyday life and what
he's done for me.
Lately I've realized I've beenfollowing the Lord but haven't
been baptized.
Charlie Kirk once said, I wantto be remembered for courage of
my faith.
That's the most important thing.
The most important thing is myfaith.
Hearing this, I also want myfaith to be the most important
thing as well.
This is me taking a faith stepinto the next chapter of my life
(26:36):
and what God has in store forme.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (26:50):
So Bennett is the second of three um stories.
Two other guys were baptizedtoday.
Um the first guy, Liam, that weheard from, he uh had a
testimony of uh grew up in kindof a Christian household and he
strayed.
He strayed into very tangiblesin, outright um rebellion, and
the Lord brought him back.
(27:11):
And the third guy that we willhear from, Silas, um, his story
starts very far from where he istoday, physically in a different
country, in a different um placewhere he's adopted in.
Bennett sits in the middle ofthese two guys sharing a story
about how he was generally agood kid, generally a good
person.
(27:31):
And oftentimes we in the church,this is the hardest story for us
to get on the stage.
This is the hardest story for usto get into the baptismal
because what we as a church aredoing is convincing good good um
people that they're not goodenough to earn their salvation,
that they're not good enough tobe right with God, and Bennett
(27:51):
has recognized that, he realizesthat, he he knows um his need
for a savior, and he knows thatJesus uh paid that price for
him.
And so, Bennett, with your uhconfession of faith in the
Father, the Son, and the HolySpirit, it is my honor and my
joy to baptize you.
SPEAKER_00 (28:20):
When Bennett began sharing his story, one of the
first things that he said issomething that probably many of
us have heard or felt.
I thought if I was gonna sharemy story, I needed to have drug
addiction, I needed to havesomething, which which is a
funny thing as a parent.
Um, I'm looking at people whohave shared their testimony in
this room.
And one of the really fun thingsis when you hear a testimony
(28:42):
that is so wild and out of theblue that you're just like, oh
my gosh, that's insane.
And yet every parent in the roomis praying that their child's
testimony is like the mostboring testimony ever.
Uh every parent's like, lettheir biggest thing be that
their uh tree house burned downand they did not know how the
(29:02):
world was going to go on.
One of my favorite passages whenit comes to us being a
storytelling people comes out ofJohn chapter four.
It would be well known to youguys.
A woman, uh, you know, I hatesaying that.
You may be new to the church,you've never heard this story.
I hope this becomes a well-knownstory if you don't know it
already.
A woman from Samaria came todraw water, and Jesus said to
(29:27):
her, Give me a drink.
Now she looks at Jesus and shesays, Why are you asking me?
I'm a Samaritan and you're aJew.
We're not really supposed tohang out.
Uh like one of us could get introuble.
Our people do due to racism andsocioeconomic politics.
We're not supposed to talk,we're not supposed to hang out.
You're a male, I'm a female.
Like, this is not supposed to behow conversation works.
(29:51):
But what does Jesus do?
He begins a really goodconversation.
He starts talking with her aboutlife.
He starts talking with her aboutfaith.
She begins asking questionsabout worship.
And Jesus looks at her and helooks at this well, and he says,
I'd like you to get me somewater.
And she says, This isn't evensupposed to be happening.
(30:12):
And then Jesus said, Everyonewho drinks of this water will be
thirsty again.
But whoever drinks of the waterthat I will give him will never
be thirsty again.
The water that I will give himwill become in him a spring of
water, welling up to eternallife.
Now she doesn't understandwhat's happening at this point.
(30:34):
She looks to him and literallysays this question Do you have a
better well than the one thatJacob put in?
Like, do you have some waterpurification source that we
don't know about?
Do you have a technology?
It's not clicking.
Jesus is just having a reallygood conversation, but it's
beginning to point to something.
This woman in her life has goneto the well of hope, the well of
(30:58):
relationships, the well oftrying to make a meaningful life
multiple times.
And what Jesus is saying to heris this if you'll quit trying to
write your story, I've got abetter one written.
If you will put down the pen ofdeciding what every one of your
days and every one of yourdecisions is supposed to look
like, if you would live insurrender, which is what Bennett
(31:19):
just talked about, and let mewrite your story, it would be a
better story than you couldpossibly imagine.
And Jesus said to her, Go callyour husband and come here.
Now, does Jesus know her storybefore he begins it?
Is it fascinating that Jesuslets us talk?
It is a fascinating thing thatGod wants to listen to us when
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we pray.
We bring no new information tothe conversation.
Have you ever had a conversationwith your kid when you are busy
and you already know how theconversation is going to begin
and the body paragraphs and theconclusion?
Or are y'all just better peoplethan me?
And you're not like, uh-huh,uh-huh.
Get to the punchline, we'rethere, and now here is why you
(32:00):
can't have spend the nightcompany.
That's usually how it like playsout.
Jesus, sorry, Jesus knows thewhole story and he asks
questions.
This is a fascinating reality ofthe God that we love.
Jesus said to her, Go, call yourhusband and come here.
And the woman looks at him andshe says, I have no husband.
(32:24):
Jesus says, You're right insaying it, but you haven't told
the whole truth.
You've had five husbands, andthe man that you're with now
isn't your husband.
How has writing your own storygone?
He would say to her.
And he would say to all of us.
And as soon as Jesus revealsthis, I know you, I care about
(32:46):
you, and I have a better storyfor your life.
All of us have to decide if webelieve him or not.
Are we gonna go to the well ofour own making, or will we trust
him?
So the woman left her water jarand went away into town and said
to the people, Come here, and Iwant you to see something.
(33:08):
Jesus remains there.
She leaves her water jug behind,walks into the village.
This would be a woman ofdisrepute.
This would be somebody whocrowds do not listen to.
They talk behind her back.
That's who this woman is.
She has done nothing but madetrouble.
She has not had the story thather mom or her dad wanted for
(33:28):
her.
But here she comes into the townand she says, Hey, I know that I
may never have had anythingworth you listening to before.
I know that many of you havediscredited my story because of
the life that I have lived.
I want you to come and I wantyou to see someone who told me
all I ever did.
What is fascinating about this?
(33:49):
That God knows her, that Godcares.
They went out of the town andthey were coming to him.
Jesus looks at his disciples.
I want you to picture this.
The woman leaves, jar still onthe well.
She walks in and gathers theattention of a crowd in a
village.
While that's happening, thedisciples go by very confused.
(34:11):
Why is Jesus talking to thiswoman?
Doesn't he know it's going toruin his ministry to talk to
her?
This is going to make peoplequestion him, but not in the
right kind of way.
The disciples get there, andhere is what Jesus says as
crowds are beginning to come.
You can see them off in thedistance.
This group moving slowly towardthe well.
And Jesus says, Do you not saythere are yet four months and
(34:36):
then comes the harvest?
We live in an agrarian culture.
Don't we talk about this?
Don't we look forward toThanksgiving?
Don't we look forward to theharvest?
Don't we say we have planted andGod has watered and the sun has
risen and there has been growth?
So let's get together andcelebrate the God of the
harvest.
Do we not say this?
(34:56):
He says to his followers.
Look, I tell you.
I want you to imagine this.
The woman has left and the crowdis coming, and Jesus looks at
the twelve and he says, Look.
Do you see what's happeningright now in your midst?
Look.
Lift up your eyes and see thatthe fields are white for
(35:19):
harvest.
Many unexpected people from thattown believed in him.
Please notice this.
Because of one of the mostregular stories you could ever
tell.
Do you want to know what hertestimony was?
(35:40):
I went to church and I felt likeGod knew me.
You should come in here too.
That was her testimony.
Her testimony was there's a man,Jesus, who knows everything
about me and he still cares.
He knows all my brokenness andhe doesn't turn away.
He knows that I have nothinggood to give this world, and he
treats me like I'm valuable.
(36:02):
Because of the woman'stestimony, many Samaritans from
that town believed.
So when the Samaritans came tohim, they asked him to stay with
them, and he stayed there twodays, and many more believed
because of his word.
They said to the woman, It is nolonger because of what you said
(36:25):
that we believe, for we haveheard for ourselves, and we know
that this is indeed the Saviorof the world.
Everyone who comes toward this,and I know that there are many
of you in the room who have goneto the class and you're thinking
it through.
I know that we have two or threemore testimonies in the months
ahead.
I know that there are many ofyou in the room who are thinking
(36:45):
this.
I've been going to church fortoo long and I'm too old.
It's going to be too bizarre ifI say, hey, I'm 43 years old and
I've never been baptized.
God knows we're good together.
Like we've got it figured out.
I know that that happens in asetting like this.
But do you realize what God putson display?
Many people believe because aperson told a simple story of
(37:09):
how God entered into their lifeand cared about them, and then
they came and heard the goodnews of Christ.
For we have heard for ourselves,and we know that this is indeed
the Savior of the world.
And for all of us who arebelievers, this is what happens.
(37:30):
In the Old Testament, we werewitnesses that took the stand.
In the New Testament, Jesussays, Now get off the stand and
go into the world.
But you will receive power whenthe Holy Spirit has come upon
you, and you will be mywitnesses.
In Jerusalem, but don't stopthere.
(37:51):
And to all Judea, don't stopthere.
To Samaria, where this womanwas, but don't stop there.
And to the end of the world.
She simply told her story.
A story that included guilt andshame and embarrassment.
But more importantly, it was astory that included Jesus.
(38:13):
And when we take this with us,we get off the stand as
witnesses and we go into anon-looking world.
And God guarantees that He willfill us with the Spirit to have
the ability to witness.
And so as we get ready to hearour final story, I just want to
(38:34):
encourage you with this.
I don't know where you are onthis today.
I hope you at least have adesire to share the story of
what God has done.
I hope that you would move intohaving a plan and practicing it
with joy, whether you do goodGod gospel or something else,
that you would realize that itis normal stories that include
Jesus that change towns andvillages and the world.
(38:58):
Let us be a people who lovetelling these stories, even as
we get ready to hear one morefrom Silas Hodge about grace
stronger than all my sin.
Silas, I'm looking for you.
Where are you at?
There you go.
SPEAKER_04 (39:21):
Hey Mitri.
My name is Silas Hodge.
Um I'm originally from Uganda.
I was adopted when I was four.
I don't know how manyfour-year-olds have vivid
memories, but seeing whitepeople for the first time will
do it.
(39:42):
It wasn't long until myextroverted big back self was
giving my new siblings, Landry,um Jeb, and Ruthie, piggyback
rides and eating everything onInsight.
I became the son of Adam andJill Hodge and came to America
in 2009.
With my adoption came lies,confusion.
And confusion, yeah.
Whether it was the adoptionagency, my biological parents,
(40:04):
or both, there was a fabricatedstory about my father's death
and my mother abandoning me.
That story allowed me to beadopted, but I remembered seeing
my dad before I left, so Icouldn't accept that he died.
When the truth finally came outthat he was alive, more evidence
pointed to the possibility thatthe adoption may have been
motivated by money rather thanmy well-being.
(40:26):
We learned all of this when Iwas seven.
The crazy part, um, mybiological parents wanted me
back because the deal they hadmade didn't work out.
Um my adopted parents, Adam andJill, putting my best interests
first, asked me if I wanted toreturn.
And honestly, that that's wheneverything began to unravel.
(40:47):
I don't underst I didn'tunderstand it at the time, but
now I see that fear and doubttook over.
I began fearing that they didn'tlove me.
I doubted they actually wantedme.
I tried to turn my biologicalparents into the good guys
because I couldn't accept thepossibility that they might have
given me away for money.
But I was too afraid to bringthese questions and feelings
(41:08):
into the light.
So they turned into fears thatled me to live two different
lives.
On the outside, I tried to beperfect and obedient, hoping to
earn love and approval.
That was one life.
The face I showed the world tomy friends.
Um but at home, I was theopposite.
I became annoying, controlling,agitating, a bully, a liar.
(41:30):
Just truly frustrating.
Deep down, I was testing theirlove.
Will you still want me if I makemyself unlovable?
This landed me in trouble almostevery day.
I would come home from schoolalready in trouble for something
I'd done in the 30 minutesbetween waking up and getting to
school.
If my parents had ChatGBT backthen, they would have been
(41:51):
asking for new creativepunishments because they had
already used them all.
Eventually, pornography becamemy way of dealing with the
frustration, pain, andconfusion.
It felt like the only worldwhere I was in control, but that
wasn't true.
It was controlling me.
It led me into foolish choices.
By the age 12, the fruit ofpornography and years of
(42:13):
rebellion brought me to a placewhere I was no longer trusted in
my own home.
So I was sent to a boardingschool in the middle of nowhere,
uh, French camp, Mississippi.
There the Lord opened my eyes.
I saw a world of brokenness,brokenness around me.
So many kids had no fathers orhad fathers who were abusive or
(42:33):
addicted.
But God humbled me and helped mesee the blessings he had given
me, a family who did love me,the opportunity to live in
America.
And after a year at a boardingum at the boarding school, the
vice president of the schooltook me into his family and
discipled me and invested intome for the next four years of
(42:53):
high school.
That season taught me how toread the word grown integrity
and serve.
I haven't mentioned Jesus yet.
I did it on purpose, because ifyou were hearing my story, you
might assume Jesus saved me atFrench camp, since that's where
things seemed to start comingtogether.
But that's not where Jesus choseto meet me.
Jesus came into my life sixmonths before I was sent to the
(43:17):
boarding school.
I wasn't seeking him.
I wasn't I was living inrebellion while looking good on
the outside.
I could play the partphysically, but my heart was
tired, tired of deception, tiredof lies, tired of walls.
Come to me all who labor andheavy laden, and I will give you
rest.
That's Matthew 11, 28.
(43:37):
Um and I believed, I believedJesus when he said that.
I gave my heart to him that day,but as will has preached through
Joshua.
Following Jesus is a choice wemust make every single day.
I'll be the first to admit thatI choose my flesh more often
than I'd like to admit.
Some days my selfishness hurtspeople, and some days the spirit
(43:58):
empowers me to love them.
I've learned not to let theseverity of my sin make me doubt
the grace of God, but also notlet the grace of God make me
forget the severity of my sin.
I'm I'm thankful that the Lordhas given me his spirit who
guides, convicts, and comfortsme.
I'm grateful for his word whichrealigns my heart to what is
(44:19):
true.
I'm blessed to have fellowbelievers, the church who walk
alongside me, encouraging me andbuilding me up.
And thank you, Impact 360, it'sa gap year program that I was
able to do last year for afruitful, a year of fruitful
study of God's word and theworld around me.
Um God, thank you for beingfaithful to finish what you
(44:40):
start, because Christ wasobedient to finish what he
started, giving his life so thatI may have life.
I know you will complete thegood work you began in me,
sanctifying me and making me alittle bit more like Christ day
by day.
SPEAKER_00 (45:14):
If there are things that you could leave out that
you chose to include, and Ithink that was a gift, I would
also say recognizing that wehave so many adoptive and foster
care families.
One of the greatest realities ofSilas's story is that as
believers enter into the messthat is broken families and
(45:37):
adoption and fostering, one ofthe great gifts and one of the
great realities is every one ofus is an orphan in need of a new
father.
And that is true for those of uswho have simple stories, and it
is true for those of us who haveincredibly complex stories.
And I just want you to know howmuch I appreciate you sharing
that.
Um, Silas, because of your faithin Jesus Christ, we baptize you
(46:02):
in the name of the Father andthe Son and the Holy Spirit.
If you guys haven't had theopportunity uh to meet or love
on Silas, I would encourage youto do so.
Band, if you guys want to goahead and start coming this way.
(46:24):
This morning has been a morningof sharing stories.
I've done what I could on thepastoral side, on the scriptural
side to encourage us with this.
Let's be a people who never stopbeing stretched by the Spirit of
God.
Let's be a people who sing out.
Let's be a people who pray forand receive prayer.
If you need prayer, if you wantto celebrate, we'll have some
(46:46):
folks on the back porch to praywith you.
But let's be a people who tellour stories.
Anytime Jesus enters in, it is agreat, great story.
So let's be a people who shareit.
If you would go ahead and standas we get ready to sing and give
God the breath that He has givenus back to Him.
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