April 7, 2015
[Jesus] said unto them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”—Mark 16:151
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Whatever we do, we must not treat the Great Commission like it’s the Great Suggestion.—Charles R. Swindoll
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My father was a minister for over fifty years, serving mostly in small, rural churches. He was a simple preacher, but he was a man with a mission. His favorite activity was taking teams of volunteers overseas to build church buildings for small congregations. In his lifetime, Dad built over 150 churches around the world.
In 1999, my father died of cancer. In the final week of his life the disease kept him awake in a semi-conscious state nearly 24 hours a day. As he dreamed, he’d talk out loud about what he was dreaming. … He relived one church building project after another.
One night near the end … Dad suddenly became very active and tried to get out of bed. Of course, he was too weak, and my wife insisted he lay back down. But he persisted in trying to get out of bed, so finally my wife asked him, “Jimmy, what are you trying to do?” He replied, “Got to save one more for Jesus! Got to save one more for Jesus! Got to save one more for Jesus!” He began to repeat that phrase over and over again.
During the next hour, he said the phrase probably one hundred times. “Got to save one more for Jesus!” As I sat by his bed with tears flowing down my cheeks, I bowed my head to thank God for my dad’s faith. At that moment Dad reached out and placed his frail hand on my head and said, as if commissioning me, “Save one more for Jesus! Save one more for Jesus!”
I intend for that to be the theme of the rest of my life. I invite you to consider it as a focus of your life, too, because nothing will make a greater difference for eternity. … [God] wants his lost children found! Nothing matters more to God; the Cross proves that. I pray that you will always be on the lookout to reach “one more for Jesus” so that when you stand before God one day, you can say, “Mission accomplished!”—Rick Warren2
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The preeminent requisite for any missionary must be the same driving passion which motivated the apostle Paul and all the apostles and all the martyrs and every great man or woman of God—in fact‚ that irresistible compassion which should motivate every child of God in everything you do, everything you say‚ everywhere you go, with everybody‚ and which that great fanatical apostle summed up in these few famous and ringing words which have cried out from the heart of every true Christian in every true good deed he has ever done‚ and for which indeed he is willing to die: “The love of Christ constraineth us!”3
“For God so lovedthe world that He gave His only begotten Son,”4 and “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”5 “Hereby perceive we the love of God: because He laid down His life for us‚ and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”6 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”7
If you go in God’s love, you cannot help but win them, as so many of you already have. You have already found that God’s love is the answer to everything. It saves souls, forgives sin, satisfies hearts, purifies minds, redeems bodies, wins friends, and makes life worth living. It’s the only truth, the only way, and the only peace.
The only way to win the world is with the love of Jesus. We’ll keep on winning if we keep on loving them with His love. Love never fails! Let’s win the world with His love! Long live love!—David Brandt Berg
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Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.—Acts 1:88
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[Jesus’] plan called for action, and how He expressed it predicted its success. He didn’t say “you might be my witnesses,” or “you could be my witnesses,” or even “you should be my witnesses.” He said “you will be my witnesses.”―Charles R. Swindoll
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Jesus Christ told His followers they should be His witnesses to “the ends of the earth”9 and to “go and make disciples of all nations,”10 which is the essence of winning souls. As our Father in heaven does not want anyone to perish,11 all Christians should be eager to heed this call and have a passion for winning souls. …
But how can we gain a passion for spreading this good news and winning others to Christ in these difficult days? … It starts by having Jesus Christ front and center in our own lives. Indeed, our passion for winning souls will increase as our passion for Christ Himself and our walk with Him becomes stronger. Two of the best ways to strengthen our Christian walk are to read His Word daily and to pray continually. When we fill our hearts and minds with Christ, we can’t help but have a passion for sharing Him with others.
The most enthusiastic laborers are those who have a heart that is on fire for Christ, and this should actually be easy when we consider the magnitude of what our sinless Savior did for us at Calvary. …[This] should motivate us to win as many people to Christ as possible, especially when we consider the brevity of life that the apostle James aptly calls “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”12 Once we cross the eternal horizon, there is no going back, and the time for winning souls will be over. Thus, not only is the harvest great and the workers few, but, on top of this, our time is very limited.
In these challenging times we certainly don’t have to look far to see many in despair, and yet even in the midst of this chaos, Christians can find solace in God’s Word. If a Christian finds himself in one of life’s trials, for example, he knows our sovereign Lord either put him there or is allowing him to be there. Either way, the Christian can make sense of this turmoil by realizing God has a purpose for our trial, for we know that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”13 Further, if life occasionally doesn’t make sense to us, that’s okay, for we know to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and to not rely on our understanding of a situation.14 Enduring life’s hardships that inevitably come our way is a lot easier when we know that God is in control.
Our lost brothers and sisters can find this same comfort when they put their faith in Christ. However, as Paul explained to the Romans: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.’”15 The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, and which guards our hearts during these difficult times,16 can guard theirs too, once they let Him in.
There can be no better calling than working on behalf of the One who died so that we may live. Jesus said “you are my friends if you do what I command,”17 and His command was that we obey Him and that we love each other as He loved us. Clearly, then, our love for Him is best exemplified when we passionately and tirelessly work to share His love with others.—From gotquestions.org18
Published on Anchor April 2015. Read by Jon Marc.
1 KJV.
2 The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002).
3 2 Corinthians 5:14.
4 John 3:16.
5 Romans 5:8.
6 1 John 3:16.
7 John 15:13.
8 KJV.
9 Acts 1:8.
10 Matthew 28:19.
11 2 Peter 3:9.
12 James 4:14.
13 Romans 8:28.
14 Proverbs 3:5–6.
15 Romans 10:14–15.
16 Philippians 4:7.
17 John 15:14.
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