Whenever I know that lost people are going to find Christ, I get fired up! The only thing that fires me up more than that is when I know ALOT of lost people are going to find Christ — like this weekend!
That’s why it’s amazing to me when I hear people talk about their church (church so and so) not being all that into reaching the lost.
WHAT?!
And I’ve heard it more than once…
more than twice…
I’ve heard it a lot over the years.
And it usually goes hand and hand with a statement like; ‘yeah, our church is more concerned about discipleship and equipping the saints and…yada, yada, yada’ (that’s what I actually hear at this point in their statement because I’m still hung up on the first part!).
“More concerned with discipleship?”
“More concerned with equipping the saints?”
Equipping them for WHAT??!!
Friends, this is why I KNOW a lot of Christians don’t know their Bible from their navel. Let me explain.
There’s a lot of debate these days as to whether or not our military men and women are properly equipped. Now, there is no debate as to whether or not they are properly equipped to “study” battles and war. The proper equipment for that would be books and computers — maybe access to the Baghdad library and the Internet. No, the debate is whether they are best equipped to go into battle! They need the right protection, the right weapons, uniforms, etc… Whether you agree with the war or not, EVERYONE agrees with being properly equipped.
Everyone that is, but the legalistic and utterly clueless ‘christian’ who believes God actually wants the church to only disciple and equip.
God DOES call the church to the purposes of discipleship and equipping (helping others to discover their spiritual gifts and use them) but then we are to take all this great information and maturity out to the battlefield and win others for Christ! Equipping is for action, not navel gazing.
And the action for this weekend needs to heat up fast! If you haven’t made arrangements to meet those people you’ve invited for the weekend, you better get cracking! This weekend is really close at hand. That’s why I’m referring to it affectionately as, THIS WEEKEND!!
And know this. Southbrook is a safe and relevant place to bring them. No worries there. They will hear the greatest message known to man in a very relevant way. And it will be REAL…and AUTHENTIC.
We know no other way to deliver it.
I like the way Perry Noble put it here, http://www.perrynoble.com/2007/01/08/i-am-a-little-fired-up/
Read it if you need a little extra motivation. Just don’t spend too much time reading. You’ve got friends to invite!