08.09.2020 SER A People with a purpose
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Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
I ended the message last Sunday with these questions:
"Do you suppose God is anxious to write us into a new chapter in His "greater story" of connecting people we know to Jesus?
If that is true, then Christ is calling us to pray for people we know to hear the Gospel that they may be saved, then permit me to resurrect last week's question at the end of the message:
Who are the people for whom you are praying? Who is on your list? Who will you bring to Jesus in prayer that their soul may be saved?" Are you praying daily?
Prayer is where connecting people to Jesus begins. It starts with each of us in prayer for the souls of men, women, and children, praying for the people who are closest to us, people we used to rub elbows with before the pandemic started.
An impassioned prayer to God is where the battle to win lost souls for Christ starts. Jesus said it first when He commanded His disciples,
therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Pray earnestly for the Lost. Pray earnestly Jesus commands, for "apostles," believers, the faithful to be sent out to bring in the harvest of souls.
Consider that the Christian Church is the largest connection group on the planet. According to the PEW researchers in 2017, 31 % of the planet is connected to Jesus. Which means, that if we want to live in a world where
to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
...then, this transformation begins with us in prayer, praying first for the people we know who are lost and the second part of our earnest prayer is for Christ to raise up among us apostles to bring in the harvest.
Let's remember who are are and, more importantly, this truth,
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Everyone, who professes Jesus as Lord, is an ambassador for Christ. Imagine what could happen if the Christian church on earth today, which represents 31% of the population world-wide, were in earnest prayer, praying for people to be connected to Jesus, and for apostles to be sent out, what do you think could happen to the world? NOTHING except good. Nothing short of awesome.
Do you want to change the world together? Then, let's rally together in prayer. Imagine such a movement of prayer all around the world, the church on earth, praying together for people to be connected to Jesus. Imagine the influence the Christian church could have on the world today on social justice, values, poverty, and putting and end to the myriad of injustices in our day.
Christ has promised…
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
It all starts with two or three gathered together in the name of Christ. How awesome it would be if instead of a pandemic of COVID-19, we started a pandemic of prayer to God, that brought about a movement of God, like the One that began on the Day of Pentecost. That great movement of God’s spirit began in an upper room in prayer, and we are gather here today in this room and online in worship because of that Day.
So imagine what can happen when the Christian Church is in prayer and takes in hand the power of God, in Gospel.
Paul identifies the Gospel as the power to change the sinner's heart.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The Gospel is God's power gift to save everyone who believes. That power God places in the hands of every believer, the Gospel is like dynamite.
I have no personal experience with dynamite. I went to youtube to find an example of the power of dynamite. I couldn’t find anything safe enough to show.
Much safe, and more powerful is the gospel in our hearts, on our minds and share from our lips and lives. When you “light it up” is has the potential to blow up something up for Christ's sake.
So, let's blow something up, for Christ’s.
Let the gospel blow up the lie that unborn aren't children created by God,
Thus says the Lord who made you,
who formed you from the womb and will help you:
Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
WE have God’s powerful Gospel. It is time for the the church rise up to offer the world a better answer than abortion. Because
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
Let's be thankful to God for our lives, for each other.
Let the gospel blow up the lie that God's love is only for a select few. The truth is:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God so loved the world. There is no predjudice in the bible. If you live on this planet, you matter to Jesus, because..
and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
With the power of the gospel in hand, let's blow up the lie, that says, "I can do whatever I want with my life."
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Your life is a gift, not to do as you please, but to please God in all you do. And the only way to please God with to bring Him a believe heart.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
But let's thank God that we were bought and paid for...
knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
This Gospel has the power to heal the broken heart.
This gospel has the power to bring forgiveness to people who are burdened by their sin.
This Gospel gives hope in the face of death, that those who lived by faith will live forever, in heavenly bliss and eternal joys.
Yet, Paul resounds the tragedy that hangs over this grand, glorious gospel?
How then will they call on him 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? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
If the church remains silent, if we remain silent, the people we know who will never call on the name of Jesus. We are God’s appointed ambassadors and our mission field starts with the people nearest to us. How will they ever hear about the peace that comes from knowing their are forgiven and they can be right with God, both now and on the day of judgment, unless we speak to them of our faith in Christ and our hope in the Gospel.
In a world that sorely lacking truth and those who are looking look in all the wrong places for answers to life’s most important questions, we have a greater opportunity than every generation before us, to bring the name of Christ and hope of the Gospel to people.
Let us pray, Move in our hearts, Holy Spirit, that we will not only be people the BOOK, who know and believe the truth of the Gospel ourselves, but lead us to boldly share the Gospel, not giving up until our fields are harvested for eternal. Hear us, God our Father as we bring you the names of those people we are praying to know and believe the gospel. In Jesus’ name. Amen.