Sermon Central
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A Great Burden
Contributed by Joseph Colebank Ii on Jan 19, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: We may not be called as an evangelist but we are all called to evangelize!
A Great Burden
Paul was ready willing to give up his relationship with Jesus (his salvation) to see his own brethren get saved. Paul had a great sorrow and continual grief. Paul realized a horror.. He was saved yet his brethren were not!!
I. The Burden
“Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly [is] great, but the labourers [are] few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”
Mat 9:37-38
“Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly [is] plenteous, but the labourers [are] few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
A. Are you burdened?
Charles Spurgeon:
“Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that…. The saving of souls, if a man has once gained love to perishing sinners and his blessed Master, wil be an all-absorbing passion to him. It will so carry him away, that he will almost forget himself in the saving of others…..
If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”
Ray Comfort:
“I don’t know how anyone can call himself a Christian and not have a concern for the lost…. Hell should be so real to us that its flames burn away apathy and motivate us to warn the lost. Do we see the unsaved as hell’s future fuel? Do we understand humanity is the anvil of the justice of God? Have we ever been horrified or wept because we fear their fate? The depth of our evangelistic zeal will be in direct proportion to the love we have. If you are not concerned about your neighbor’s salvation, then I am concerned for yours.”
“If you have no concern for the lost. If you have no zeal for sharing your salvation. Then I doubt and am very concerned for yours!”
For if you are born of God’s Spirit, you will find that something compels you to run to the lost, to reach out to the unsaved, because God gave you a new heart that delights to do His will!!
B. The Great Commission- Are you really called to Evangelize?
There is a story of a man walking by a lake. As he passed by the swimming area a woman ran up to him in tears. Sir, Sir, My son is drowning could you please save him. In the background you could here the garbles cries for help as a helpless young lad was sinking into death. The man replied “I am sorry, for I am not a lifeguard, so it is not my job.” And walked on without a second thought in his mind about the boy that just drowned in the lake.
I believe God calls all saved men and women to do Full-Time Evangelizing
Mar 16:15-16 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
Luk 10:1-2 “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly [is] great, but the labourers [are] few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. “
Then HE challenges us by saying:
Joh 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments”
If we love God, If we truly are saved, If we have any Fear of God in our lives. We Must obey HIM!
This is Evangelizing.
Evangelist Clarification:
Eph 4:11-16
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
