Is the Christian church today good at doing church services on their campus, but lost their holy sense of longing to reach others for Christ? Hell is real and Jesus says in John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Have we lost our sense of urgency to save family, friends, neighbors and everyone in our sphere of influence?
Ephesians 2:1-3 explains that before repenting and accepting Jesus Christ, “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” There is a world still full of people who do not know Christ and are dead children of wrath for their sins. The house next door is (figuratively) on fire with people in it asleep in unbelief and (with the Gospel) we have a fire engine in our driveway. Will we not save them?
The most dangerous villain in all of our spiritual lives will not appear as a sin or even as the devil; it is distractions and busyness. Those two things will keep showing up, sucking away our holy longing for the things that God wants us to be a part of. Repent of these demons and keep focus and balance in control. Scrolling, playing and mere surviving is not how God wants us to live or how churches grow. Step up and step out for God. Let’s see Jesus reach the ends of the world.
If we are not praying for and strategically reaching out to people in our world with the Gospel right now with the intent for them to come to a “saving” knowledge of Jesus Christ, we are not likely to see anyone come to faith in our world. John 13:35 tells us, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Is it love to allow the “dead in trespasses and sins” not know the truth about the Gospel message of forgiveness and Salvation in Christ. How can they choose when they do not know the choices concerning freedom from or bondage to sin or spending eternity in Heaven and Hell? It has got to start with love.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
Step up your holy longing for God by strategically engaging with the people that you are praying for to find salvation in Christ at the foot of the Cross. Prayer is great, but prayer should always drive us to godly action. Later in Romans 10:1, the Apostle Paul asks, “How then will they call on him [Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world] in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”
Tell others about what God has done for you in your life and how Jesus died for your sins so that you were forgiven and now going to Heaven. You are the one that God is sending to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. But, you are not alone; Christ is with you always, to the end of the age. Listen to the concerns of others and keep showing up, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.
You want to see God move in your life in your loved ones life and in society. We need to be the church reaching our culture and talked about as a being people of faith, honesty and integrity; a child of God. Differences are being made for kingdom of Heaven impact in your local community. Your holy longing for God and holy longing for others reflects that you are not ashamed of the Gospel (the power unto Salvation for everyone who believes). Fan the flames of the holy fire of God as you advance and expand the Kingdom. Long for it.
In Christ, Brian
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