Evangelism Explosion is a great course and enables you to not only share your faith but to also understand your faith. When we go out and share the gospel with people we usually ask two questions that are out of the EE Curriculum. The first question is
“Have you come to the point in your spiritual life where you would know for certain that if you were to die today that you would go to heaven”?
I would say that 80% of the people I have questioned say yes. Then the next question we ask really determines what they are putting their faith in.
“If you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say to you “Why should I let you into my heaven”? What would you say”?
Almost 90% of the people say “I have tried to be a good person:, I go to church each Sunday” , “I have tried to be the best parent that I can be”, “I try to give my tithe regularly and I also give to the poor” or “I was baptized or confirmed”. Now while all those things may be good THEY DO NOT GET YOU INTO HEAVEN.
Of course when we get those answers we don’t say “Ding, ding, ding, wrong answer you are going to hell. We say that we have great news for them and then we share the good news of the gospel of Jesus. The Good News is that we can’t do anything to get into heaven. If we could do something (works) then Jesus died for nothing.
Ephesians 2:8,9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Please view the rest of the gospel and plan of salvation by clicking on http://www.theultimatedecision.com/howtogettoheaven.html
So if being kind to people, giving our tithe, giving to the poor, helping others and going to church DOES NOT get us into heaven then why do all these things? Well that is the question we are going to answer today. Many people in the church get burned out and bitter because they serve with a burden and heavy yoke. They think that if they serve more Jesus will love them more. But that is not the case and then these folks get mad when everyone else is not serving. That is not what Jesus intended.
We need to do all of the above things OUT OF THANKFULLNESS for what Jesus did for us when we deserved death, that is it. Jesus gave a gift to us that we could never repay. So we do kinds things for others out of the joy of what lay ahead for the believer.
I say believer because you cannot truly love until you have the spirit of God living inside of you. This is a very tough thing for most believers to grasp. Everyone has a soul but not everyone has the Spirit of God living inside of them. Did you know that none of us will die? Our soul is who we are, not the flesh and blood that is the tent we live in. Now matter how good or bad you are if you have not called upon the name of the Lord for your Salvation when you take your last breath you spend eternity in hell. If you have called upon the name of the Lord, Jesus immediately sends His Holy Spirit to live inside of you forever. You are now yoked to God and when you take your last breath you are in His presence. But there are many other benefits to having the Holy Spirit of God living inside of you.
Psalm 119:9 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.”
Many of us try to live a good life but we will never get it completely right this side of heaven. But if you are a believer then you have a great chance to live a life for the Lord instead of a life for just you. Most believers do not know the power that lives inside of them and they still try to go this life alone. But if God is living inside of you He is now part of you. That is crazy good isn’t it? If we do things on our own out of pure willpower we will eventually fail and do things with the wrong motives. I would ask you today to do this. Please pray this payer with me.
“Lord thank you for saving me but I still fall short everyday. I desire to let you lead my life but I have trouble knowing how. Please show me the way through your Holy Spirit. Please help me to slow down and listen to you so that I can know your voice. Please forgive me for my past failures but I thank you that you forgive me my sins and wipe the slate clean. Since you cannot love me anymore than you love me now please show me my real motives Lord for doing good things. Help me to see my own heart and heal me Lord. Help me to start living for you and for eternal things than trying to build my little kingdom here on earth. Thank you Lord for saving me, watching out and protecting me and for loving me.” Amen
When you ask God for wisdom and help He will deliver in an awesome way. Sometimes in ways that you never expected. When you hear form the Lord please e mail me so I can share your victory with others if you allow. We live a short time on this planet we call earth and eternity is billions of years. Don’t let anyone or anything in this life get you down as heaven awaits. Look upward not downward and serve with a joyful spirit.
Have a great and joyful day.
Brad
