BLESS Every Home: Share Jesus with Them
BY PASTOR JADY GRIFFIN
HARD LAUNCH
Have you ever used a water balloon launcher? Unfortunately, the level of sketchiness on these things is high, so I don’t even know if you can still buy them. I have only had my hands on a water balloon launcher once. It was 1997, and I was on a beach trip with church friends. Unbeknownst to me, my buddy had packed a water balloon launcher and a couple of water balloons in his backpack. Walking down to the beach, we saw some dunes to the left of us. All I heard was, “This is perfect.”
I had no idea what was about to happen, but I soon was about to be welcomed into maybe one of the best and worst things I’ve ever been a part of.
We found a dune high enough to hide behind about fifty yards from the ocean. My friend then started unpacking his bag, pulling out the water balloon launcher and the ammunition. As we got set up, I was enthusiastic and sure this would be awesome! That was until I asked them what we were about to do.
Finally, they let me in on the plan. We were going to shoot water balloons at people on the beach! Of course, I shook my head and responded, “Bro, we can’t do that. That is not wise. We should think about the big picture,” right?
No! I was a teenager. I said, “LET’S DO THIS!”
My friends and I waited until a man and woman stopped right in front of us near the water. The shot went completely over them; we weren’t even close.
So we adjusted our angles, like battle-hardened soldiers, took aim, and POW! We ran to peek over the dune just in time to see the balloon explode inches from a guy’s feet. I never thought I would see a grown man scream or jump so high.
My teenage friends and I lost it. We were celebrating with laughter and high-fives until we realized that the grown man was in a dead sprint toward us.
GETTING DRENCHED
For most of my life, the concept of telling people about Jesus felt like an impromptu water balloon fight. I launch balloons at someone, and if they get mad or don’t want to listen, I should make as quick of an exit as possible.
I was convinced that evangelism just wasn’t for me. I have since learned that I couldn’t have been more wrong. God has each of us in the middle of a story. He has put you in relationship with people on purpose for the story of Jesus to become real to them. God wants to use you to help people make the best decision of their life, to make Jesus their Lord and Savior.
God’s intention for us is to spread the truth of who He is and what He has done for us. But He wants us to use buckets, not balloons, to share His message.
The Great Commission is found in Matthew 28:
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:16-20
This was a huge moment for the disciples and for us. Jesus clarified His mission for those who follow him: “Go and make disciples in all nations.”
These were some of Jesus’ final words on earth after He had risen from the dead and before He ascended back to heaven. In Acts, the author Luke shares more of Jesus’ final instructions to His disciples:
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. Acts 1:4-9
SATURATED AND SENT
Jesus’ intent was always and will always be for us to be saturated before we are sent. If we are sent and not saturated, we dry up.
Have you felt this to be true? You may feel like this idea of sharing Jesus with those around you is out of obligation and not from a place of saturation. That makes evangelism overwhelming, terrifying, and exhausting.
At the same time, if we are saturated without being sent, we blow up. If our goal in our relationship with God becomes all about what we can get, but we are not also looking to give, we start walking down a bitter and angry road. We will only see what we don’t have. We will start getting frustrated at everyone and everything, including God.
We are saturated as we are sent. This changes the game! Jesus actually wants to pour out the message of the Cross on you. He wants His healing grace in your life to be visible on you, to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to wash over you. Because it’s what’s on you, or even more so, what’s inside of you, that will affect those around you.
In Acts 2, the believers in Jesus are saturated by the power of the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus told them they would be. And in just one day thousands of people were saved and added to the Church. Just like Jesus had, His apostles changed lives wherever they went.
THE DRY PLACES
Whenever I go to a restaurant, I love to ask my server how I can pray for them. (I’m about to pray for my food anyway, so why not?) One time, I was at breakfast with a few guys, and I asked our waiter this question. We had all been chatting him up already, so it didn’t come out of left field.
The server told us it would be great if we prayed for him, mainly because he was about to get married. So, we stopped and prayed for him and his future wife at the table. After we said amen, his response was gold. He asked us, “How do you stay so positive? You guys have this positive energy coming off you.”
That was our opportunity to tell him that Jesus had changed our lives.
People use phrases like “positive energy” because they don’t yet have the language to express what they are experiencing. But when saturated people enter dry places, they leave the whole area soaked.
COME TO THE WATERS
Friend, if you are realizing that you are the one in a dry place, if you have never really surrendered your life to Jesus, that separation can be eliminated right now. Jesus wants to saturate you.
Maybe you have been walking with God and doing what you can to honor Him, yet you feel dried up. Maybe you have had some moments that feel like you were sent without being saturated, and now you’re weary. You feel thirsty. Disappointed. Frustrated. Angry. Used.
Jesus said that in Him, there is Living Water flowing from within you. There is an an invitation from Isaiah 55:1 waiting for you right now, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…”
It doesn’t matter where you came from, what you have done, or whether you feel close or far from God. Through what Jesus did for us on the Cross, we have access to forgiveness, grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
God wants to overwhelm your feelings of separation with a fresh saturation. You just need to come to Him. Stop fighting. Stop complaining. Start receiving. Come to the waters.
TAKE A STEP
If you have never asked Jesus to be Lord of your life, He is inviting you right now as you read these words!
Acts 16:31 says:
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
We don’t have to be our best selves, to work harder, or even to have a bigger faith. All it takes is coming before God. Prayer is our tool to do that. Maybe it looks something like this:
God, I realize now that I am a sinner. I will never measure up to your perfection. I am terrible at running my life, and I can’t do this anymore. I need a Savior.
I believe you created me and have a plan for me. I believe that you loved me so much that you sent Jesus to take the punishment that I deserved. I believe that He lived a perfect life, died a real death, and rose again so that I can live a new life.
Jesus, forgive me. Help me to turn away from my sin and follow you. Saturate me with your Holy Spirit and change my heart. Save me and be the leader of my life. Amen.
If this was you, no matter where you are, we want to celebrate with you and help direct you. Click here to let us know you put your trust in Jesus!
The BLESS EVERY HOME App
B.L.E.S.S. is a practical path to sharing the gospel of Jesus with our neighbors. Click below to download the BLESS EVERY HOME app. This tool allows you to adopt homes in your neighborhood to pray for and sends you daily reminders to help you stay focused on missional living.
