How much do we believe that people need to hear the gospel? Matt 28:19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
" We see that when Jesus left the earth to be with his Father, He gave an assignment to the disciples.
It is the same assignment that we have today.
This assignment was to make disciples of all nations.
The word "disciple" literally means "learner".
The way we need to make learners is to go, the second way is to baptize and then teach to obey.
So let's take a look at "Going" today.
Many times we talk about finding ourselves and finding God's will for our lives.
But guess what? I have good news for you.
I have found God's will for you and here it is.
God has called us to fulfill the Great commission.
Let's take a look a this commission a little deeper: LOVE MEANS TAKING THE INITIATIVE When Jesus said "Go", it was basically the opposite of "stay".
The attitude of God is not a "come and see" mentality but a "go and tell" mentality.
How do I know that? John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God's answer for mankind, God's love for mankind, meant that He gave Someone, He sent Someone.
He didn't wait, but He took the initiative.
He went and sent his only begotten Son to earth to live and die for us.
Love means taking the initiative If God is a going God.
Then we should be a going people! About 20 years ago I was waiting for a bus.
I was an actor.
A woman came over to me and started telling me about Jesus.
At the end she said, "Us talking like this is not an accident.
God is trying to reach you.
" It was a throw away line to her but the Holy Spirit used that on me.
She took the initiative to go and tell.
Thank God for that woman! Thank God she took the initiative! Look at the story of the disciples themselves.
If we look at the story of the early church, they did not stay put.
They went and made a difference.
Acts 8:1-4 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
..
...
v4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went It wasn't the apostles who were doing the preaching here.
No, they stayed in Jerusalem.
It was the rank and file who had been scattered throughout the region that preached the word wherever they went.
Why? Because, believe it or not, they took the admonition seriously to ...
Mark 16:15 ..
...
"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
Some of us may look at this culture and get so intimidated, that we become obsessed and paralyzed.
We reason that we have to adapt our message and tailor it to the culture.
But interestingly, Jesus did not put his emphasis on tailoring.
He put the emphasis on communication.
He wanted us to communicate the message to as many people as possible.
Mark McCloskey tells a great story: Imagine that you are a skilled physician.
Through a research project you discover a new virus.
To your shock you realize that the virus is 100% fatal andalso that every person on the planet has it.
You press on with your research and discover a cure.
You hold a press conference to announce your discovery.
To your surprise, nobody really cares.
What virus? Who me? , I feel fine.
Nobody believes they have this virus even though people are beginning to die from it.
You think,"how can I convince the sick of their condition.
I can't pour the cure down their throats.
They have to want to take it.
" So you realize that throughpersistent reasoning you need to communicate the nature of the disease and the effectiveness of the cure! Similarly, if we are truly loving and we know that all mankind is infected with the disease called sin, and we believe that this disease is terminal, and are convinced that we have the cure-would it not be the most unloving thing in the world, to keep the cure from the people.
Wouldn't it be horrible to keep the cure from people, even though we know they don't want it? We know that they need it! So our only loving alternative must be to patiently reason and share the nature of sin and its deadliness so that they will put on the cure of Jesus Christ! TRUTHS THAT WILL MOTIVATE US Men are truly lost and Jesus is the only way Many of us have succumbed to the culture which says that Jesus is nice but not necessary-- "I'm okay Your okay" But the Biblical reality is quite different.
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom 2:5-6 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
The Bible reveals a creation that has become guilty and tainted with sin.
Sin is rebellion against God and His ways and because of this, man cannot enter into a right relationship with God.
Rom 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
The scriptures portray man as in a totally helpless state.
He is unable to earn his own salvation beforeGod.
In this age of self help spirituality, not many want to hear that.
We think that we can reach God on our own.
If we really believed that man was lost without Christ we would be motivated to Go.
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me" (John 14:6).
"There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Because of our predicament: Jesus is the only way.
We didn't say it .
He did.
People are offended at this notion.
But all you can do is present it as lovingly as you can.
Praise God though we were in sin, though we were lost.
Though we were bound.
Jesus said he came to set the captives free! There is a hell.
Mark 9:43-45 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
Hell is a very unpopular subject.
But the end of man without Christ is eternal torment.
An evangelist once said this "If you believe that outside of Christ there is no hope, it is impossible to possess an atom of human love and kindness without being gripped with the great desire to bring men to this one way of salvation.
The fact that all men are created in God's image ensures that every person born into this world will live forever.
The question is, "Where?" In each 24-hour period, over 175,000 people die, many without Christ; the matter is settled for them.
Gen.
William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, could never be accused of mincing words or doing things half-heartedly.
He believed if he could hold each of his young Salvation Army officers over hell for a few minutes, he would never have any trouble keeping them motivated about being witnesses to Christ.
Get your eyes on eternity.
You are just a pilgrim passing through.
Here is the good news: Jesus defeated death, hell and the grave .
Nothing could hold back Jesus.
God wants us to snatch souls from the enemy by convincing as many as we can as effectively as we can, as soon as we can, that Jesus is indeed the Savior of the world.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
" We see that when Jesus left the earth to be with his Father, He gave an assignment to the disciples.
It is the same assignment that we have today.
This assignment was to make disciples of all nations.
The word "disciple" literally means "learner".
The way we need to make learners is to go, the second way is to baptize and then teach to obey.
So let's take a look at "Going" today.
Many times we talk about finding ourselves and finding God's will for our lives.
But guess what? I have good news for you.
I have found God's will for you and here it is.
God has called us to fulfill the Great commission.
Let's take a look a this commission a little deeper: LOVE MEANS TAKING THE INITIATIVE When Jesus said "Go", it was basically the opposite of "stay".
The attitude of God is not a "come and see" mentality but a "go and tell" mentality.
How do I know that? John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God's answer for mankind, God's love for mankind, meant that He gave Someone, He sent Someone.
He didn't wait, but He took the initiative.
He went and sent his only begotten Son to earth to live and die for us.
Love means taking the initiative If God is a going God.
Then we should be a going people! About 20 years ago I was waiting for a bus.
I was an actor.
A woman came over to me and started telling me about Jesus.
At the end she said, "Us talking like this is not an accident.
God is trying to reach you.
" It was a throw away line to her but the Holy Spirit used that on me.
She took the initiative to go and tell.
Thank God for that woman! Thank God she took the initiative! Look at the story of the disciples themselves.
If we look at the story of the early church, they did not stay put.
They went and made a difference.
Acts 8:1-4 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
..
...
v4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went It wasn't the apostles who were doing the preaching here.
No, they stayed in Jerusalem.
It was the rank and file who had been scattered throughout the region that preached the word wherever they went.
Why? Because, believe it or not, they took the admonition seriously to ...
Mark 16:15 ..
...
"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
Some of us may look at this culture and get so intimidated, that we become obsessed and paralyzed.
We reason that we have to adapt our message and tailor it to the culture.
But interestingly, Jesus did not put his emphasis on tailoring.
He put the emphasis on communication.
He wanted us to communicate the message to as many people as possible.
Mark McCloskey tells a great story: Imagine that you are a skilled physician.
Through a research project you discover a new virus.
To your shock you realize that the virus is 100% fatal andalso that every person on the planet has it.
You press on with your research and discover a cure.
You hold a press conference to announce your discovery.
To your surprise, nobody really cares.
What virus? Who me? , I feel fine.
Nobody believes they have this virus even though people are beginning to die from it.
You think,"how can I convince the sick of their condition.
I can't pour the cure down their throats.
They have to want to take it.
" So you realize that throughpersistent reasoning you need to communicate the nature of the disease and the effectiveness of the cure! Similarly, if we are truly loving and we know that all mankind is infected with the disease called sin, and we believe that this disease is terminal, and are convinced that we have the cure-would it not be the most unloving thing in the world, to keep the cure from the people.
Wouldn't it be horrible to keep the cure from people, even though we know they don't want it? We know that they need it! So our only loving alternative must be to patiently reason and share the nature of sin and its deadliness so that they will put on the cure of Jesus Christ! TRUTHS THAT WILL MOTIVATE US Men are truly lost and Jesus is the only way Many of us have succumbed to the culture which says that Jesus is nice but not necessary-- "I'm okay Your okay" But the Biblical reality is quite different.
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom 2:5-6 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
The Bible reveals a creation that has become guilty and tainted with sin.
Sin is rebellion against God and His ways and because of this, man cannot enter into a right relationship with God.
Rom 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
The scriptures portray man as in a totally helpless state.
He is unable to earn his own salvation beforeGod.
In this age of self help spirituality, not many want to hear that.
We think that we can reach God on our own.
If we really believed that man was lost without Christ we would be motivated to Go.
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me" (John 14:6).
"There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Because of our predicament: Jesus is the only way.
We didn't say it .
He did.
People are offended at this notion.
But all you can do is present it as lovingly as you can.
Praise God though we were in sin, though we were lost.
Though we were bound.
Jesus said he came to set the captives free! There is a hell.
Mark 9:43-45 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
Hell is a very unpopular subject.
But the end of man without Christ is eternal torment.
An evangelist once said this "If you believe that outside of Christ there is no hope, it is impossible to possess an atom of human love and kindness without being gripped with the great desire to bring men to this one way of salvation.
The fact that all men are created in God's image ensures that every person born into this world will live forever.
The question is, "Where?" In each 24-hour period, over 175,000 people die, many without Christ; the matter is settled for them.
Gen.
William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, could never be accused of mincing words or doing things half-heartedly.
He believed if he could hold each of his young Salvation Army officers over hell for a few minutes, he would never have any trouble keeping them motivated about being witnesses to Christ.
Get your eyes on eternity.
You are just a pilgrim passing through.
Here is the good news: Jesus defeated death, hell and the grave .
Nothing could hold back Jesus.
God wants us to snatch souls from the enemy by convincing as many as we can as effectively as we can, as soon as we can, that Jesus is indeed the Savior of the world.
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