Description
The most important thing in ministry is to faithfully step out and DO ministry. Comes in a pack of 25.
MESSAGE:
“It wasn’t easy! However, Paul and his followers gave a report that everyone in an area, twice the size of Pennsylvania, heard the gospel in two years. “And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10). They did not have radio, television, an efficient postal system, or an effective means of transportation at their disposal; but they accomplished the task! They got the job done! Perhaps these were a different kind of men. They were called “saints.” Maybe they were supermen. Possibly they had a greater power to overcome failures and weakness than we. But NO! Acts 4:13 says that Peter and John were “unlearned and ignorant men.” Paul testifies that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15). And “I [will] glory in my infirmities” (2 Cor. 12:9), and again, “I often find that I have the will to do good, but not the power” (Rom. 7:18—Phillips Trans.) No, these were men of like passions as we are.
If they had preached another Jesus whom we have not preached, or received another spirit which we have not received, or proclaimed another gospel which we have not accepted, then we might take refuge in our failure (See 2 Cor. 11:4). The facts are that we have the same living Savior, the same powerful Spirit, and the same effective Word of God as they.
After 2,000+ years of evangelizing, there are more living people who have never once heard the name “Jesus” than the world’s total population when Christ said, “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you” (Jn. 20:21).
HOW DID THEY DO IT?
Consider the report of the Apostles before forty years were past: “The Gospel…is come into…all the world” and “was preached to every creature under Heaven” (Col. 1:5-6, 12). See also Romans 15:19 and 1 Thessalonians 1:6-8. Their method was simple but mightily effective. They carefully followed through on every soul they won. They gave the individual attention that a newborn baby deserves and gets in any average home. Listen to the Apostles: “And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the Word of the Lord, and see how they do” (Acts 15:36). And on another occasion: “But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls” (1 Thess. 1:7-8).
Then, setting a pace for themselves, they demonstrated how to become faithful and live victoriously. “Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). “Those things which ye have both learned, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. 4:9). Next, they showed how to reproduce the truth in the lives of others. “And the things that thou hast heard of me among so many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). That’s how they did it!
HOW CAN WE DO IT?
Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…” (Jn. 15:16). Our fruit remains only as we see it reproduced in the life of another “who shall be able to teach others also.” Every believer is a testimony to the faithfulness of the Twelve Disciples who once were eyewitnesses of the glory of Christ. They not only believed unto the salvation of their souls, but also obeyed to the reproduction after their kind. Their fruit remained. Has yours? Someone was trustworthy enough to God to introduce you to Christ. Can God trust you to win another to Christ and then train him?”
