Gtcotr/ss092924
Can you imagine a world where people go to school for decades and continue their education for the rest of their lives but never do anything with what they have been taught. You wouldn’t expect that from:
The whole education paradigm is aimed at making us more successful by applying what we have learned to help ourselves and others. Most people in the US attend school a minimum of 12 to 14 years. A good number go beyond that in order to specialize in a chosen field hoping to find a job doing something they have been trained to do in school.
Going to school and learning how to do something seems like a waste of time and opportunity if you never apply what you’ve learned. Yet many Christians attend school each week. Some for 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years of their lives, (I’m referring to Sunday School), and never put what have learned into practice. In fact the majority of Born-Again Believers in Jesus Christ who attend Church each week still don’t know how to witness and have never personally led someone to Christ.
I’m not trying to be critical, but it does seem a little odd. Especially when the whole point of the Gospel is to teach and train others to be teachers and trainers of others. It can start with a simple meaningful conversation.
2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
Like I said, I don’t intend to be critical, but I am a little concerned. Christianity is only one generation away from extinction. Unless we can educate and motivate others to share the Gospel and participate in world missions, the Church will cease to exist within the next 50 years.
You represent the most educated generation of Christians the world has ever known. We know more about the Bible and have greater access to the Gospel than any other generation who came before. Chances are, you have more information about Jesus and the Gospel message than did the Apostle Paul or any of those early Christians in the Churches of Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, or Corinth. You have the whole Bible and endless commentaries at your fingertips every second of every day. And yet, do you know many people who claim to be Christians can’t even tell you for certain if their spouse or their parents or their children have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior?
Salvation is a personal decision, but it is not a private matter. If there was ever a time in the history of the world in which to boldly and kindly ask your loved ones if they have accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior … it is now! No one who is truly Born-Again and has the Holy Spirit living in their heart will refuse to share their salvation experience with someone who is genuinely willing to listen. Like I said: It can start with a simple yet meaningful conversation – maybe with your children or grandchildren, an office worker or a friend.
Perhaps they have never been asked and then given the time to share their personal belief in Jesus without interruption. It is a very personal decision that often affects people emotionally. Many have hidden their experience with Jesus deep in their heart and it takes time and patience from the listener for them to feel safe enough to talk about it. Sharing something so precious can be difficult but it holds such great rewards.
People are won to Christ by the anointing on the testimony of a life that was changed by Jesus. There is a spiritual code programmed into the souls of every person waiting to be awakened by the witness of a true Believer in Jesus Christ. A testimony opens hearts and minds when nothing else will.
Allow me to share the last words we have record of Jesus speaking to His disciples before He ascended up into heaven.
Matthew 28 NKJV
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
The fact that Jesus saved my soul and rescued my family from the eternal penalties of sin makes me want to follow Him and tell the whole world this same Good News.
You cannot pay for your own salvation, but You can help to pay for others to be saved. Let me ask you: “What are you putting into the Gospel?”
God has given us a blueprint of His plan to save mankind. We just read it … it’s called The Great Commission. The Bible is the only picture we have been given of God’s great plan. The New Testament is a picture of a local Church making disciples and sending them out to do world evangelism through spiritually motivated humanitarian relief efforts accompanied by the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Nothing says “I love you” more than helping someone who can’t help you back. A meal when you’re hungry; clothes when you’re naked; a drink when you’re thirsty; a kind word when you’re sick or down on your luck. Yet a meal won’t save a soul … but it will open hearts and minds.
Mark 16 NKJV
19 ¶ So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Three Considerations:
To the Church and to World Missions
Over the seas and right next door
Your salvation story
