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Morton Church of Christ |
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Accountability 4-09-06 (by: Mark Floyd)
There once
was a man vacationing on the cost of I have been
sent here this morning to support and encourage you so that you
can take advantage of the opportunity that we have right
now, to make a difference in some ones life, even if it’s
your own! We all need
to have an attitude just like this young boy did in the story. He
saw a need in those little star-fishes life and he tended to it. He saved the
life of many Starfish that day and by his actions he might have
even saved the life of the man to whom he spoke. Therefore
our main pocus today, tomorrow and for the rest of our God given
lives, in being Christians is to seek and to save the lost.
We advance
virtue and build relationships by avoiding
spiritual-constipation…how? By sharing
your faith and evangelizing to this community. Without
realizing it we can develop a conservative rut in our
spirituality, when we don’t keep a balance of learning and then applying
what we have been taught. And we avoid
this by sharing our faith, by evangelizing. Is this
evangelistic idea a new one? NO! Is it
Biblical? Absolutely! We have been
commissioned threw Jesus Christ to seek and to save the lost. Read…Matthew
28:19-20…therefore
if you have read and believe, if you trust and are convicted…go & do what it says. We have been
commissioned because Jesus the Son of God believes
in us, He has faith in us, and He knows we can do it. He believes
in us so much that He even shed His blood for us. John So then would
we or could we do the same for Him? Would we
without hesitation offer up our child for the betterment of
another human being?
(Little boys blood
for his brother) Would you
like to feel what righteousness feels like? Than give
blood on a regular basis, so that someone else can have another
chance on life.
(trophy shirt) I mean for
all its worth what did Jesus die for? Why did he
take upon Himself the anguish & shame the humility &
disgust of our sin? Why? As if I
am worth it, deserve or have earned it!
If you know
the answer therefore go
and reach out to your family, reach out to your friends, reach
out to everyone that you come in contact with. Do this with
the people at the gas station, the people at Wal-Mart & the
grocery store. Reach
our and share with others what Jesus Christ has done for you! Statistic’s
show that out of the 6 billion people in this world today, only 4
billion of them have heard about the salvation that Jesus Christ
has to offer. Now out of
that 4 billion, the ones who have heard about Jesus and reefer to
their selves as religious people, the ones that have accepted Him
and maintain their relationship with God is only 2
billion. What happen
to the other 4 billion? Statistics
also tell us that in the And out of
those 12,000 people 1200 of them since they have not accepted
Christ are destined for an eternal punishment in hell.
Statistics
also show us that with in the Church of Christ, (our brotherhood)
only 1 out of 10 shares their faith by evangelizing. 1 out of 10! Does this
mean that only 1 out of 10 are securing their inheritance in
heaven? Does this
statistical point worry you? How can we
sit there in our pews and allow this to happen? And what are
we gong to do about it? Does not our
heart go out to our neighbors and fellow citizens who have the
potential of spending eternity in hell? Don’t you
realize that when you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal
savior that you have also accepted the aspect of responsibility
& accountability? Jesus does
not only want to be your savior, He wants to be your LORD! When we being
decupled did we not find out that the text told us to count the
cost & to make a self-conscience decision? Jesus
didn’t call us to be comfortable; He told us to pick up our
cross daily and to carry it from where He left off. Therefore if
you are not pouring yourself out into the cup to which you would
never drink out of, you are not imitating Jesus, & if
you’re not struggling in your faith you are not following Him. This is true
because as we grow in our faith, as we consume the word of God
and it transitions from the definition of words into action we
see how much we are not doing, as well as how much we need to be
doing. (and we struggle)
So then when
we think about this we should constantly bring forth the effort
of appreciation through our actions for what Jesus has done for
us. For the blood
that was shed for us When we do
this we should reflect on the pure joy that comes from believing,
accepting and maintaining an intimate relationship with Jesus
Christ our risen savior and LORD. Why? Because there
is pure Joy to be
found in the application of the hope & promise we carry
through our faith & obedience in Christ. It’s easy
to start a conversation with someone and I’m pretty sure that
there is something you have in common with your neighbors or that
person standing in line at Wal-Mart. There’s the
weather, politics, your children, and the car you drive. These are all
bases for a conversation that you can have in the name of Christ.
This is the process of sharing your faith in Jesus Christ! This is what defines us as Disciples of Christ! When you do
this you’re building intimacy with that person. And as your
relationship grows, that gives you the opportunity to share with
them the everlasting life that comes threw the intimacy that only
Jesus Christ can offer. In a specific
way this is part of the obedient act of repentance and baptism
threw the blood of the lamb! To reach out is
an expression of salvation! In fact just
by saying hello and initiating a conversation can open many doors
for you. Therefore by
taking advantage of this simple
opportunity, you can make a difference in someone’s life by
showing them that they are important. A basic
conversation shows someone that you
care. In fact you
would be surprised what a cup of coffee can do over lunch. In fact I
would bet that you would still see that same smile the next day,
on the face of the one that you invited out for lunch after
services today. So you might
be sitting there saying, I don’t know how to evangelize. That’s
not true, you probably
have never tried or have become discouraged in the results of
your efforts and have quit! (Monopoly) You share
your faith by telling someone what Jesus has done for you &
how He has helped you to feel inside. You share
with them how Jesus has given you your freedom from sin. You share
with them the hope and confidence Jesus has given you which has
brought about success in all of your priorities and
responsibilities. You tell them
about the hope and security you maintain, in an everlasting life
of peace and happiness that is waiting for you in Heaven. You tell them
that the abundance of His amazing love is waiting for them in His
out stretched hand, and all they need to do is just go to Him. This knowledge and insight is what everyone is looking for. This acceptance is the only thing that everyone will give up their life
for. This unity is the only thing that will complete their purpose in life. And when your
telling someone about this, tell them to stop trying to fill that
spiritual void they have with in themselves with temporary
part-time worldly values and start living threw Jesus Christ. Why?
Because we want to live rather than exist!!! Why?
Because there is no other life worth living!!! Amen! Our Lord, our
Father in Heaven has given us an entire world and everything in
it for the sole purpose of having fellowship with Him.
In the book
of Matthew chapter 25 tells us how we need to keep an eye out for
the needy and take care of them. It encourages
us to tend to those in need and God says that when we do this we
are tending to His needs. In the book
of Hebrews chapter 13 tells us that as we express our hospitality
we might be entertaining Angels. Therefore
with this in mind might you think twice the next time you see
someone stranded on the highway with a flat tire. In the book
of John chapter Jesus tells
us over and over again “If you love me, if
you really love me you will do this, you will keep my
commands” When we do
this we will feel the presence of Jesus telling us “I believe
in you, I live you with all of my heart & together we are
going to make it” My brothers
& sisters we half to uphold our commission as servants of
Christ and plant those seeds! We do this by
keeping our focus on Jesus (the prefecture of life) why?
So that it
will become easer for us to see the need for Jesus in the lives
of others. Let us
remember that Paul planted, Apollo’s watered and God gives the
increase.
Now sometimes
when we set out to share our faith in Christ we get rejected. Now their not
rejecting us, by no means are they rejecting us. They are
rejecting the opportunity that Jesus is holding out to them,
through us. So when this
happens pray for them and just leave that situation at the cross,
just let the Lord deal with them. Maybe one day
they will understand to what they are saying no to, maybe it
won’t be too late and they won’t experience grudging
recognition on the Day of Judgment. (The
battle belongs to the LORD)
Sometimes we
get in the way of our own evangelism. Maybe we
don’t even carry the gift of evangelism. Maybe we have
another gift that the Lord wants us to tend to. One thing for
sure, we will never find out what that gift is unless we “Get
out of the way!” We will never
understand what the LORD wants us to do unless we constantly
submit to Him in denial of our-self. What I mean
by this is that I attended a workshop last year at The title of
the seminar was “Get out of the way!” Just
let the Lord through! The seminar
encouraged us as Disciples of Christ to empty ourselves out of
all our worries and insecurities. To empty out
all of our fears and doubts and start living for the Lord. A-MEN!!! How so we do
this? By obeying
His commands. By living in
threw and for the Lord our God.
Heart mind
wave So if we can
give up a little bit more of our self-will, if we can submit
ourselves just a little bit more into His hands, if we can on a
daily basis cut loose our discretion; He will fill
us up with His leadership, He will fill
us up with His direction, He will fill
us up with His strength and He will fill us up with all
of his righteousness. Then and only
then will we have the clarity of our gift, then and only then
will we be confidant to evangelize! We
just got to let it all go and get out of the way!!! Lets look at
this in another way Saving Nemo…Dory
& Marlin in the whales mouth In the book
of Matthew chapter 28 it tells us to go. In the book
of Mark chapter 16 it tells us to go, the
Lord wants us to go that’s for sure! God wants us
go tell everybody all about His saving grace. His comfort,
confidence and security, His hope and abundant Love But He
doesn’t specifically tell us how to do this now does He? There isn’t
a step by step pattern to follow when you want to share your
faith in Christ. Or is there? John the
Baptist shows us how to evangelize by giving people the bottom
line in the book of Matthew 3:1-10: “REPENT
FOR THE (Jonah’s
shock tactics) Now this
might be a little scary to some people, but for others it just
might work. In Acts 2 the
Lord shares with us the evangelistic teck-neek of public
preaching, of being able to speak by the gifts of the Holy Spirit
as He enables us to speak. This
works great, as it is seen in pulpit preaching or sharing a devotional or even
giving your own personal testimony. I’m not
talking about speaking in tongues, I’m talking
about a language that we can all understand, the language of
love. (By a show of
hands) How many of
us here this morning have stood up among the brotherhood and
given their testimony? For those of
us who haven’t, I want to ask you a question. What makes
you think that you can go out there into this fallen world and
share the Gospel with someone if you can’t even stand up before
your family and tell us what Christ has done for you? If you
can’t you might think twice to rather you have or haven’t
really accepted Jesus to be your LORD and to rain in your life. What are you
doing standing on the sidelines? I’m not
talking about or trying to shame you, for I understand shame
better than anyone in this room. I’m talking about humbling
yourself before our all mighty God. Don’t you
realize that the Lord our God has not given us a spirit of
timidity but of power, love & discipline? 2nd
Timothy 1:7 And if you
are struggling with this, it lets you know that you haven’t
really submitted yourself into His hands. You are
basically showing Him with your actions that you don’t trust
Him & you still think that you can do a better job with your
life than He can. I speak on
this out of experience because I know what is like to resist
& ignore God. I understand
what it is like to be empty & I know what it is like to be
made complete, to be whole. There is
fellowship evangelism, as we seen in Acts 18:24. Luke speaks
of how Aquilla and Priscilla explained the way of God more
adequately to Apollos by inviting him into their home. This teaches
us about small groups or having a Bible study in your home. One on one;
Just you me and the LORD It’s a great idea and as a
matter of fact this aspect of evangelism played a big part in my
wife’s conversion, praise
the Lord! One of the
best way’s to evangelize is by being a living example. Romans 12
speaks about this, as we are to be living
and acceptable sacrifices unto God. Have you ever
wondered about how we might be the only Bible a person will ever
read. Have you ever
stopped and thought about your actions and how they might be
persuading others not to accept Christ? Maybe this
might be what Peter was talking about in 1st Peter
3:15…in how we should always be prepared to give an answer for
the hope that we have. This aspect
of evangelism is not to be confused with just living a good life
and hoping that others will see us and want what we have, because
there is no substitution
for engaging the lost. As a matter
of fact this concept of engagement is exactly what we see Jesus
doing through the whole New Testament. Jesus was always
engaging, encouraging and expecting a response. And he
expects us to do the same! How many
times can we read about Jesus spending time with the saved? Yes in fact
we see many instances for this but as Jesus said in Matthew
9:11-13 “I have come to seek the lost and the sinners, not the
healthy or the saved”. Jesus gave us
everything he had, and He expects no less form us in return!
Another
technique for evangelism comes from Philip in the book of Acts. This shows us
a fine example similar to the little boy on the beach who was
rescuing the starfish. Philip saw
the need and he ran
for the unicks chariot. Latter on the
text tells us how Philip took him down to the river side and
brought him into the house of the Lord. INVATATION Rhetorical
statement
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