#7. Sharing The Gospel Of Jesus Christ Series

By NATURE one who is in love will share the happiness.

This morning, rather than convince you of OBLIGATIONS (the "oughtness" of witnessing), let’s review the FOUNDATIONS (that which formed the beginnings) of our relationship with Jesus. As we remember how and why we came to Jesus, it will make more sense when we think about helping others find the Master. First, there is His:

Commission

If you are a Christian, you got that way through a realization, and a reaction. You understood the fact that you were a sinner; you understood the fact that Jesus is the Savior for sinners, and you believed in Him, asking Him to save your poor sin-sick soul.

Now that only happened because SOMEONE ELSE WAS FAITHFUL TO THE COMMISSION. If you think you found Jesus entirely on your own you’ve not thought it through! Throughout the years the church has fought, and many have died, to preserve the Word of God for you to know about this Jesus, the friend of sinners.

• Somewhere along the line somebody shared Jesus with you....It may have been a Bible someone else printed, a tract, a sermon.

• In the end, it was your decision to become a Christian, but you never would’ve known there was a decision to make, were it not for someone else’s faithfulness to the great commission – to go and tell…YOU!

Why would someone share the gospel with you? There is an example in Acts 10 (Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost). God INSTRUCTED the apostles to share the Word. And in our text, Jesus’ last instruction to the disciples was "Go make disciples".

Ours is not a defensive posture; "Here we stand" - Jesus commissions each newborn believer to share his love. I heard about a man who got tired of his defensive stance. He was tired of those Saturday morning people coming round with their bad gospel, disturbing his day off.

He heard that group wouldn’t pledge allegiance to the flag, or salute anything. So he got a huge American flag, put it in his living room, and waited. Sure enough, a week later on Saturday came a young lady up the driveway with her little black satchel. Just as she was going to ring the doorbell he swung the door open and challenged her: "I’ll listen to what you say, but first we’re gonna salute the flag and sing the Star-Spangled Banner." So they did. And when they finished, she looked at the man and said; "Mister, I’ve been selling Avon for several years now, and you are definitely the most patriotic person I’ve ever run into."

The commission of Christ is not defensive, it’s AGGRESSIVE. Sagemont Baptist Church in Houston grew from 16 members to over 3000 in twelve years. They have five principles to flesh-out the commission of Jesus:

a. Presenting the claims of Christ without compromise, bathing the message in prayer.

b. Have a vision for what Jesus wants to do through this particular congregation.

c. Believe there is no substitute for hard work. There is no substitute for door-to-door visitation.

d. The people must be taught to give.

e. The church must have a genuine love for people believing that Jesus is the only way to the abundant life.