May 5, 2006

Thanks again for joining our blog! We thank God for this opportunity to share our thoughts on evangelism. When you get a chance, please stop by:

www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org . We thank them for their continued support of this ministry.

Jesus wanted his followers to obey him. In receiving his Spirit they would know the love of God for a lost world. The disciples understood that they were not just keeping a law, but were responding to the One who loved them and was willing to give himself for them. He gave them his glory which was his, that they all might be one even as he was one with the Father. God gave all he had to those he loved, even his Son. For the Son, it meant doing the same. Just as man by his sin had to die, so God by his love had to send his Son to die in our place.

 

Jesus never lost an opportunity to impress upon his followers the love of God for a lost world. The life of Jesus was simply a revelation of God’s purpose to save a people for himself. The Master considered no service too small, nor sacrifices too great, when it was given for the glory of God. The constant renewing of his consecration of himself to God through his loving service constituted Jesus’ sanctification.

 

The disciples were to give themselves in selfless devotion to those whom the Father loved and for whom their Master died. Such a demonstration of love through them was to be the way that the world would know that the Gospel was true. Love is the only way to win the free response of men, and it is possible only by the presence of Christ within the heart.

 

Jesus made it very clear that his life was mediated only through the Holy Spirit. That is why even to begin to live in Christ one must be born again. The corrupt human nature must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit before it can be conformed to its true created purpose in the divine image. It is the Spirit who sustains and nourishes the transformed life of a disciple in knowledge and grace. By the same Spirit one is set apart unto God for holy service. It is only the Spirit of God that enables one to carry on the mission of evangelism.

 

Evangelism was not interpreted as a human endeavor, but as a divine project which had been going on since the beginning and would continue until God’s purpose was fulfilled. It was the Spirit’s work. All the disciples had to do was to let the Spirit have complete charge of their lives.

 

The Spirit was to fill them with the very presence of the Master. The privileges which the disciples were to enjoy in this deeper relationship to the Spirit were greater than they had known as Jesus walked with them. Jesus was confined to his one body and one place. The Spirit would enable him to be with them always and every where. They needed an experience of Christ so real that their lives would be filled with his presence. Evangelism had to become a burning compulsion within them.

 

Only those who followed Jesus all the way came to know the glory of this experience. Jesus reserved for his few chosen disciples, particularly the Twelve, his most revealing things. Jesus was deliberately investing all he had in these few men so that they could be properly prepared to do his work.

 

We must die to ourselves to live in Christ, and we must give ourselves away in service and devotion to our Lord. It is necessary that one see in us a clear demonstration of the way to live his life.

That's all for today. Thanks again for joining with us. Please send your thoughts to:

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Pastor Bob Emery