Reaching the World for Christ!
by David J. Stewart
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." -Matthew 28:19-20
This is the "Great Commission" from Christ to all believers. All born-again believers are to be soulwinners, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others. Oh how the world needs Jesus! Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe because we owed a debt that we could not pay. It is only reasonable that we should dedicate our lives to God and tell others about what Jesus did for us. God wants us to be witnesses of the gospel of Christ, we should not be ashamed.
"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." -Mark 8:38
So many believers are sitting on their blessed assurance filling eighteen inches of pew, but they never witness to any lost sinners with gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead of standing on the promises, many are sitting on the premises. While the world is going to hell, we have the peace of God in our heart that we are going to heaven. We must help others come to the same saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. It might be uncomfortable for us to witness to people, but hell is real folks. It is our lack of faith that hinders us from telling others about Christ. If we truly believe in our hearts that there is a hell where Christ-rejecting sinners will someday be tormented, it should burden our hearts to warn them. If we don't warn them, who will? We read in Romans 10:17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." If we would only yield our heart and mind to God in thanksgiving, then we would want to make God happy by soulwinning. If we truly love God and want to please Him, then we will have a burning desire to witness to the lost concerning Jesus Christ.
There are so many ways to witness to people. I once met a man who drove a garbage truck for a living. Do you know what he did to reach people while collecting garbage? He had written out the plan of salvation on several separate 3" x 5" cards and then stapled them together. He would give them to people he met each day on his route. He wrote them all out by hand. Now that's a testimony if you ask me.
I had the privilege of leading a Mexican gentleman to the Lord at work. I gave him a gospel of John to read and a bunch of gospel tracts to give out. He thought of the idea of putting a dollar in each tract as he handed them out to people. Of course, he couldn't afford to give out too many that way, but it was his way of letting people know that he cared about them. Remember...people don't care what you know, until they know that you care. Could you spare a dollar?
Now you may not want to go as far as painting "Jesus Saves" on the side of your car for everyone to see while your driving down the street, but I've seen that done too. The bottom line is that we must get the gospel out to lost sinners. Hell is real folks and every day brings us one day closer to death. Our days are limited. Once we die, then we can work no longer to win the lost to Christ. Will we have tears and much regrets in heaven? Now is the time to witness, it isn't too late! Let's get busy for God by preaching the gospel to the world.
There are so many ideas which can be used to win the lost to Christ if we just have the desire to get busy for God. Let's make as many opportunities as possible to get the gospel of Jesus Christ out to the lost souls of this wicked world.
In addition to our own personal soulwinning, we need to support world missionaries through a local New Testament Baptist church. Do you know that people in many parts of this world live on less than $1 a day? In fact, over one billion people (1.4 billion). The people in these poorest nations are hungry for the gospel. These are the forgotten people on our planet. They need to hear about Jesus too. Many false religions such as the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons are hard at work in these poorer countries. It is the responsibility of God's children to see to it that the gospel is preached to the world. This is one of the functions of the local church, world missions.
"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." -Revelation 22:12
