Fishing In Our Own Pond

Adapted from a Steven Chapman sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?

SermonID=102204

The call to be witnesses was a call to go fishing in our own ponds, to be a witness within

the network of relationships God has placed us, to capture the hearts and souls of family,

friends, coworkers, neighbors and acquaintances, and spiritually reel them in.

Principle #1: ____________ like never before.

Principle #2: Show _________ to the church family.

Principle #3: ____________ those outside of God’s family.

Principle #4: Live a ______________ life.

Principle #5: ________ the truth.

Acts 1:8 ESV But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the

earth."What is your life worth?

Do you understand that your life is worth an eternity to someone?

Did you know that the way you live your life, and relate to others, is an issue of life-or-

death?

Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told his disciples, “You will be my witnesses…” Applying the rules of simple grammar to this

statement we see that being a witness is not a choice.

It is your identity.It is not an option.

It is an assumption.

It is the same assumption that Jesus has in Matthew 28:19, when, contrary to the

imperative command “Go”, the way most English translations render it, Jesus says, “As you are going, while you are going, or since

you are going anyway, make disciples.”The same Greek word is used when Jesus

sent out the 12.Matthew 10:7 ESV And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'

Jesus took for granted that we would be on the move to make disciples.

The question raised is not will you be a witness.

It is what kind of witness are you going to be.

In the courts witnesses are categorized in several ways:

Lay witness – someone who observed events pertinent to the case.

This is the average Joe who simple shares what he saw.

Independent expert witness – a doctor, lawyer, or other professional who was directly involved in events surrounding the case, who because of their involvement have professional insights

to share.

Controlled expert witness – a professional who is paid to give expert testimony. These are the

hired guns.Hostile witness – a witness who is expected to

be contrary to questioning by either side.These are the ones who whether they like it or

not are called to be witnesses.

We often convince ourselves that we have a choice to witness or not.

But the awkward truth is that those who have chosen to not be a witness have actually chosen to be a poor witness, a negligible

witness, or worse yet a witness for the wrong side because like it or not the world is watching

our lives for evidence of Christ.

The call for the 12 disciples to be witnesses in Jerusalem was the call for them to go fishing in

their own pond.It remains the call for us to fish our own ponds,

to be a witness within the network of relationships God has placed us, to capture the hearts and souls of family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and acquaintances, and spiritually

reel them in.

Each of us has our own pond of relationships, the network of people that God has

strategically placed us among to be a witness.Our ponds are all stocked, some more than

others, but all have something to catch.It may be a family member who has never

accepted Christ.

It may be a neighbor who has abandoned their childhood faith.

It may be someone who is actively involved in their home church, but has never really

stepped across the line of faith, accepting Christ as their Lord & Savior.

It may be a spiritual seeker sitting in the pew near you.

In the first several chapters of Acts, we observe what made the disciples effective

fishermen for the souls of men.

These principles become the standard for fishing in our own pond.

I think we often study the book of Acts like an action novel.

It seems many Bible studies of Acts give emphasis to those sections with lots of action.

We glimpse at the ascension.We jump to Pentecost.

We pause at the healing of the lame man.

Pray Like Never Before

We drop our jaws at the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

But there is a whole lot of material between those events that we do only a cursory skim of, and those events set the stage for the action

scenes.

Let me point of three verses in particular:

Acts 1:12 ESV Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near

Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to

the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and

Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and

Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer,

together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

They all joined together constantly in prayer…

Acts 2:42 ESV And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to

the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 4:23 ESV When they were released, they

went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign

Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,

Did you catch it? The place we need to start in fishing for souls is with prayer. Principle #1:

Pray like never before. This is like talking with others to find where the hot spots are before

you drop the line in the water.The power of prayer is really the power of God

realized through prayer.We’re privileged to be part of God’s team to

accomplish His mission to others.Yet we don’t want to try to reach people for

Christ without consulting God.

We can’t help people without prayer.

Talking to God about his concern for your neighbors is something you can do no matter if you are a Charlie Church member or Eddie the

Elder.

It’s the starting point for answering the “now what?” questions in witnessing.

Prayer still has the power to produce results it had in the first century.

Listen to these results from the Acts 4 prayer service:

Acts 4:31 ESV And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the

Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

If you have a family member who is screwing up their life, pray for them.

If you have a neighbor that is trouble to the neighborhood, pray for them.

If you have a coworker with no moral compass, pray for them.

And only the God who answers prayers can soften the hearts and open minds to the point

that people will see the church as a connection with an experience of God rather than as a

prison for the spirit, a self-serving social organization, or a political supporter of the

status quo.

Acts 2:42 ESV And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders

and signs were being done through the apostles.

Show Love To The Church Family

Prayer was the starting point of the witness of the early church.

However, it was only the beginning.

Now let’s think through our fishing bait.

Principle #2: Show love to the church family.

At the end of Acts 2, after 3000 had poured into the church, we get a description of how the

church lived as a loving community.Listen to these words.

44 And all who believed were together (that’s connection) and had all things in common (that

is loving compassion).

(Look at this picture of loving fellowship) 45 And they were selling their possessions and

belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their

homes, they received their food (an act of loving acceptance) with glad and generous

hearts, 47a praising God and having favor with all the people.

Observe that this was not a “Hi, how ya doin’?” time of Parlor fellowship.

This was believers getting involved in concrete acts of love for one another, liquidating their

own property for the sake of the financial well-being of others.

What was the result of this outpouring of love among the body of Christ.

47b And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

In chapter 4, we are given another description of the church at work.

Acts 4:32 ESV Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and

no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great

power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great

grace was upon them all.

34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of

what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by

the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,

37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles'

feet.

This connection between fellowship and a Christian’s witness to the world was part of

Jesus’ prayer in John 17.

In that prayer He prayed that His followers would love one another so deeply that it would provide convincing evidence of faith for a lost

world.

John 17:20 ESV "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me

through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may

believe that you have sent me.

Acts 3:1 ESV Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man lame from birth was being

carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing

Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.

Serve Those Outside Of God’s Family

4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, "Look at us." 5 And he fixed his

attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" 7 And he took him by the

right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people

saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the

Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and

amazement at what had happened to him.

Our love for one another is beautifully attractive to a lost and lonely world.

However, we cannot stop at the principle of loving God’s family because that results in too

many Christians no longer being fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium.

Evangelism must be done where lost people are.

We have to get our feet wet at the pond.

As witnesses, we have to step into the lives of those outside of Christ.

The principle we learn from this story: Principle #3: Serve those outside of God’s family.

You want to make an eternal difference in the lives of lost people, make a temporary

difference.Find their needs, whether large or small, and

do something about it.Some of us need to stop sermonizing and start

serving.Service goes a long way toward breaking

through the resistance of people to the gospel.

Service as a primary witness was a principle pattern of Jesus.

As a matter of fact, you would pretty much outline the gospel of John with a Service-

Sermon outline.Jesus served – then he taught.Jesus healed – then he taught.

Jesus fed – then he taught.

Evangelism has been described as one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.

Sometimes we need to see that statement as more than a metaphor.

Jim, an elder at a church, was to oversee the evangelism of new people that moved into the

area.

Sun Lee and his family were Vietnamese refugees who had recently been moved into

the area.

They had no possessions, knew no one, needed help in every way.

Jim began by helping them get food and then spent much time finding Sun Lee a good job.

Jim wanted so much to tell Sun Lee about Jesus, but he didn’t know Vietnamese and the

refugees knew very little English.

Out of this struggle Jim and Sun Lee agreed to teach each other their native languages.

One day, Jim felt that he had learned enough Vietnamese to tell Sun Lee about Jesus.

Jim began to explain about God and Jesus to Sun Lee, but the more he talked, the more

confusing it seemed to get.Finally, Jim was so frustrated that he decided to give up trying to communicate until he had

learned more of the language. Sun Lee at this point blurted out, “Is your God

like you? If he is, I want to know him.”

Jim had thought for months that he was not communicating the gospel.

But he was, with the greatest form of communication a person can use – the example of a life filled with Jesus Christ.

One man said, “Let me tell you something. I’m not perfect but one thing I’ve done right is mow

the neighbor’s lawn and clean out their toilet and store their stuff in our garage when they

were evicted because it showed I cared and by it I earned the right to share my story.”

Pray like never before. Show love to the church family. Serve those outside of God’s

family.

After healing this man, Peter and John were dragged before the religious authorities.

And in this encounter we observe Principle #4: Live a transformed life.

Here in front of the religious leaders, who just weeks before had conspired to have Jesus

arrested and ultimately killed, stand Peter and John.

Live A Transformed Life

This is Peter, uneducated fisherman and owner of the blistering dock-worker personality who

just weeks earlier had heatedly denied that he even knew Jesus, and John of the same low-

class, uneducated, blue collar line of work, confronting the religious leaders with the

gospel.And in that scene, Luke records this

assessment.

Acts 4:13 ESV Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived

that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that

they had been with Jesus.

Being with Jesus had changed them, and that change was observed.

And being with Jesus should have the same effect on our life and our character.

It is a life radically transformed by Christ that serves as bait to a world hungry for a life with

meaning.Yet, the biggest reason the unsaved reject Christianity is not on the basis of religious

belief.

The largest reason for rejecting Christianity is the inconsistent, ungracious, and ungodly lives of Christ’s followers. Why would the lost want to become Christian when Christians are just

as likely to cheat their employers, be unhappy, rude, use profanity, lie, addicted to

pornography, cheat on their taxes, take advantage of others, pick or cause fights?…

You could say that the only difference that the unchurched notice is that we lose sleep-time

on Sunday morning.

To a church with that kind of reputation Will Rogers would repeat: “So live that you wouldn’t

be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.”

Matthew 5:16 ESV In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father

who is in heaven.

To be an effective witness we need to pray like never before, show love to God’s family, serve

those outside of the family, and live a transformed life.

Yet we can’t stop there.There comes a time when we have to open our

mouths.Principle #5: Tell the truth.

Tell The Truth

Someone once said, “Many Christians are like the Artic River – frozen over at the mouth!”

In evangelism, the hardest thing seems to be to open your mouth to get the first word out.Here’s an observation – the reason it is so hard is that we make it harder than it is.

Talking about Christ doesn’t require special schooling or a degree.

Simply tell the truth. What is the truth?

The clear story of what God did to save us through Christ.

Acts 2:36 ESV Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made

him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.“

Acts 3:15 ESV and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we

are witnesses.Acts 4:12 ESV And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven

given among men by which we must be saved.“

So what are you going to do?Toward the end of the movie Schindler’s List, Oskar Schindler physically collapses as he

wrestles with the idea that he could have done more to save oppressed Jews from the Nazi

regime’s death camps.The moment occurs as Schindler and his wife

walk toward the car, and Rabbi Levartov hands him some papers.

Conclusion

“We’ve written a letter trying to explain things,” Levartov says. “In case you’re captured. Every

worker has signed it.”Schindler looks at a long list of signatures below the typewritten text. “Thank you,” he

says.His longtime assistant, Itzhak Stern, then

places a gold ring in Schindler’s hand. Schindler notices an inscription on the ring.

“It’s Hebrew,” explains Stern. “It says, ‘Whoever saves one life, saves the world.’”Schindler puts the ring onto this finger, nods

his thanks, and then begins to talk to himself: “ I could’ve got more … if I’d just … I don’t know,

if I’d just … I could’ve got more.”Stern cuts in, “Oskar, there are twelve hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at

them.”

Schindler continues his lament, “If I’d made more money … I threw away so much money,

you have no idea. If I’d just …”Stern again interrupts, “There will be

generations because of what you did.”“I didn’t do enough,” says Schindler.

Schindler starts to lose control, with tears coming; Stern too.

“This car,” Schindler continues. “Goeth would’ve bought this car. Why did I keep the

car? Ten people, right there. Ten more I could’ve got.”

Looking around he continues. “This pin.” He rips the elaborate swastika from his lapel and

says, “Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would’ve given me two for it. He

would’ve given me one. One more … I could’ve gotten one more person, but I didn’t.”

Schindler breaks down, weeping. Eventually Schindler and his wife, Emilie, get into the car

and drive away.

Do you realize that your life has made the same life-or-death difference to others?

A difference, not just for this life, but for eternity.

Jesus said you are His witness.Are you going to be a witness that politely nods

as friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, and associates walk into a Christ-less eternity?

Or are you going to be a witness that provides a compelling argument for loving and being loved by Christ for an eternity? What kind of

witness will you be?

Let’s go fishing!