Psalm 90:10 “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason
of strength they are eighty
years, yet their boast is only
labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
Last
Sunday, Pastor Kyle finished up his sermon series on “Purpose”. He stated that
everyone is looking for answers to life. That all of us struggle with basic and
foundational questions, such as: “Why am I here?” Life in this physical world
tends to make us occupied with “living for today” because we only live for a
certain span of time, then we all die. The fear of dying is a nature foundational
fear. Both my wife and I have experienced “near death” in the last couple
months. It is a fear of the dying process more than death itself that
preoccupies the mind in this physical life. Dying is a scary thing when we lose
our purpose. We were put here (in this time and location) for a reason. Going to
Heaven is exciting, but nobody is in a hurry to get there a lifetime of family,
friends and joyful experiences to leave behind. God could have slipped this
whole earthly existence and created us in Heaven with Him from the “get go”, so
why are we here? So there is a godly purpose for our existence on earth. The materialistic
secular humanist does not really have an answer to this question, except to say
basically (1) to find food to eat and (2) to reproduce. This view totally ignores
the spiritual and eternal purposes of life. If asked: “Have you come to the place in your
spiritual life where you can say you know for certain that if you were to die
today you would go to heaven?’, they would have no answer. The “politically
correct” culture’s police desires to silence the Christian message. But the
P.C. police doesn’t change people; Jesus does.
Matthew 28:18-20 “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.
Why we are here is partially found in Jesus’ parting
words to His disciples above. We are to spiritually eat and spiritually
reproduce through “evangelism” through the promulgation of the gospel for the
advancement of the kingdom of Heaven. So teach the Word of God, preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ and make disciples of all nations through evangelism. We must honor God;
not man. Every
soul saved to Christ decreases the population of Hell by one. There are two
sides to Jesus’ “Great Commission” command: (1) evangelism and (2) discipleship
and this process is continuous throughout life (a life-process). But, evangelism
is a muscle that we must exercised, “worked out” and used. It can get
discouraging to invite family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and acquaintances
to go to church with you and have them refuse. So, Kyle gave us two of the most
effective evangelism tools of all time. First, the “Come and See” method. Sometimes,
we move too fast in witnessing to others. This method is an introduction which
invites others to investigate, think and make a decision for themselves. The
church was instituted and left by Jesus himself. This body of Christ is the
Lord’s Plan “A” in reaching this lost and dying world, and there is no Plan “B”.
Second is the “Tell my story” method. Story of how God has worked in your personal
life inspires us and just may change someone’s life from the inside out. It is
the moment when eternity meets reality. Not all God stories are “Salvation
stories” because God is working in every part of our life in on-going an
powerful ways. And they all point to Jesus Christ – the Way, the Truth and the
Life.
Mark 16:15-16 And He said to them, “Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
Look for opportunities every day and don’t overthink it.
I the sharing of our faith, some will believe. Can we find fulfillment in
someone else other than Jesus? No. we do not know what the Lord is going to do
with our “God stories. Jesus, himself, told God stories. All of our small God
stories are a part of God’s bigger over-arching story. What are they going to
say? What are they going to think? How will they react? How other people
respond is not up to us, but the Holy Spirit working within them. The Holy
Spirit prepare in advance the hearts of those you talk to, so that they will
hear the gospel. The “Great Commission” is our mission and must never be our
great omission in life. God has given us everything we need to be able to go
and do it. Jesus is the hope of the world. Live out His purposes here on earth.
The message is that God loves us, cares for us, and has a great plan for us.
Come and see the goodness of God. Suppose that you were to die today and stand
before God and he were to say to you, "Why should I let you into my
heaven?" what would you say?
In Christ,
Brian
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