Yesterday I was at the local gym working out when I was abruptly reminded of something. The people around me do not know Jesus. These people I saw there working out could very likely die within the next 24 hours and wake up in hell. And I was there with them in the gym, I could have said something, but I chose not to. That thought scared me, and it made think even further. How many have I met that I could have told about Jesus but I chose not to do so, how many of them ended up in hell? Could I have done something or said something that might have prevented it from happening?
The Bible says we are saved by grace through faith, we cant save ourself and we cant save anybody else. But we are ordered to go out into the world and tell people to be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus and what He did for us. (2.Cor 5:11-21). So even though we cant save anybody we are to tell everybody we meet about Jesus. When I look at my own life I see so many opportunities to tell about Jesus, but I back out of them and I choose not to say anything. What about yourself dear reader? Is there anybody you did not share your faith with today?
Did you know we are ordered by Jesus to go out into the world and tell people what He did? The great commission is not a suggestion, its an order from our Lord. We dont have any choice but to tell, but we always fail and come short of this because its always so much easier to excuse ourself and make up reasons why we should not tell. But each time we excuse ourself one more person ends up in hell because of us.
So we have to accept we have failed, we have failed our Lord in fulfilling the great commission. And when we look at the church world today we se a lot of talk about self improvement, what God can do for us, but almost no talk about how important it is to go out into the world and tell others about the cross of Christ. But why have we failed? Why is it so easy for us to excuse ourself and choose one more time not to say anything about Jesus to a person who is in their way to hell?
If you are a christian, you know what the Bible says. You know the Bible says hell is a real place, a place of torment with fire, worms and gnashing of teeth. Right now there are millions if not billions of people in hell being tormented for an eternity because they sinned and chose to accept responsibility for their own sins. Some of them refused to accept Jesus, some of them never heard about Jesus and some of them met christians who never told them about Jesus. The last group of people in hell could have repented and chose to believe in Jesus, if somebody had told them. How would you feel if you worked every day with a person you knew was a christian, but that person never said anything, and one day you stood before a holy God being sentenced to serve an eternity in hell? I guess you would be angry at your former co worker who could have said something but chose not to.
Yes I know, we cant force anybody to accept Jesus. Jesus never said we are to force, but He said we are to tell. And the Bible says that when we tell people about the cross we have fulfilled our responsibility. What happens after we have told is not our responsibility. If they choose to refuse the offer of reconciliation it does not affect us. But the Bible says that if we choose NOT to tell and that person is lost, God will hold US responsible for that persons salvation (Ez 33:2-6)
When I was at the gym yesterday I should have told them about Jesus. And I am responsible for those who will be lost because of my failure to share the gospel. You are responsible to tell the people you meet today about Jesus, if you choose not to tell, God will hold you responsible (Ez 33:2-6)
If you turn on christian tv you will see a lot of pressure and promises to support financially what they call the work of the gospel. But have you noticed there is almost never a call to salvation? There is a lot of preaching on healing, prosperity, angels, demons, prophecy and so on. But you almost never hear the gospel mentioned. There is a lot of promises telling us that if we only give such and such amount of money we will be healed. If we give such and such amount of money our family will be saved. There is a lot of focus on social issues, and yes we need focus on things like human trafficking and Islam. But nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say go and tell the world about human trafficking, social issues. Nowhere in the Bible does it say go an tell people I want to heal them, provide for them or tell them about prosperity, angels, demons and so on.
So what happens to us when we financially support one of those preachers that never mentions the gospel? We support a good cause, giving money to fight human trafficking is a worthy cause. But there is no difference between a non-christian organization fighting human trafficking and a christian. There is no difference between the Red Cross or Doctors without borders and a christian organization providing food and clothing to the starving in Africa. So why should you support a christian organization when just as well could have supported a non-christian organization? Because those preachers make big promises telling you that if you give to support their work in Africa or Thailand you will be blessed in return. And yes in a way you will be blessed, but you dont have to give to them to be blessed. God will bless you in return if you support the Red Cross financially as well.
So there is no scriptural reason why you should support Joyce Meyer fighting against human trafficking and not the Red Cross. But there is no salvation in fighting human trafficking. And God is into salvation before He is into the fight against human trafficking.
That is why there is special promises connected to supporting any ministry that preaches the gospel. Financially supporting the work of the gospel is a big thing to God because your money makes it possible for souls to be saved. And the number 1 thing on Gods agenda is not social issues, its salvation of souls because God knows how important it is. God knows humans must be saved FIRST and then there is time to deal with the social issues of life.
So He is not uninterested in the social issues. It angers God when somebody abuses another human being. And He will see to that they will be judged for it if they dont repent and believe before they die. But it think it frustrates God sometimes how we humans have a tendency to being in the wrong end of things. We throw ourself into fighting human trafficking, poverty, social injustice without first making sure the gospel is preached. We cant fight any of these things without the gospel because its the gospel that is the only weapon against these things.
So why then should we financially support anything that fight against social issues when the word of God says they will never succeed in their efforts?
Yes I said they would never succeed in fighting human trafficking or solving any social issues because they are trying to do so in their own strength, and God will never bless that. He can only bless the gospel, so if He can only bless the gospel then He can only bless those who support the work of the gospel.
So why then should we financially support any organization that does not preach the gospel? Joyce Meyer and any other preacher who goes to Africa trying to feed the hungry and fight human trafficking is doing a good thing. But she is not preaching the gospel by feeding the hungry and fighting human trafficking. But most important of all, God can not bless that if the gospel is not preached.
Everything begins with and ends with the gospel.
Human trafficking, social issues, poverty, physical and mental abuse, child abuse, drugs, the answer to all of these things is and will always be the gospel of Jesus Christ. So when ministries travel overseas to fight social issues they should always first preach the gospel. Get people saved, get the drug dealers and child abusers saved then you will see the social issues resolved. Preach the gospel to the pimps, the drug lords, the addicts, the poor and the rich. Get them saved and you will see real change.
So why then should we financially support social work when social work will never succeed. Only the gospel, the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified will succeed in solving the issues of this world.?
There is no difference between supporting the Red Cross, Doctors without borders or Joyce Meyer feeding the hungry in Africa. They do important work, but when you choose to use your money to support a ministry who does social work, or a christian tv network that never mentions the gospel, you are using your money wrong and there is no blessing in it. That money could have been used to support the preaching of the cross, that money could have been used to make sure another human being avoided hell. That money could have been used so that one more human being would have heard the message "be reconciled to God through faith in the cross before its to late".
If God has given you money to spend on His kingdom and you use that money to support "christian" ministries who do social work, God will hold you responsible for those who could have been saved because of your money. (Ez 33:2-6)
So why then do we choose not to tell about the cross? Why then do we choose to financially support social work instead of the gospel?
Because we dont understand our own salvation.
if we understood our own salvation we would never ever draw back from telling another person of the cross. We would never use our money to support social work. We would always tell people about their need to be reconciled and we would use our money to support the gospel. Then we would be blessed in return by God (Deut 28:1-13) and we would see victory in our own lifes. Why? Because our faith would be 100% in Jesus dying for our sins and nothing else but Jesus dying for our sins.
You cant help yourself, you have to tell everybody about Jesus and support the work of the gospel financially if your faith is focused on the cross of Christ. But the flip side is this, you are not saved if your faith is not focused on the cross of Christ (Romans 3:22, 8:1-11)
So make sure your faith is where it should be, in the cross of Christ and tell somebody today. They will thank you in the future when you meet them again in heaven. Make sure your faith is where it should be, in the cross of Christ and support the work of the gospel financially. One day you will see drug lords, pimps, addicts, and normal people saved and changed by the power of the blood of Christ.
Because what it all comes down to is this, there is power in the blood of Jesus Christ, wonderworking power to set men free. We overcome everything, social issues, personal issues by the blood of Christ. So be an overcomer today, choose to believe in the blood of Christ. (Rev 12:11)
Published by Apostle Ernie apostleernie@outlook.com