(Apologies if you got this twice, I have been issues with posts loading images – hopefully this is fixed?!)
Important Theological Question –
Is it really true that it’s God’s desire ‘that none should perish’?
Does heaven want the church to grow?
Should every leader, every Pastor, therefore pray every day, “Lord help the church I lead to grow!”
Of course!
We may disagree on various less important matters – shouldn’t be foggy on these things. We should be 100% clear on that, or else pack in and find something else to do because when we get a fire for this, the lost will be found, and grow and be transformed to change the world for Jesus one life at a time.
What, on earth, are we doing?
If you agree that heaven wants this, what are we doing on earth?
If you lead in any way in a church do you see that whatever you are doing you can say ‘I am here to grow the church”?
If not, what happens is that while you may be in general agreement with the idea that the church should grow – but you won’t be a catalyst for that.
How can Pastors and Leaders make these yearnings for growth become a reality?
- Teach the Church
That God wants them to grow.
That the heart of God is for prodigals near and far
That the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who will receive it
That what the church does and births has incredible value beyond anything else going on in the world right now because it’s the only organisation trading in matters of eternal value.
- Show the Church
Model in your own life that people matter to God and so they matter to you, through your own prayer and personal witness. ‘Do the work of an evangelist!’
Invest in relationships with people who don’t know the Lord, don’t ever get too busy doing the work of the Lord in the office that you are not out where the fields are white unto harvest.
Pastor – Who are you praying for?
Who are you serving?
When did you last invite someone to church? If you wouldn’t invite anyone to the church you lead (I have had Pastors tell me that!), why would anyone else – and who is responsible to change the church so it more reflects heaven’s plan for it?
- Expect to see it happen.
In his book The Soul Winner, CH Spurgeon wrote “You must…believe in the power of that message to save people. One of our first students came to me, and said, “I have been preaching now for some months, and I do not think I have had a single conversion.” I said to him, “And do you expect that the Lord is going to bless you and save souls every time you open your mouth?”
“No, sir,” he replied.
“Well, then,” I said, “that is why you do not get souls saved. If you had believed, the Lord would have given the blessing.”
The Lord said, ‘According to your faith it will be done for you.” I know for sure that whether or not people respond to the message I bring has a lot to do with whether or not I make it clear that the message demands a response – and then I outline as clearly as I can the cost and the call, before inviting them to step across the line of faith to take up their own cross and follow him.
The more I make it clear that salvation demands a response and challenge people to put their trust in Jesus, the more they do so! It happens in the most unlikely places. Last Saturday at a service to honour a friends’ ministry where you’d assume everyone was already a Christian, two people responded after I spoke. Thank you Lord!
On Sunday at an evangelistic curry event there were 15. In our evening service at Ivy Central which was full on for Christians I just took a moment to invite people to come back to the Father and one hand was raised at the back but who knows what’s going on in hearts? So often I find months later others tell me ‘that was the night I did it!’
Let’s be clear – it’s good news! An invitation with an RSVP, a free gift to be opened!
At other times as I am finishing off a talk where I have done all I can to help people understand the difference between Jesus and religion, between the self -improvement plan and the ‘I need a Saviour’ plan, I may instead speak about the ‘What’s next?’ in terms of traffic lights:
GREEN LIGHT –
Someone here is green for GO. You want your life to change and to receive this new life in Jesus.
AMBER LIGHT –
You’re not there yet. You’re in the amber zone, sometimes you feel like God is really there and calling you and you have wondered can it be true. But you’ve said ‘Not yet…’ You tried to be a good person, or waited till things get a lot worse! Sometimes you lean toward belief – other times you’re not so sure. If someone asked you ‘Are you a Christian?’ you might say ‘Sometimes, I’m not sure I went to church at Christmas…’
Let me tell you if you’re not sure you’re a Christian I am pretty sure you are not -because if Jesus comes into your life he changes everything so you would know and before long others who know you would know too!’
RED LIGHT
For whatever reason you are here, maybe you came as a guest to make someone in the family happy and you can’t wait till we release you but meanwhile if we were face to face now you’d say ‘No, I am not a believer.’
So in a moment I am going to pray for some people and I only want to pray what you’d agree with because I believe prayer is really powerful and God answers whatever anyone else believes.
I’m going to ask those Green light people in a moment to… (what is it? Stand? Raise a hand? Fill in a card? Take a gift bag/ Bible?) and pray with me in a moment to the One who died on that cross and then rose again so that he could say YES to your prayer for someone to forgive you, help you, heal you, comfort you and lead your life from now on and forever as you turn from everything you know to be wrong and turn to Him…
The Amber light people – I’m praying right now that you’ll get of the fence. Get off the fence today because you can’t live in that zone on something so important. Jesus said one day he’ll say to people who were kind of half in/ half out – ‘Depart from me, I never knew you’ and I don’t want that for you and neither does he. You’ve got a decision to make. Go Green. On God’s calendar it says ‘Today is the day of salvation’ so decide today! Don’t put off till tomorrow what you should do today.
And here’s my prayer for the Red light people.
I want you to know just how much the Lord Jesus loves you. How we see in the Bible him even loving those who nailed him to that cross, so even if you walk out of here today with a fist shaking toward heaven – I pray you would know that he loves you. He loves you even so. And he will keep knocking on the door of your heart because he wants to come in so you can know his love too.
And any time you open that hand, open your heart – he will be there…”
Let’s pray…