All in The Gospel
What are you prepared to endure as you deliver the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who need to hear it? In the process of placing salvation in the hearts, minds, and souls of those who are lost do you tread precariously along the precipice of hell, and risk the loss of your own salvation? Sometimes we find that it is necessary to dine with sinners before they will hear what we have to say about our faith, but we must never let go the hand of Christ, or go out before We are sent.
Are we advocates for God and Jesus Christ by reflecting God’s glory, or do our words and actions turn people away from a waiting faith by presenting it in an unfavorable manner? Perhaps we cover the Lord’s light altogether in an attempt to horde it for ourselves? God and the Gospel of Jesus are meant to be like a sweet aroma to the hungry, and an enticing light that beckons every ship in peril to enter God’s safe harbor. How do we bake our bread, how do we man the lighthouse?
On this the last day of the year we should present the invitation to receive the living water of Jesus Christ with a renewed heart. In many places this is a night of great merry making, filled with excessive drink and lust, but where are the pastors, prophets, and saints? Why are they quiet regarding the gospel while sinners revel? Where are we the believers? Are we at the celebration too? Are our eyes closed for a night?
Do you say that you are a child of God, and yet you remain fully engaged in the world? Do you find yourself afraid, and so actively engrossed in politics, or social issues that bitterness and even hatred bubble up in you? Who is leading you? If this doesn’t describe you then most certainly you must be leading God’s Children away from the world and it’s frothing.
More likely than not, if you are reading this, you know Jesus; who He is, and about His life. If you are reading this you may have asked Him to come into your life, confessed Him to be your Savior, and gone down in the waters of baptism. My question to you this morning is two fold today... how deep has your relationship with Him become, and, have you asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
Do you understand that Jesus Christ had to die in order to secure your redemption, or do you think He was just a mythological character meant to describe morality to us in a how-to book called the Bible? Friends, the account is real, and not a story; it is the single greatest event to occur since creation... complete with all the miracles, wonders, suffering, awe, and yes, death.
When you talk with a friend about Jesus in a public place do you speak in hushed tones? When someone asks you about Jesus in a crowded room do you whisper in their ear, or just nod you head? If so, let me tell you a couple of stories, and give you some scripture, that might change your behavior.
Are you praying for God to call you to some great task for the kingdom? Do you have a desire to do wonderful things for our Holy Father? Well stop trying to determine how He can best use you and pray instead that God give you the strength to labor in His field... to bring in His harvest.