Will We Go?
Recently, in one of my courses for school; I needed to read through the book of Isaiah. There’s a scene in Isaiah 6 that caught my eye...
King Uzziah just died, and now the Lord showed Himself to Isaiah...
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I (Isaiah) said, “Here I am. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8
Isaiah was willing to be sent. He was willing to go. Isaiah knew what it meant if he went for the Lord. It meant that he would have to give up everything that he held dear, and maybe even his very life.
Are we willing to forsake all else for the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Are we willing to give up the comforts of this world to go where the Lord leads us?
“He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Matthew 28:19
And now the final question is...
Will we go?
For those who commented on my last blog, I've replied to your comments if you want to check it out...God bless and take care!
15 comments:
Good post. If we don't go, how do we expect God's will to get done? What will we think on judgement day when God tells us, "This man's blood is one your hands because when I told you to share the gospel with him, you didn't. This man also..." Wouldn't that be awful?
While we're on the subject, check out Ezekiel 33. We are watchmen just like Ezekiel.
The question remains - how do we go and spread the good news? I suggest that we not only spread the gospel, but also find effective, God-honoring ways to do it.
My dad pointed out the other day that when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked him how to be saved, Jesus told him what he needed, but when the man walked away, Jesus didn't chase him down and demand that he change his mind.
There are a few differences between what Jesus did and what modern evangelism looks like.
Jesus didn't share the four spiritual laws or the sinner's prayer or a tract, nor did he simply say, "Just trust in what I'm going to do for you, and it won't matter what you do." Jesus told him to keep the law, and the man said he had always done this. So Jesus told him to sell his possessions - something much harder than what we tell people today. Jesus told him to have real faith and trust Jesus completely by giving away everything he owned! But here's what's really interesting: Jesus did not chase him down and demand that he recite the sinner's prayer - he let him go! Even though he walked up and asked how to be saved! And then he told those around him that, sad but true, it was hard for the rich to enter heaven, though not impossible with God.
We would consider it an amazing opportunity if someone just walked up and begged us to tell them how to be saved! But Jesus just told him that it would be hard, and asked if he was okay with that, and when the man left, Jesus just let him go!
I have just one thing more to say: Since no one can come to Christ unless the Holy Spirit draws him, maybe our job is just to see where the Spirit is already working in people's lives, and start there. It we start by talking about something that seems remote and distant to them, they will remain uninterested. But if we see where the Holy Spirit is already at work in their lives, drawing them to God, we can use that pre-existing drawing to show them Jesus. Perhaps our job is not to convince people of the gospel, but to participate in what the Holy Spirit is already doing in convincing them.
Yeah Austin, Your dad is right in line with what the series Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron did on evangilism called THE WAY OF THE MASTER. I think you said you'd seen them before, or was that KA...
That's a question I asked myself just yesterday. Would I go? I don't know. Right now I'm praying that God would give me the opportunity to find that out. And praying that when that opportunity comes I will go!
Good post Moriah!
Moriah: FYI, the print on your other blog, "The Salt and the Light", is hard to read (or should I say painful to my eyes:)
Cya!
To Keith: Exactly. And yes, that would be completely aweful.
To Austin: Yep! You're right on that. We are watchmen like Exekiel. I just finished reading Ezekiel 33 for my school. (I'm reading through the entire O.T.)
You and you're dad are right on how we should share the Gospel. Ken Ham (Anwers in Genesis) once came to my church and spoke. One of the things that really stuck out was this, (not exact quote) "We live in a world that is made up of mainly Greeks instead of Jews. We have to go to the very beginning for them to understand." Basically what he was saying was this...
Back in the day when Whitefield was preaching, he was preaching to people who knew a lot about the Bible. They were like "Jews" Nowadays we can go up to someone on the streets and ask them if they know the 10 commandments and they would say something like, "The 10 what?" They are what Ken Ham called "unchurched people" or "Greeks" Just like when Paul preached to the Jews in Acts. About 3000 Jews came to know Jesus that day. Then when Paul preached to the Greeks only a few were added to the Kingdom of God. The reason why more Jews accepted Christ then Greeks was because the Jews understood the Bible, and what it said. The Greeks did not. They believed in completely different things.
To Lindsey: Hey did you hear about the Explore Workshop that was going to be at our church the 22-23 on June? I encourage you to check it out when you get the chance. (As to your second comment) Ok! I'll check it out and see what I can do to the font color. I'm thinking about maybe getting rid of that blog. I just don't have time to write up Pastor John's great sermons. I don't know. I'll pray about it.
To everyone: Hey I'm going to be doing Way of the Master this summer at my church. Please pray that God's will would be done and that He would soften the hearts of those we'll be speaking too. Thanks!!!
*In June* (I think I should read over the comments I write before I hit publish. =) ) haha
Moriah: Yes, I did read about that. I don't think I can make it at that time. Maybe they'll do it again. I think I know where God wants me to go. I'll keep on praying about it! I could be wrong, so if He asks me to go somewhere else I want to answer obediantly to that. Meanwhile I want to fully strive to be His ambassador here in the U.S.
About that misspelling, I didn't even notice until you pointed it out!
Hey Lindsey: I fixed the text on my other blog...is it better now?
Keith, I have heard of Way of the Master...and much more! I have two of their books and the pocket-sized Evidence Bible. So, it could've been me.
Moriah, just wanted to give you a heads-up on the soon-to-open Creation Museum. I wrote about it at Kingdom Advancing.
Moriah: It's much better! Thanks!
Though I don't generally read that blog since I hear his sermons every Sunday... It's nice to see the notes though.
Keith,
It was Kingdom Advancer. I've heard of the Way of the Master, but I've never recommended it. I'm not sure if I can take Ray Comfort seriously. I saw him say something really stupid once, and that kind of ruined any interest I might have had in his program. But I should really be gracious because we all mess up!
great posts....but i didn't understand what austin said..i mean i've never thought of it that way..it's true God did not force people to receive the gospel or say a sinner's prayer, but that is really interesting what he pointed out..can u explain it to me again? thanx...
love ya
amy
To Kingdom Advancer: Alright! Thanks! I'll check out your blog when I can get a few minutes. ;)
To Lindsey: =) Yep! Glad it works better for you!
To Amy: I'll send you an email or call you to explain. I'm a bit busy right now to do much of anything. =D
To everyone: It seems that my computer isn't sending me all the comments by email so I don't end up getting them until I finally check out my blog. So sorry you guys for the long delays in commenting back to you!
Amy,
I think the point I was trying to make was that today's methods of evangelism are often about getting a large crowd of people together and coercing them into quickly saying a magic prayer, but not leading them to experience any real change. The evangelist just counts each person who prays as a notch in their belt. But even when Jesus was asked for salvation directly - an opportunity every evangelist dreams of - he didn't pretend it was going to be easy. He told the rich man what following him meant, and he didn't chase him down when the rich man walked away. A modern evangelist would chase him down with a megaphone and shout at him to recite the sinner's prayer or go to hell. But that's not what Jesus did. Sorry for rambling, but those were my thoughts on the subject. I hope it made more sense.
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