One of the areas we all need help with is trying to get our friends to come to church, to learn about God and his Son. We want them to come learn what they must do to save their souls eternally. To try to help with this, I will be starting a new series of Sunday morning sermons on Sunday, February 1st. This series of sermons is designed to help all of us, including those who don't know much about God or the Bible, have a greater understanding of these things. The lessons deal with the reality of God. Is God, Jesus, Heaven, and Hell real? Is the Bible really the Word of God? Then we will close out this series with the thought that, if all of these things are real, it is time for us to take a stand for them.
I am telling you now about the plans for this series because I want all of you to have plenty of time to talk with your families, your friends, your co-workers, etc., and invite them to come and worship with us and hear these lessons. You will have a couple of weeks to build up their interests and hopefully, create a desire in them to come and hear these lessons.
Brethren, we are all to be evangelizing for the Lord. We are all to be reaching out to and sharing God's work with those around us in every way we possibly can. What did Jesus say to His disciples, His followers about what they were to be doing? Here are His words direct from Him: "15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." "16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned" (Mark 16:15-16). "19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" "10 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20). There are those today who say what Jesus said here refers strictly, only to the apostles. If that is the case then the apostles and Christians in Jerusalem directly disobeyed Christ. Notice what they did in Acts 8:1, and Acts 8:4, where Luke writes, "1 And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." "4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word." Notice, the apostles stayed in Jerusalem while the Christians they had converted were the ones who went out teaching and preaching the word. We are all to be doing all we can to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those around us. May the Lord help us and bless us as we strive to do His will in this area.
Until next week, I love you all,
Dan