GREG L AUR IE

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Copyright © 2018 Greg Laurie. All rights reserved.Requests for information should be addressed to:

Harvest Ministries6115 Arlington AvenueRiverside, CA 92504

www.harvest.org

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

Some years ago, three hundred whales were found marooned on a beach. Scientists speculated that the whales had been chasing sardines and became trapped in shallow water when the tide went out. Now, that’s an amazing thing. By chasing little sardines, these gigantic creatures were ultimately led to their doom.

Many people waste their lives chasing sardines, so to speak. They major on the minors and have no clear focus or objective in mind. But God tells us what should be the primary goal of every Christian. If we can get our priorities straight in this area, everything else will come together. In fact, if we can get these two principles operative in our lives, then all the commandments of God will become a natural outflow of our commitment to Him. What are these principles? One, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind” (Matthew 22:37 NLT), and two, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (verse 39 NLT).

When Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” He was not saying that before you can love others, you must first love yourself. We already love ourselves. As the apostle Paul said, “No one hates his own body but lovingly cares for it . . .” (Ephesians 5:29 TLB). Sometimes people say, “I hate myself. I’m so ugly. I’m just so horrible. I just hate myself.” Really? If you truly hated yourself, then you would be happy that you were ugly, right? The truth is, we all love ourselves.

Jesus is saying, “You already love yourself; therefore, love your neighbor.” Essentially, He is saying that just as you already love yourself, as you already care for yourself and think about yourself, you are to love your neighbor in the same way. He goes on to say that if you do this, in addition to loving the Lord with all your heart,

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soul, and mind, then all the commandments of God will be fulfilled, because you will naturally do the things that please Him.

So how do I love my neighbor? Here are five ways:

1 . T r u ly C a r e

In an old village in England, this inscription was reportedly found on a tombstone:

Here lies a miser who lived for himself, And cared for nothing but gathering wealth. Now where he is or how he fares, Nobody knows and nobody cares.

How would you like to have that written on your tombstone? How much better it would be for others to say of our lives, “This person was always thinking of and caring for others.”

The Bible tells us that love “suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4–5). In other words, true love cares. This is something that is largely lost in our culture today. But as Christians, we need to realize we are part of the body of Christ, and as such, we should consider what other people are experiencing. We should care about others. The world does not revolve around you or me. We should put the needs of others above our own.

God’s love is not provoked. It is not aroused to anger. It thinks no evil, which means it doesn’t keep a record of wrongs. Caring about others more than we care about ourselves is more than good manners. It is godly love.

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Why is it that Christians don’t share the gospel with their neighbors? Is it because we are afraid we may not have the right answers? Perhaps. Is it because we don’t know where to start? Maybe. Is it because we think we may get shut down? It could be.

But I suggest the major reason we don’t share the gospel is because we just don’t care that much about lost people. Only one in 20 Christians have ever shared the gospel with another person, and only one in 10 think they should. A study by researcher George Barna found that only half of the people in American churches today can even articulate the gospel.

D. L. Moody, the great evangelist, once said, “Winners of souls must first be weepers of souls.” Preacher and evangelist George Whitfield said, “Lord, give me souls or take my soul.” The idea is that we have to care.

After Jonah reluctantly preached to the people of Nineveh, he sat down outside the city and waited to see what would happen. He sat in the blazing sun, just hoping that God would still destroy Nineveh. God graciously provided a large, leafy plant to grow over Jonah, which provided him with some shade. But early the next morning, a worm came and ate the plant. Jonah was so upset about losing the plant that he wanted to die. But God told him, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” (Jonah 4:10–11 NLT).

If we are ever going to be used by God to reach out to people, then we have to care. Sharing starts with caring. (Doesn’t that sound like something a Care Bear would say?) The bottom line is, if you don’t care about lost people, you are never going to reach them. All the

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training and preparation in the world isn’t going to help you one bit.

In John 4 we have the story of Jesus and the woman at the well:

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” (verses 7–10)

We know from the text that she was married and divorced five times and that she was living with a guy. This was a woman living an immoral lifestyle. I want you to notice that Jesus didn’t start the conversation with,

“Hey you, immoral chick. Come here. You are going to Hell. Did you know that?” Would that have technically been true? Yes. Would that have been the best way to build a bridge? No.

I have seen some believers unload both barrels of their gospel gun on the non-Christian. They are experts in apologetics. They have memorized all of these verses. They blow the person out of the water and walk away very proud of themselves. They shouldn’t be. Jesus shows us instead how to enter a person’s world.

Jesus cared about her. The Bible says that “He had to go through Samaria” (John 4:4 NLT). Why? Was it a shortcut? Did it save time? Was it on His way? No. The fact is Jews of the day would have gone out of their way to avoid Samaria. As John’s Gospel pointed out, Jews

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had no dealings with Samaritans. But Jesus “had to go.” Why? Because it was decided, in the counsels of eternity, that Jesus had an appointment with a burned out immoral woman that He was going to reach on that day. In other words, He cared. Jesus cared enough to go to her and give her the truth.

Compassion is not just pity. It is pity plus action. I might see somebody that is hurting and say, “Look at that person. They are hurting. They are homeless. They look like they could use a meal. I have pity on them,” and then walk away. But compassion is pity plus action: “Look at that person in need. I am going to go and do something to help them.” Jesus felt this compassion.

I ask you this question: when you look at people who are without God, does your heart ever go out to them? Sometimes I think the problem is that we see nonbelievers as the enemy. Maybe they are expressing themselves in a godless way in the language they use or the way they dress or the decisions they make, and we think, “They are not like us. They are not on our side.” And we start to think of them as the enemy. In doing so, we miss the point. They are not the enemy; they are the captive. The enemy is Satan. The Bible says that they have been taken captive by Satan to do his will (see 2 Timothy 2:26). We need to remind ourselves it was not all that long ago that we too were one of those people. Do we care enough to reach out to them, to love them as we love ourselves? Jesus did.

In the Book of Acts, we find this story about Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples:

Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came

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out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. (Acts 8:5–8)

Philip had a heart for nonbelievers. Consider for a moment where he was going: Samaria. Remember that Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. Jews looked down on Samaritans, and Samaritans looked down on Jews. In effect, Philip was going to the enemies of Israel.

Philip was willing to cross cultural lines with the message of the gospel and reach out to the Samaritan people. Philip had a heart for nonbelievers, and so should we. We can talk all day long about techniques for sharing our faith and apologetics and having the right answers for the right questions, but if we don’t care about nonbelieving people, then none of that is really going to matter.

Alexander Maclaren said, “You tell me the depth of a Christian’s compassion, and I will tell you the measure of his usefulness.” People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

The most important thing is a person’s spiritual need. Let me say something that might seem controversial to some. One hundred years from now everyone is going to be dead. Even if I fed a person and clothed a person and helped to rehabilitate a person, if I have not dealt with the issue of their soul and tried to bring them to Jesus Christ, then I have missed what I am supposed to do. These other things have their place, certainly. But sometimes churches and ministries substitute good works in the place of actual gospel proclamation. I think we need to do both.

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2 . B e R e a l

Remember the old TV show The Lone Ranger? He would show up and do a good deed, which always led to the question: “Who was that masked man?” In the distance, you would hear him say, “Hi-ho, Silver, away!” Personally speaking, I don’t have a lot of experience in wearing masks, except for when I was a kid on Halloween. We would get those cheap, dime-store rubber masks and run around. We would breathe that smelly rubber all night long, knowing we would have our haul of candy to enjoy later on.

Jesus warned His followers about hiding behind a mask, or pretending to be someone we are really not. The word He chose to describe it was hypocrisy, which means “to hide behind a mask.” In Greek theater of that day, actors would hold masks in front of their faces when they were playing a part. So hypocrisy is trying to be someone you’re really not. Jesus was saying, “Don’t hide behind a mask. Be real. Don’t be a hypocrite.”

Perhaps Jesus gave this warning at this time because the disciples might have been tempted either to gain popularity by pleasing the crowds or to avoid trouble by pleasing the scribes and Pharisees. Luke’s Gospel tells us, “In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy’” (Luke 12:1).

This is a part of our human nature. We want to be accepted. We want to fit in. So Jesus said, “Be careful. Don’t be a hypocrite.”

How does hypocrisy spread in our lives? Notice that Jesus said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which

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is hypocrisy.” Leaven is yeast, which is a rising agent. In the Bible, it is always symbolic of evil. It is something that works in secret with penetrating power, starting small and working its way through our lives. That is why we must carefully guard against it. Little things inevitably lead to big things. Often we will rationalize a sinful act, telling ourselves, “It’s just one time.” But that one thing ultimately leads to other things.

Case in point: King David. I seriously doubt that when he looked lustfully at the beautiful Bathsheba, he thought he would engage in adultery, then murder, and ultimately bring scandal on his kingdom. But that is exactly what happened. A small thing became a big thing.

Hypocrisy is futile and foolish, and Jesus explained why: “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:2–3).

Simply put, there are no secrets with God. Whatever you try to hide will surface one day.

The problem was that the Pharisees were more concerned with their reputation than with their character. They were more concerned with what people thought about them than what God knew about them. Yet the Bible warns about fearing man instead of God: “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

The remedy for hypocrisy is to forget about what people say and do and instead fear God alone. Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. . . .” The Bible teaches that a day is coming when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. It all will become known.

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But here’s the good news: if you have been living a righteous life, then that will be acknowledged too. Whatever you have been doing will ultimately break ground one day, and you will have cultivated a crop of it. You’ll reap what you sow. If you are sowing to the flesh, you will reap corruption. But if you are sowing to the spirit, then you will reap life everlasting (see Galatians 6:8).

Today, can the question be asked of you, “Who was that masked man?” or “Who was that masked woman?” Fear may cause us to back down on what we believe, especially in the presence of others who don’t hold the same views. It might cause us to put on a mask, so to speak. But if we really want to love our neighbors as ourselves, we must take off the mask and let them see God’s redemptive work in our imperfect lives. Remember what Jesus said. Be real. And don’t be a hypocrite.

Some will say, “I love Jesus. I just don’t love Christians.” That is like saying, “I am an idiot.” How can you love God, whom you can’t see, when you don’t love your brother, whom you can see? Actually the Bible says that an earmark of conversion is when you love your brothers. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:14 NIV).

Paul issued this warning to the Galatians: “The entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:14–15 NIV). We should not be biting and devouring one another. We should be loving and forgiving one another.

Some people are lovable. Like me—I am very lovable. (OK, I am really not.) People are lovable because they are attractive, or they are talented, or they are intelligent,

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or there is something we like about that person that is easy to love. Other people are not lovable, are they? They are cantankerous. They are off-putting. They are irritating. But they are “our neighbors” and we are to love them. If we can’t love unlovable people, how much do we even know about the love of God?

Sometimes we do not love our neighbors as we should because we want to avoid being around their unlovable behavior. We don’t want to “taint” ourselves with their sin—just like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. And while it’s one thing to guard against the influence of sin in our lives, that doesn’t mean we remove ourselves completely from interaction with nonbelievers. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:9–11, “When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people” (NLT).

Listen: we should expect nonbelievers to behave like nonbelievers. We should not be shocked, for example, if we are at the gym, or the store, or the gas station, and while having a conversation with someone, they use profanity. “I can’t believe you said that! Why aren’t you more Christlike?” Because they are not a Christian yet! Why should we expect them to act like one? Instead, we want to establish a dialogue. We want to engage them. We want to ultimately reach them. We don’t expect them to exhibit the behavior of a follower of Jesus.

Part of “being real” is having realistic expectations of our neighbors. They are going to be unlovable. They are going to be flaky in their relationships and commitments.

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They are going to rub us the wrong way and do things that we don’t agree with. But we are to love them as Christ loves them in order to win them over to Jesus.

3 . I n v e s t Y o u r T i m e

Let’s say that your phone rings tomorrow morning, and it’s a call from the manager of your bank. He tells you, “I received a very unusual call the other day. Someone who loves you very much and is quite wealthy has given you a large sum of money. This anonymous donor will be depositing 86,400 cents into your account every single day.” “How’s that again?” you ask. “Every single day, this person will deposit 86,400 cents into your account.” Is that much money? you wonder at first. Then you get out your calculator and figure out that it amounts to $864 every day. That’s pretty good, you’re thinking.

“But there is one condition,” the banker continues. “You have to spend it every single day. You can’t save it up. You can’t add it to the next day’s balance. Every day, you must spend that money. What is not spent will be taken away. This person will do this each and every day, but the condition is that you must spend the money.” So you go back to your calculator and figure out that $864 times 7 equals $6,048 per week. That amount, multiplied by 52, comes to $314,496 per year. That’s a pretty good deal—and it is also a fantasy.

So let’s deal with reality. Someone who really does love you very much deposits into your bank of time 86,400 seconds every single day. That someone is God. And the condition is that you must spend it. You can’t save up time today and apply it toward tomorrow—there’s no such thing as a 27-hour day. Each and every day, you have the opportunity to invest your precious commodity of time. The psalmist wrote “Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is” (Psalm 39:4 NIV).

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I also like the way Paul wrote about this in Ephesians 5:15–17: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (NIV).

What is even worse than wasting time? Wasting a life. A life with potential. A life with God-given talent and giftedness thrown down the drain. The Bible is replete with stories of people that had amazing potential and squandered it. The first king of Israel comes to mind: King Saul. Solomon comes to mind. Samson comes to mind. These are people that had great potential and wasted it.

William Whiting Borden, the heir of the Borden dairy estate, received a trip around the world as a gift from his parents. So Borden, a Christian, traveled through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe and felt a growing burden for lost people. Finally, he wrote home and informed his parents that he was going to give his life in preparation for the mission field. And after making that decision, William Borden wrote two words in the back of his Bible: “No reserves.”

Upon graduation from Yale in 1909, Borden turned down some very high-paying job offers, determined to fulfill the call that God had placed upon his life. And he wrote two more words in his Bible: “No retreat.” After graduating from Princeton Seminary, he went to Egypt to study Arabic. And during his time there, he wrote these words: “No regrets.” Those three statements summed up Borden’s life: No reserves. No retreat. No regrets.

Some would think, “Oh, what a waste of a life.” But no life is ever wasted when it is invested in bringing people to Jesus. No life is ever wasted when it is lived for the glory of God. Life is wasted when it is lived for selfish ambition.

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In the end, God will look at your motives. It will be not so much a judgment about quantity as it will be about quality, about motives. Why did you do what you did? If you have been faithful and served God with what He’s set before you, then you will be rewarded for your faithfulness. But if you have been unfaithful or have done things with the wrong motives, you will not receive that reward. As Alan Redpath once put it, “You can have a saved soul and a lost life.”

George Smith thought his ministry was a failure. He felt called to Africa, but he was only there for a short time as a missionary when he was driven from the country. He left behind one convert, a woman. Not long after that, George Smith died on his knees, praying for Africa.

Some years later, a group of men stumbled onto the place in Africa where George Smith had ministered. They found a copy of the Scriptures he had left behind, and they met the one convert of his ministry, who led them to the Lord. Later a missions organization did a study and determined that 100 years after George Smith left Africa, 13,000 people had come to faith through his ministry as one person reached another, who reached another, and so on.

The Bible calls Noah “a preacher of righteousness” (see 2 Peter 2:5), yet he lived for 120 years without ever seeing a single convert. He stands as an example of all those faithful witnesses out there who don’t see a lot of results.

Are you one of those people? Maybe you have been talking to your family for years, and not one has come to believe in Jesus. Maybe you have shared your faith with your neighbors and coworkers but have never had anyone believe as a result of your testimony. You feel that you’re the worst evangelist of all time.

But it isn’t over until it’s over. Your job is to be faithful. Your job is to do your part and leave the results in the

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hands of God. When we stand before the Lord one day, it isn’t going to be about quantity; it is going to be about why and if you were faithful to do what the Lord set before you to do.

Several years ago, my neighbor told me about a man named Roy who lived in our neighborhood. Roy had a very serious heart ailment, and there was nothing more that could be done for him. So he had been discharged from the hospital and was basically sent home to die. My neighbor said to me, “Roy is not a Christian, but he has been to one of your crusades. Maybe you should try and talk to him.”

One morning, my wife and I were out walking when my neighbor pointed out Roy to us. So we walked over to him and introduced ourselves. As we talked, it became clear that Roy was not a believer. He had a lot of questions. Every day, we ran into him and would talk a little bit more. Then I gave Roy a copy of my book called Life. Any Questions?, which presents the gospel message. I encouraged him to take the book home and read it and then asked if we could talk again. Roy came back the next day and said, “I read your whole book.” He had more questions. We talked a little bit more, but Roy still did not seem ready to make a commitment to Christ.

One morning, as we were having family devotions, I looked out the window. There was Roy, standing in front of our house. He was out on a walk and had stopped to rest, right in front of our house. Here we were, reading the Bible, and Roy was standing there. I sensed it was time. So I walked outside and said, “Roy, let’s talk a little more.” As we talked, I said, “Roy, I think you need to settle this right now. You need to get right with God. Why don’t you pray right now and give your life to Christ?” He said, “I’m ready to do that.” So we prayed, and Roy asked the Lord to come into his life.

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The next morning, we saw Roy. He had a big smile on his face. He said he had just been singing “Jesus Loves Me.” Every time we saw Roy, it seemed like he had grown a little more. His son-in-law told me later that Roy went to his whole family and announced, “You are looking at a brand-new Christian right now!” Sometime later, Roy’s son-in-law knocked on our door. He said, “Roy died last night. I wanted to tell you.”

Certainly there was sadness. But there was also the joy of knowing that Roy was in his new body in Heaven. I thought to myself, “What if I had been too busy?” We can make up so many excuses. But God had provided me with a wonderful opportunity to talk with Roy.

God values the Roys of the world. He values you. And He values me. Yet in our culture today, we often place the greatest value on that which, for the most part, has no value. Meanwhile, we completely ignore that which has the greatest value on our time.

Is anything worth more than a soul? The answer, obviously, is no. God values the human soul. And so should we. John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can by all the means you can and all the ways you can in all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can as long as you can.” Well said. Let’s invest our time in loving our neighbors.

4 . P r ay f o r T h e m

We are all looking for certain things in life. Sort of like when I go to the market with my wife. She looks for certain things in a market and I look for others. My wife looks for practical things like eggs, milk, butter, seasonings, and staples. I look for things that are important to me like chips, maybe pretzels, and fruit. I love summer fruit. Peaches, nectarines, grapes, cherries,

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watermelon—I love all of the fruit of summer. But my point is that we look for the things that are important to us. Listen to this: God is looking for some things too.

God is looking for someone to stand in the gap. In Ezekiel 22:30, God says, “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one” (NIV). God is looking for people who care enough to pray. People who would pray for our nation. People who would pray for our community. And people who would pray for their neighbors. He is looking for people who will stand in the gap.

God is looking for intercessors. In Isaiah 59:16, we read, “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.” God is looking for people to pray. The wording that is used there in Isaiah is interesting: “He wondered” could be translated “He was astonished.” In other words, God is astonished that people are not praying. Why would we not take advantage of this incredible privilege we call prayer?

The latest research says people in the United States check their Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts 17 times per day. What if you prayed as often as you check your Instagram or your Facebook?

The primary objective of prayer is to first line up my will with the will of God. True praying is not overcoming God’s reluctance. It is taking hold of His willingness. Prayer is not about getting my will in Heaven. It is about getting God’s will on earth. If you want to see your prayers answered in the affirmative, that is the secret. That is the key. Find out what the will of God is and start praying that way.

You say, “How do I know the will of God?” It is in the Bible—in the pages of Scripture. Jesus says that we should

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pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What does it mean when we pray, “Thy kingdom come”? It is a multileveled request with different shades of meaning. First and foremost, when I pray for the kingdom of God, I am simply praying that I want the rule and reign of Jesus Christ in my life. This is a personal request. “Thy kingdom come.” I am praying for the kingdom of God and the rule of Christ in my own life.

Also, this is a request for the salvation of those who don’t know the Lord. As His kingdom is ruling and reigning in our lives, we can play a part in bringing it to others as well. God’s kingdom is brought to this earth every time a new person is introduced to Jesus. Really, when I pray, “Thy kingdom come,” it is an evangelistic prayer.

We are told in Scripture to pray for nonbelievers. Isaiah 53:12 foretold that Jesus, the Messiah, would intercede for transgressors, and He did. When did He do that? Remember His first words from the cross. He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). As a result, the thief who was being crucified next to Him believed. We should pray for folks to come to the Lord—that they would come to their senses.

Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7). Another way to translate this would be, “Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.” Jesus goes on to say, “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (verse 8). When we are praying for a person’s salvation, we are praying according to the will of God. We need to press forward in our prayers and seek His face, not backing down.

God wants everyone to believe in Jesus. The Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. You say, “Greg, doesn’t that mean that in the end everyone will believe and go

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to Heaven?” Sadly, no. Jesus said, “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it,” but “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13–14). When I am praying, “Thy kingdom come,” I am praying for my nonbelieving friend or relative and I am saying, “Lord, open their heart. Open their spiritual eyes. Show them their need for Jesus.” They can escape your presence but they can never escape your prayers.

5 . S h a r e t h e G o s p e l

I wonder how many people have really heard the gospel today. I think a lot haven’t. If you really love your neighbor, you will tell them the truth about eternity. You won’t hold back. You will lovingly engage them with the gospel but also warn them of the consequences of what can happen if they do not believe in Christ.

General William Booth founded the Salvation Army. He was a great evangelist. That organization was originally formed to bring the gospel to people. He made an amazing statement. Speaking to some students who wanted to serve the Lord, He said, “If I had my choice, I wouldn’t send you to school. I would send you to Hell for five minutes. Then you would come back as real soul winners.”

Some say it is not very loving to talk about Hell. Really? I think it is the most loving thing you can actually do. To not tell people what the Bible says would be like knowing someone’s house was on fire and they had moments to get out before they died, and instead choosing to talk to them about their new landscaping or how nice the weather is. That would be irresponsible. In the same way, we need to engage people and remember that Jesus spoke more about Hell than anyone else.

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We hold in our hands the key to the prison door that every nonbeliever is in. We have the escape pod. We have the answer. We have the solution. We have the cure, and it is the gospel. There needs to be an urgency to reach people.

Before he died, Steve Jobs said, “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.” Even Steve Jobs couldn’t figure out an app to get around death. Everybody has to face it. This is a certainty we all know. To promise Heaven and not warn of Hell, to offer forgiveness without repentance, to preach the gospel without the cross is a false message giving false hope.

Our job is proclamation. God’s job is conversion. Our job is sowing the seed. His job, if you will, is reaping where it has been sown. Do your part. In Acts 8, we find the story of a foreign dignitary from Ethiopia. As the queen’s treasurer, he was a powerful man who would have traveled with an entourage. He went to Jerusalem in search of God, but found dead, lifeless religion instead. However, he had obtained a scroll of Isaiah. And as it happened, he was traveling through the desert, reading aloud about the suffering of the Messiah, when God led Philip to go to him and share the gospel.

Philip saw him reading from Isaiah’s scroll. So Philip walked up to him and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man said, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” Philip climbed up into the chariot, told him what it meant, and pointed him to Jesus. And before the day was over, that man had become a believer and left with joy in his heart and a spring in his step. This is what people are still looking for today: someone to show them the way.

The Great Commission that Jesus gave to His followers is to go into the world and preach the gospel (see Mark

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16:15). Seek to lead people to Christ and, to the best of your ability, get them up on their feet spiritually—then go repeat the process again. Keep doing it until life is done here on earth. Opportunities are everywhere, and we often miss them because we’re not looking for them.

There is one thing that Christians and non-Christians have in common: both are very uptight about evangelism. Christians are uptight about evangelizing, and non-Christians are uptight about being evangelized. But I think some of us give up way too easily. When we ask someone if anyone has ever told them about Jesus and they say they’ve already heard it, or if we invite someone to church and they say no, we give up too easily. Instead, try asking,

“Well, why do you say that? Did you have a bad experience in church?”

God has primarily chosen to reach people through people. So engage them, and most importantly, keep praying for them. Give it a try, and you will discover what a joy it is to tell others about Jesus. I pray that God will give you a burden for people like you have never had before.