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“Words taught by the Spirit”
(1Cor.2:13)
An Email
Ministry for the Glory of God
MISSIONARY
WORK
(Revised)
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it
shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing
for which I sent it.”
(Isa.55:11)
Missions and the missionary work
are based on the Great Commission:
“And Jesus came
and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on
earth. 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, 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.” (Mt.28:18-20;
also Mark 16:15-18 and 1Pe.3:15) In this Great Commission:
·
The verb “Go”
applies to all believers, not only to professional Christian workers. And
if all true Christians, in God’s eyes, are missionaries how much more are all
Christian professional spiritual workers missionaries (missionaries, pastors and
priests). The invitation to salvation is for all alike! We have the same rights,
obligations, privileges and promises. So all believers should help in every
possible way to evangelize the world according to their ability and direction
from God. There is no excuse for millions of church members leaving this work to
a few only who seek to obey the Great Commission.
(It should
be noted that the greatest part of this study is focused on professional
Christian workers).
·
The verb
“teach” (Gr. “matheteuo”) means to
‘make disciples’ (Mt.13:52; 27:57; Ac.14:21).
·
The verb
“baptize” means that those who have
consciously been made disciples must pass through the experience of water
baptism in order to declare that they have acquired a good conscience before God
and men; also that they have destroyed the bridge between them and the world.
This same verse bears also the meaning, by extenso, of “baptism of repentance”
for the forgiveness of sins (Mrk.1:4; Lu.3:3; Ac.13:24; 19:4). It also means
what John the Baptist announced: “I
indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is
mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Mt.3:11) And finally,
·
The expression
“teaching them” means ‘instructing’
them to the end of rendering them solid and mature Christians. Or, as Paul
expressed it, “…
warning every man and teaching
every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
(Col.1:28).
Daniel T. Niles wrote:
“Evangelism is witness. It is one beggar telling another
beggar where to get food.”
What
Missions are and their aim
Missions and the missionary work are God’s purpose and command; they are the
proclamation of the gospel to the unconverted everywhere. The church, which is
the body of Christ, is responsible for evangelizing the world and planting
strong churches in every country.
Churches should
meet the spiritual needs of believers and cover their own financial needs. In
addition, the Church must try, if possible, without outside help, to be
intensely evangelistic, sending out
spiritual
workers to the regions around the church as well as to other countries.
The evangelist John Rice has written in his book
entitled “The Soul Winners Fire”:
“So to be a soul winner means to cause people to realize
their need of Christ as a personal Savior and lead them to receive Him, confess
Him, depend upon Him, and commit themselves wholly to Him, with heart faith.”
The Bible says
“The fruit of the
righteous is a tree of life; and he who wins souls is wise”
(Pr.11:30).
All other labor is insignificant as compared to
the supreme labor of winning souls. The Savior Himself
declared
that one soul is worth more than the entire world when He
said, “For
what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
(Mark 8:36-37). Soul winning is the main business of a Christian. It is for that
purpose that Christ came to earth and lived and died and rose again. There is
more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just
persons who need no repentance (Lu.15:7).
“He that goeth
forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
(Ps.126:6 AV).
The
missions all over the world
According to “Global
statistics
for
all
religions:
2001”, the population of the world was about 6 billion people with this
breakdown: 2 billion Christians (33%), 1,2 billion Muslims (19,6%), 811 million
Hindus (13,4%), 768 million nonreligious (12,7%), 360 million Buddhists (5,9%),
150 million atheists (2,5%), 14,4 million Jews (0,2%) etc.
The number of American and European missionaries
is slightly declining every year – for lack of funding and lack of laborers for
God’s harvest –
but
is being overtaken by increased participation from
The number of people,
in general,
proclaiming the Word of God continues to increase, spreading the Word of God in
the whole world! Worldwide, billions of people listen to Christian radio or
watch Christian TV. Another thing that must be mentioned is the increasing
number of Christian sites on the Internet.
Persecutions
Active persecution of Christians
takes place in: I
read in a Christian magazine “The Evangelic Messenger” that during an official
meeting on the Islamo-Christian dialogue, a Moslem, of influential character,
speaking to the Christian participants, declared with calmness and seriousness:
“thanks to your
democratic laws, we will invade you, thanks to our religious laws, we will
dominate you”.
Growth of
the Church Christianity is the fastest-growing religion in the world today. (The annual change of conversion during the period 1990-2000 was 2,5 million while for Muslims was 865 thousands.) The strongest growth is currently in the following areas:
·
In house churches, in
many nations.
·
In underground churches mainly in
·
In indigenous
churches, that is,
churches and movements led by nationals without outside intervention or start-up
help from other churches.
Conclusion: Two
thirds (2/3) of the world’s population are not Christians. Who is going to
evangelize them? Just a small minority of missionaries and national Christian
workers? Impossible! The Great Commission does not put the responsibility on
missionaries only but on every true Christian. Every Christian throughout the
whole world should participate and become involved. Massive problems need
massive measures! Our task is to take the Good News of salvation to all people
everywhere. The Holy Spirit will empower, strengthen, encourage and edify
Christians to carry
out their mission.
Problems
concerning church growth Indifference: Unfortunately, indifference is a deadly weapon in the hands of Satan! Once forgiven and saved, they have no more interest for others who are at the gate of Hell! They are not preoccupied in other people’s salvation from Hell! They become lukewarm! They risk to be vomited out of His mouth (Rev.3:16). “The people will curse him who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.” (Pr.11:26). And elsewhere the Bible says: “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.” (Pr.24:11). Unfortunately, just a small percentage of those who are called Christians are true Christians; few are those who are ‘Christian combat cells’ trying to win people to Christ! In addition, great is the number of missionaries and pastors that withdraw from active service and rare are the Churches that really have a missionary spirit! Lack of evangelistic messages: Rare are the messages that contain words that can save those who are present but unconverted. Many are the ethical, sociological and psychological messages intended to comfort falsely unrepented sinners and guide them to self-improvement! Whenever a message is given at a Church, it must always include the basic elements of salvation: Preachers should emphasize the value of the Bible, the person and the work of Jesus, repentance, faith, the grace of God and the fear of God! Many churches are program-driven trying to build their little “kingdoms” instead of focusing their attention on evangelistic preaching, which, at the same time, edifies enormously the believers… Unfortunately, there are also other reasons for that great indifference:
·
Some pastors think
their church is too small or too poor to have a missionary program.
·
Some Churches receive
the believers’ money but never or rarely explain how it is spent.
So people are discouraged to give more!
·
Others believe that it
is not necessary or urgent or obligatory to reach out to people
and spread the Christian faith since only those who are predestined will be
saved:
God will find out a way to save them. So, there is no need to seek and save the
lost…
·
Other churches are
afraid to be accused of doing a work of proselytism, converting people from one
religion to another!
And what can we say about Christians of all Christian denominations, who during
open TV debates, say that all religions are good and should be respected!
All
men should be respected but not all their religions!
They are afraid to say that Christ is the only way of
salvation, all the more while there is still freedom to propagate the Gospel!
John 14:6 says that only
Jesus is the way the truth and the life!
They are ambassadors who are either afraid or ashamed of the heavenly country
they represent! Isaiah says:
“His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are
all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.”
(56:10). They are people having no Holy Spirit but just a religious profession!
·
Another
serious
reason for the spiritual indifference among the members
of the Church, in general, is the way those who
are responsible treat their congregations:
Some of them shepherd
the flock of God as being lords over those entrusted to them (1Pe.5:2-3) either
in evident authoritarian ways or in camouflaged ways manipulating people so as
to impose their will and implementing the Church’s constitution according to
their personal preferences. In addition, they always find excuses to justify the
non-keeping of their promises. The problem, however, does not lie only in their
conduct and manipulations but it is in great part due also to the congregation.
Jeremiah says:
“The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by
their own power; and
My people love to have it
so. But what will you do in the end?”
(
The
situation of the world and the Holy Spirit
The world perishes!
What are we going
to say to God when we stand before Him?
Telling the world about Jesus is not optional; it is a commandment to be obeyed
unquestionably and unconditionally. As the Father has sent me, so send I you,
ordered Jesus! The needs are tremendous. We are facing a world in despair,
perverse and self-destroying.
We know that the number of
Christians in
The Holy Spirit is at work, creating a hunger for
the Bread of Life amongst all social classes. There, where the action of the
Spirit is engaged and the strong wind of spiritual revival blows, it is
necessary that our attention, our help and our action speed up things that
happen in favor of the work of God. What we are living through nowadays is not
“the signs of the times” but rather “the time of the signs”. These are historic
days in which we live. This is the reason why we must pray intensely so that
true spiritual workers be recruited by God with zeal and faithfulness. Also, we
must raise money either for Missions or for the reproduction of this
incomparable treasure, which is the Bible. It is urgent!
How many of the so-called Christians are really
active and committed?
We do not know. One thing
we do, however, know and that is that true Christians are but a
“little flock”,
to use our Lord’s expression (Lu.12:32). Now, there are other open doors which
were closed for centuries. We must “exploit” these unprecedented possibilities
and walk in the good works that God has prepared for us. Christian TV programs
are all over the world. Spiritual messages by e-mail and Christian sites on the
web increase without ceasing. The responses in the form of letters and phone
calls come in by the millions. They all ask for Bibles. Time is irreplaceable.
We must become good managers of our time and of our talents. We must understand
the urgency of our times before it is too late. The night will come and then no
one can work.
The word “apostle” means
“one sent out”,
which comes from the Greek verb
apostello,
which means
“send out”.
And the word “missionary” means also “sent out” and comes from the Latin verb
“mitto”,
which means
“send”.
Since Christ died for all for their salvation, all must hear the
“good news” of
salvation from those who are sent out by God and who are called to proclaim the
gospel.
Every
person who accepts the
lordship of Christ in his life becomes a
member of His true universal church and is a ‘missionary’.
The true Christian church, irrespective of local churches and numerous
denominations, has nothing to do with denominations and geographical boundaries.
Our Lord Jesus was neither Catholic nor Orthodox nor Protestant etc.!
He was and is the Savior of
the world! Each and every true Christian must reach out to the unconverted and
win people to Christ.
“…lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are
already white for harvest!” (Joh.4:35) is the
Master’s command!
Being a
TRUE
worker of God (missionary, a priest or a pastor) is a hard job: They watch for
our souls as they must give account to God…
(Heb.13:17)
and “…
in all things approving themselves as the
ministers
of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses” (2Cor.6:4).
Of course, God equips His servants with gifts,
administrations and operations:
“And
he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers”
(Eph.4:11).
“A man should only enter the Christian ministry if he
cannot stay out of it”, someone said.
The Word of God says of His
servants:
“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by
compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords
over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief
Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away…” (1Pe.5:2-5).
This is the reason why we are called to
“… to respect
those who work among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you and
to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.” (1Thes.5:12-13).
The tools of ministry are the preaching of the Word publicly and prayer, but it is more effective to speak it privately – one to one – to a particular person. The best, however, tool for reaching out people is true Christian character (personal holiness) and the worst is careless living. No use to be successful by the world’s standards but lack in practical Christian life. The work of God is badly in need of people who are obsessed with love for the truth and that cannot be bought… who live by conviction and not by convenience. Missionaries, pastors and priests are supposed to serve the Lord! But who truly serves the Lord? The Bible replies: “My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.” (Ps.101:6-7). This is the type of person that God wants to have in His house and serve Him. God’s eyes are upon faithful persons – whether church leaders or faithful members of the church – who are upright followers of God, who live a life of strict integrity, who fear the LORD, who walk in the law of the LORD, who seek Him with the whole heart, who walk in His ways (Ps.119:1-3). Yes, persons who are not peddling the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God, they speak in the sight of God in Christ (2Cor.2:17); who do not walk in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully (2Cor.4:2); who swear to their own hurt and do not change (Ps.15:4). It is they that become God’s faithful stewards to whom He may entrust the implementation of his plans; He will honor them (Joh.12:26) and they will dwell within His house (Joh.17:24; Re.21:3) So, it is faithfulness that counts. Though a man may possess talents of a high order, yet if he is not devoted to fidelity and integrity, he will never rightly execute God’s will. And as it is written, “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” (1Cor.4:2). In reality, God uses trustworthy people… and promotes them to places of honor and trust, bestows blessings upon them, protects and defends them, and preserves them from perishing. He chooses servants rather by their piety than by their cleverness. Such servants dwell with Him and He in them. The expression ‘he who walks in perfect way, he shall serve me’ does not mean ‘sinless perfection’. It means sincerity, spiritual transparency and, above all, love for God’s truth… and not of their denomination! Flatterers, sycophants, supplanters, deceivers, liars, people who have only a form of godliness shall not dwell within God’s house and shall not continue in His presence.
How beautifully the Holy Spirit expresses the same idea
in Isaiah:
“He that
walks righteously, and speaks uprightly;
he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of
bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from
seeing evil; he shall dwell on high…”
(33:15-16)
Let me repeat and say that being a
true Christian laborer is one
of the most difficult and the hardest “professions”.
First,
it demands an absolute devotion to the Lord. I say
devotion to
the Lord. Devotion to his ministry is the
result of his devotion and confidence to the Lord. Unfortunately, many sincere
people are devoted to their task and not to the Lord and this is why they are
discouraged when things go wrong or when they suffer hardships or when they are
criticized etc… He who is devoted to the Lord Jesus is never discouraged and
never resigns from his tasks.
Second,
because the missionary or the pastor has no administrative authority over the
people. He cannot give them orders. Their faithful presence and adherence to the
Third,
because being a
true Christian worker
requires love not only for God and trust in
Him, but also
love for people who are not worthy to be loved. It demands stability of
character, discernment, tact, zeal, and many other qualifications, among which
is leadership, which is the capacity to trace a trail, to enable others to
become leaders and to leave a path for others.
Fourth,
being a missionary
or a pastor
means endless hours of work, no regular time schedule, and endless hours of
studying, writing and learning one or more languages.
Last but
not least,
it means persecutions; it means honor and dishonor; evil report and good report
(2Cor.6:8); it means being submitted to critics; it means very often poverty; it
means working in faith without seeing any tangible results for years and years;
it means for many of them working without a pension in old age; it means living
under unhealthy conditions, eating detestable things etc. Above all, it means
that God’s worker is a permanent target of Satan from almost all sides. He
needs, therefore, to have
much patience,
purity, kindness as well as the authority and power of the Holy Spirit, sincere
love and be filled with the knowledge of the Word of truth.
Let us thank the Lord Jesus Christ who
has given His Church such men devoted to Him and to His redemptive work. Let us
thank
Him
because He has given His Church men and women who do not seek their own glory
and their own interest but seek God’s glory and God’s will!
Let us thank the Lord Jesus who has promised us that in spite of the adversities
of life and our weaknesses:
“…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the
age”.
What
should be the true Christian’s message
True servants of God should not preach their own words and reflections but they
should preach Christ crucified and raised from the dead (Ac.8:5, 35; 1Cor.2:2):
“… he whom God has
sent speaks the words of God…”
(Joh.3:34
and 1Pe.4:11),
not with enticing words of man’s wisdom (1Cor.1:17; 2:1, 4) and not setting
forth themselves (2Cor.4:5).
They
should preach repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ
(Ac.20:21),
always and everywhere (Mrk.16:20; Ac.8:4),
without reserve (Ac.5:20;
There are sincere “apostles” but who are not spiritually
minded. There are others who have become missionaries or priests or pastors just
because they have made a wrong choice of profession but do not want to change.
They become, therefore, bad shepherds, ‘feeding themselves’ (Eze.34:10; Jude
1:12). Some of them become also false prophets: They preach peace while there is
no peace and/or use
clever jokes in order to invite people’s attention and praises.
And what should we say for such “apostles” who are lovers of money and make
fortunes? Others pretend to be busy but are lazy, without a burden for those
heading toward Hell! And what should we say about “sissy” pastors, men-pleasers,
not fearing God and about others who are involved in financial and moral
problems?
Others,
either because of their character or because of their denominations, remove
freedom of word from the members of their church or prohibit the dialogue,
transforming the church into a one-way street. Some of them do not pay attention
to the nagging of their conscience and do not accept criticism. They avoid
systematically confrontation. Of course, it is hard to accept criticism without
resentment. Those who accept criticism and admit their errors or mistakes prove
maturity and wisdom.
Let us remind ourselves,
for example, what has happened with some famous tele-evangelists and/or
miracle-makers who were accused of financial and moral problems. During the days
of the OT prophets, of our Lord Jesus Christ and of Paul, bad workers existed.
Nowadays, they do not exist any more…!!! Today, we call them
“weak believers”…
May God have mercy on us! They are people who have never heard the call of God
for such a ministry. They are and remain as missionaries or pastors just because
they have finished a Theological Faculty or Seminary. They have never been
guided by God but they are guided by their own will; they have neither
surrendered to God nor paid attention to God’s providence. Their ministry is
just a career or a profession. Other ‘professionals’ have chosen and appointed
them… Some of them pretend living by faith but apart from a regular ‘unofficial’
salary, they draw money from different financial sources, which we cannot even
imagine. Some of them are
“dogs”, “evil workers … enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their
shame, who mind earthly things” (Php.3;2;
18-19), who
by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts
of the simple” (Rom.16:18).
Generally speaking, Christian spiritual workers belong to
their ecclesiastic denominational authorities, work under their auspices and
depend financially on them.
They
are bound by their
denominational doctrines; they are, however, afraid to preach the pure truth
when some day their denominational “scales” fall from their eyes and receive
their sight to see the pure Biblical truth (Ac.9:18). Others do not dare reprove
certain members of their church or fellow workers
who walk
disorderly because they are afraid to be falsely accused and be excluded of
their posts. A little time after my conversion to Christ from atheism, a priest tried to convince me that my new convictions were not dogmatically correct. After many and long discussions, he admitted that my Biblical arguments were cogent. When I asked him why he did not preach them he answered that if he began preaching them he would be thrown out of his post! I was deeply sorry of his answer. He did not, however, tell me what account he would give before the Judgment Seat of Christ…
When some
spiritual
workers
do not agree
anymore
with the
denominational positions or dictatorial policies of the ecclesiastical
authorities to which they belong they are
either rejected or they reject them. Then they
become independent spiritual workers. They prefer to be in the ‘opposition’
rather than to be
“yes men”.
Some of them, in spite of the difficulties,
such as the
financing of their ministry, loneliness,
difficulty
to secure the co-operation of churches
etc., they
have been greatly used by the Lord. Independent or non-professional
workers
are usually obliged to live by
faith! Living by faith means that they trust completely in God for their
survival and ministry. But, as someone said:
“God’s way will not lack God’s supply”.
They accept this spiritual reality and cast all their care upon God, for He
cares for them and for their ministry which is God’s (1Pe.5:7). Of course, some
of those independent
workers are
spiritual
‘demagogues’
and
can become very rich!
What and
how Christians should witness or preach
As it has already been said, all
true Christians must give their testimonies and all Christian workers must do
evangelistic sermons. God means to make us soul-winners, whatever the gift we
have received from God is! It is written,
“…Follow Me, and I will make you
fishers of men.”
(Mt.4:19) And,
“… be watchful in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an
evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
(2Ti.4:5). He who says that,
“I am not a professional evangelist,
or he who says that,
“I am a businessman and it is not my job to try to reach
out to souls”, etc., I can assure you that he
has lost his way; he has lost his zeal and sooner or later he is going to hear,
“Remember
therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I
will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place——unless you
repent.” (Re.2:5)
Evangelistic preaching must
boldly
attack sin
but not sinners.
It is written,
“Cry aloud, spare not; lift up
your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their
transgression, and the house of Jacob their
sins.” (Isa.58:1). Only the grace of
God can save, but grace saves only convicted, repented, confessed and changed
sinners. We are called to preach the full Gospel and
teach people to observe
all things that Jesus has commanded us!
To speak or to preach on faith and
God’s love is a marvellous
thing. To proclaim the love of God and God’s free salvation is something
commendable! Not to
explain, nevertheless, or not give a description
of what man is
saved from is a
very dangerous thing
when one does not make a mention – for example – of
Hell, of eternal condemnation or perdition, of God’s
wrath or nothing about the fact that
it is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God
(Heb.10:31). The Church must be protected from such false teaching but also from
false comfort…
Certain preachers when they preach on John 3:16 or make reference to this verse
or to other similar verses
(Jean 3:18; 3:36; 5:24;
6:54
etc.),
they put the accent on the love of God and man’s faith but they avoid
systematically to describe
what the word “perish” means and
what the word “salvation” actually
means and implies: Not only freedom from the guilt of sin but also from the
power of sin! They avoid mentioning the verse,
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
(Joh.3:36). They avoid speaking on the wrath of God.
Such Gospel is not “The Full Gospel”!
It is a lame Gospel, a handicapped Gospel! The words or
expressions such as “eternal shame”,
“eternal fire”, “the wrath of God”, “everlasting punishment”, “gehenna of the
fire”, perdition of ungodly men”, “the second death”, “the lake of fire” etc.
are not even mentioned… And God’s
fear disappears… But these
words did go out from the mouth of our Lord and of His prophets and of His
apostles… who were not trying to be agreeable to their audiences but were trying
to save those who were listening to them!
They say that they preach the Full Gospel but they do not, because they give
exhortations, consolations but never
warnings. That is false comfort!
He who loves warns!
Parents that do not warn their children
do not love them!
In the same way, God’s workers who do not warn unbelievers and even believers
concerning the consequences of their indifference, disobedience or even of
their lukewarmness do not love them!
He who loves warns…
The Spirit of God said through Jeremiah the prophet,
“But if they (that is my prophets,
my pastors and missionaries) had stood
in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear MY WORDS,
and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their
doings” (Jer.23:22).
Somebody may say,
“An itinerant
evangelist can do that, but a ‘pastor’ cannot, because certain people might get
mad, quit giving money and leave the Church.”
So what? Let God’s worker do his duty and God is responsible for the rest. This
is, however, the only way to revive believers and bring to life dead souls. All
those who want to live a pious life, who preach the Word
of God
and are instant in season and out of season (2Ti.4:2) will be persecuted. The
Other
deviations
·
Some preachers insist so much on
the Old Testament
that one wonders if he is in a Christian Church or in a Hebrew synagogue! The
only difference is that they mention the name of Jesus Christ in their starting
and their closing prayers! Jesus Christ must be,
directly or indirectly,
the centerpiece of any preaching, whether in the OT or the NT or both.
·
In certain cases, the Christian
ministry is done in the power of the flesh and not in the power of God, because,
like Nadab and Abihu, certain people try to reach out to people with
strange fire,
that is, with common fire, not divinely kindled (Lev.10:1-2): Sociology,
psychology, human reflections, soft-speaking, peace-at-any-price, modernized
reach-out methods accompanied by … a lot of decibels … draw people in vast
numbers,
but can such “artifice» really save souls?
Soul
winning is not a matter of talent or of schools
Soul winning is not a matter of
talent. It is not a matter of schools and literature to become true
soul-winners! It is a matter of faithfulness and obedience to the Great
Commission. It is a matter of obedience to the Lord’s commandment:
“…As my Father
has sent Me, I also send you” (Joh.20:21). It
is a matter of broken heart over sinners like our Lord who came
“to seek and save
the lost” (Lu.19:10). Soul-winners forget
themselves and with the power of the Spirit go after sinners. They simply preach
the Word and are ready to pass it to others
“…in season and
out of season…” (2Ti.4:2). Christians know
that they cannot bring all the lost to Christ because
“… wide is the
gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go
in by it.” (Mt.7:13).
Let us add here another point of
great importance: Just as soul-winning is not a question of talent or studies,
in the same way it does not depend on good leaders of churches! Let there be no
misunderstanding! Great and in many aspects is the value of good leaders but
what counts is the obedience of the members of the church to the GREAT LEADER of
the church who is THE HOLY SPIRIT! There is a revealing verse that says:
“The locusts have
no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands”
(Pr.30:27). Just as the locusts are guided by their instinct… so are the
Christians that they are not in need to be guided by men kings/leaders but by
the Holy Spirit that guides them as if it were their ‘spiritual instinct’…
Here is what you and I
can do to evangelize more souls for Christ:
1.
We can
PRAY for the work of evangelization.
We can do nothing without Jesus Christ, our Savior! However, the spiritual
success is, of course, impossible without any efforts from the part of the
believer and without, parallelly God’s approval and intervention. We plant and
water but it is God who makes things grow (1Cor.3:7-8).
Let us pray concretely
and in a regular and permanent way
so that the Holy Spirit will destroy the work of the Devil and his resistance
but as well as our inertia, that sincere workers will be raised, that the wind
of a spiritual revival may blow on the multitudes. Let God’s work become the
object of both our collective and individual prayers in a regular and permanent
way. 2. We can – at least some of us – get engaged directly or indirectly in God’s work. Our ministry of evangelism will be to present Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit so that every man can put his trust in Him as a Savior and serve him as his Lord. “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Mt.9:38). Someone said, “God doesn’t want your ability, He wants your availability.” Our prayers, finances and love can help us wake up those who do not know the Lord. Money is necessary but it is not the ‘sine qua non’. In spiritual warfare, money is not enough. Prayer is our most powerful currency.
God has asked us to bear
fruit, much fruit, and fruit that remain; so we shall be His disciples
(Joh.15:8, 16). Today God is asking us:
“…Whom shall I
send, and who will go for us?” If, my brother,
you hear his voice do not harden your heart. Accept His calling. Tell Him,
Here am
John BALTATZIS
www.sporeas.com
www.sporeas.gr
www.sporeas.eu
¸äñá:Melbourne-Australia
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