Gospel Urgency

i want you to do something for me....

Close your eyes and think back on all the people you walked by today. The people you typically pay no attention to, the people you walked past on campus, the people that sit around you in class, the people you saw while you ate your lunch…who do you see?

Each and every person you saw when you did that little exercise shares at least this one thing in common. In fact, this is something that every single person that has ever lived shares in common. Here is what the writer of Hebrews says about this thing we all share...

Hebrews 9:27 CSB

27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—

Hebrews 9:27 CSB

27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—

Hebrews 9

This is what we all have in common, we will all one day die and face God’s judgement...

Here is where we are headed tonight. Im not a brimstone and hell fire preacher, I never have been and never will be. However, over the years I have noticed something that concerns me about modern Christianity. I fear that we have lost our urgency in sharing the gospel. And by “lost our urgency” what I mean is, we don’t do it…

Current State of Evangelism for College Aged Christians:

Ed Stezer

Fear

Apathy

Laziness

Nearly half of Millennials who are practicing Christians says it is wrong to evangelize (47%).

Two out of three Millennials believe being a witness about Jesus is part of their faith (65%).

Almost two out of every five practicing Christians say they have no non-Christian friends or family members (38%).

More than half report having two or fewer conversations about their faith with a non-Christian during the past year.

Those who had at least one conversation about faith came away more confident (87%) and eager (71%) to talk with others about Jesus.

So how can we overcome these struggles? I think the way to do it is to do our best to recapture a sense of urgency in sharing the gospel with those God has put in our path.

If we desire to recapture a urgency for evangelism we need:

Understand the Necessity of Evangelism

Romans 10:14–17 CSB

14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. 16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

romans 10:

Understand the Urgency of Evangelism

To

Romans 10:14-

Paul says here that it is impossible for someone to call on Jesus for salvation unless the hear the message of the gospel.

This is why evangelism is important. We don’t have the option to not share the gospel because unless people hear the gospel they cant call on Jesus to save them from their sin. And unless they call on Jesus to save them from their sin, they will go to hell.

Many people in our culture today live by this mantra: “Preach the gospel always, when necessary use words.”

That’s just not possible. Verse 17 tells us why, “Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.”

If we desire for a person to be saved by Jesus, then sharing the good news about salvation through faith alone in Christ alone is the only way it will happen.

We can pray and pray and pray and pray for a person to come to faith in Jesus…but if no one ever shares the gospel, the person we prayed for will die and go to hell.

This doesnt mean that our sharing is what brings someone to faith. We dont save anyone, God does…this is what means

John 6:44 CSB

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

No can come to faith apart from God calling someone to repentance and faith…but the way that God through the Holy Spirit calls someone to repentance and faith is through faithful and obedient Christians who preach the good news about Jesus!

This is your divine assignment Christian…it is the reason why God has saved you and given you the Holy Spirit…to be a witness about the God who saves!

Understand the Urgency of Evangelism

Romans 10:14–17 CSB

14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. 16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

People are dying…what do you think happens after they die?

This is something we dont ever think about...

But do you realize that at the moment someone passes from this life into eternity they stand before God and are judged?

Like before we have our funeral plans in order, before anyone says anything nice about someone at their funeral, they have already been judged by God and are either in heaven or in hell?

Do you ever think about that?!

There are people we walk past every single day that may go to hell really soon…the only way they wont is if we go and tell them.

And outside of that, there are about 6 billion people alive today that dont know Jesus…if they died tomorrow they would go to hell.

How selfish do we have to be to care about our streaks on snapchat more than we care about the eternal destiny of 6 billion souls...

It’s not a game…this is heaven and hell…eternal life is at steak for billions upon billions of people...

Understand Our Role in Evangelism

Here is where the rubber hits the road...

God promised way back in that he would send a man from the offspring of Eve to crush the head of sin...

Genesis 3:15 CSB

15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

That man was Jesus....Jesus took on the serpent—the devil— , he took on sin, and he took on death…and he defeated them.

The Bible tells us that every man that calls on Jesus will be saved…and that the only way that anyone can call on him to be saved is by hearing the gospel preached to them....

So here is where the rubber hits the road…you are called to preach…maybe not in front of a church…buy your pulpit might be from a classroom chair, or a lunch table. Your pulpit may be on a couch in front of a friend, or the library on campus, or a football seat in the student section, or a tailgate tent. I dont know what your pulpit will look like, but I know that you are called to preach the gospel tonight if you are a Christian.

So here is my challenge to you this week...

I challenge you to get uncomfortable…I challenge you to identify one person that you will begin a relationship with to share the gospel.

Im not saying that you need to come out of the gates and drop Jesus on someone in the first conversation…maybe it looks like inviting them here to the U…maybe it looks like bringing someone to church at first.

Imagine with me for just one minute what might happen if each of us shared the gospel with one person this week.

60-120-240-880-1,760-3,520-7,040-14,080-28,160-56,320-112,640-225,280…in 39 days everyone on planet earth has heard the gospel.

An unstoppable movement of God can only happen if you decide to be faithful with one…and who knows what God may do after that...

So who’s your one?