Acts 2:38-42 (NIV) Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call." With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Today, the Holy Spirit still urges us to "get out of this sick and fallen world while we can" because the time is drawing near that it will be too late for those that did not listen. Those that do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior will not see Heaven, Jesus will not acknowledge them and eternal torment will be theirs. John 14:21 "The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that's who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him."
God wants all of us to be saved, but it's a choice that only we can make. Many people know about Jesus but a much lower number ever come to accept him as their lord and Savior. There are many people that do great works, are very generous with their time and money. Many people that live righteously feel that because they have lived this way that they will enter into Heaven with full honors. On the contrary, regardless of our works on earth, if we have not accepted Jesus, he will not accept us. They would be no better off then someone who had not done any good works. I don't know anyone that would want to be left out, but it is so hard for some to believe. There are so many forces in this world that make it hard for the non believer. The mainstream media, film makers, activist Judges, all act as negatives. The non believer sees that these forces appear to be gaining ground, so one would figure that if they're gaining ground then they must be right in what they're saying.
They can't understand something they know nothing about. If they don't know Jesus Christ in the form of a personal relationship, they cannot understand who Jesus was, why He came and what he commanded us to do. This is where Mark 16:15 is so important. It says, "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." This is what we are supposed to do. Any opportunity we get to share the Gospels with a friend, a family member or a coworker should be taken. Sometimes we need to search hard for the opportunity and sometimes God will prepare a situation for you where someone might begin to talk about themselves and give you an opening to share the fact that Jesus loves them and that He dies for our sins so that we could be forgiven.
We are getting what Jesus deserved and He took the punishment that humanity deserved. More than speaking this though we have to be sure that our actions align with our message, because people will watch us closely to see if we are living what we are preaching. We become the message by living out the message we share. Actions speak louder than words and people watch a lot more than they hear. Another thing we need to remember when sharing Jesus is that we cannot prejudge someone before we speak to them. I have read of many instances when someone had the opportunity to share the gospel and prejudged someone by the way they looked or acted and ended up not sharing. This person may have been in the perfect place to receive but was deprived the opportunity to here the gospel because someone felt that they wouldn’t receive it.
We need to be very careful as told in John 7:24. Be honest in your judgment and do not decide at a glance (superficially and by appearances); but judge fairly and righteously. Give everyone the opportunity to come to know Jesus. This is what we’ve talked about so much, going into our marketplace and having an effect on it and changing the face of that marketplace with the word of God, which is sharper than any two edged sword. Now is the time, this is the place and we have a great opportunity to see a great harvest from a seed that we never planted but the Holy Spirit planted. In order to be the complete body of Christ, we need to go and find the missing parts. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide, be sensitive to what he is telling you and you will know what the right words for the right time.
Please pray this with me.
Father God, it is a privilege for us to have the opportunity to bring the message of your son Jesus to this lost and dying world. I pray Lord God that you would increase our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, so that we would hear clearly the direction we are supposed to go, to find the ones who need to here about Jesus. Father I also pray that you would put a burden on the hearts of those that don’t know Jesus as their savior, that they would just get a curiosity and a hunger to have questions answered, so that this would create an opportunity to preach the gospel to them. Guide us and give us wisdom Lord God, so that we would know the right thing to say in any situation. So that we have the best chance to bring the lost back to you.
In Jesus Name I Pray
Amen
God Bless You All
“The Sharpshooter”
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
The Opportunity To Know Jesus
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