PEOPLE EVERYWHERE ARE LONGING TO BE LOVED AND ACCEPTED – IT’S SCRIPTURAL – HE’S CREATED US TO WORSHIP HIM – IT’S IN OUR SPIRITUAL DNA!!!!!!!
1 JOHN 4:7-21
God’s Love and Ours
7” Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.……. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And He has given us this command: “Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
This is evangelism 101… I’m fully persuaded, that we can’t evangelise if we don’t embrace and live this scripture out. How are they going to know? Not only love, but live love, and live loved – so the world can see close up that we are the ambassadors of the God of love!
Living, breathing proof!!! Who do we represent here on earth? Whose fragrance are people going to breathe in? Whose example are we setting? His characteristics, or the world’s? Whose “reflection” are we? Do we reflect an “attractive” Jesus???
And of course… we are stretched… otherwise we wouldn’t grow… but let’s not “stay comfortable” because there’s “work” to be done’’ … like that of the evangelist!!!
“But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
2 Timothy 4:5 (NASB)
There is ALWAYS an “INVITATION” on God’s lips!!!
“Go out into the busiest intersections in town and INVITE ANYONE you find to the banquet. Those slaves went out into the streets and GATHERED ALL whom they found, BOTH GOOD AND BAD, so the wedding hall was filled with guests!”
Matthew 22:9-10
It’s a COMMAND!!! There are significant’ “GO’s” in the Word that if we are going to be obedient, we MUST adhere to! I want to take us on an adventure, and I am praying that you “catch” the heart of “INVITATION”, because it’s the heart of God. How else are people going to come to know Him, if WE don’t “INVITE” them to a relationship with Him?
We need to be “real”… not fake; authentic, not superficial… potential believers sniff that out like bloodhounds!!! Not arrogant because “I’m saved and you’re not”… that’s unhelpful… remember, the Holy Spirit is constantly wooing… we need to “partner” with him as he loves them into the kingdom… not hinder His process!!!
ISAIAH 61:1-3 (MSG)
1 “The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken, announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners. 2 God sent me to announce the year of His grace – a celebration of God’s destruction of our enemies – and to comfort all who mourn, 3 to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Rename them “Oaks of Righteousness” planted by God to display his glory.”
I HAVE A QUESTION…
How much do we value our salvation… as a free gift?
When we ‘save” for a car, a house, our future, our vacations… we put a huge “future” value on it…. Don’t we???But… just thinking… is it because our salvation is “free”, because we haven’t had to “work” for it, that we are reticent to share the most important message of all, the Gospel, with others? Because it’s “free”???
Do our worldly “values” get mixed up with our spiritual gratitude for our eternal destination, forsaking the importance of sharing the gospel to others? Because salvation is our “free” gift, and we haven’t had to pay for it, do we “de~value” it???
Scary if we do…
I’m fully convinced that “love” is the launching pad for our ability to share the love of Jesus in our areas of influence… The beautiful, very “free-ing” gift we are immediately given at our moment of salvation, is that agape love, that is available for us to appropriate… because when the Holy Spirit enters into our hearts, that immediate “infilling” is right there….
You see, without that willingness to show that love, we are the bereft ones, we block the Holy Spirit’s very character and flow… and we can put on all the fake smiles, be full of scripture, be spouting the prophetic even, but as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, “we can have it all…. But if not love, then we are clanging symbols!!!” Love is attractive!!! Jesus is the most attractive!!! He is love personified!!!
How attractive are we to the world around us???
The only “proof” that a “pre-christian” has, is us… you and me… if we don’t look like Jesus is worth following, they won’t want anything to do with him!!!
HOW ARE WE DOING? HOW ATTRACTIVE IS JESUS IN US???
Our greatest “attention getter” for Christ may be that we have a smile, in a sea of sour. As Christians, we draw our joy, not from what’s going on around us, but who Jesus is, going on inside of us.
NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE!!!
Start a conversaton!!! There is, trust me, alwayssssssss something to converse about that you can bring the Lord into… Use your eyes!!! Use your hands!!! Ask the Holy Spirit, “Who today Lord?” Never lose sight of the fact that we are His mouth, His hands, His feet!!! Here on earth, as we wait for His return!!!
And, even in this interesting, challenging time, there are ways that our Lord has SO generously given us to “connect” and “encourage” others!!!
WITH THAT IN MIND…. ANOTHER QUESTION:
HOW AVAILABLE ARE WE PREPARED TO BE? ARE WE PREPARED TO GET OUR HANDS DIRTY TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL???
Are we prepared to reach out and grab hold of that dirty, wretched hand, and to witness to that person??? To love them into the kingdom???
Because: if we are prepared to roll up our sleeves, this is what Jesus has said we can be:~
Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to zion “your god reigns”.
We never know what our Lord Jesus is going to do with an “encounter”… sometimes He shows us the fruit, sometimes not, but fruit there will be, if He’s in it!!! Always remembering that God saved us, to transform us to bring others to a full knowledge of him!!!