Burden          

 

Dear friends, I wish I could reveal the burden in my heart right now, as I write this particular issue of the Millennium Echo. There’s some uneasiness in my spirit, and something in me is crying out – Lord, why are we Christians so stubborn and disobedient? Why have we become so cold and apathetic? Many times I’ve sat and thought to myself, that if this was how the early Christians lived their lives, then we ourselves would probably not have had the opportunity to hear the gospel and be saved.

 

Recently, as I passed through a busy shopping mall, I saw some boys handing out promotional leaflets, and I said to myself, if these guys can promote whatever they were promoting, why could I not stop by the corner of the Mall myself, forget whatever brought me there in the first place, and hand out tracts?

 

I do write tracts and carry them in my handbag always so that I can give them to whosoever comes my way. The truth about my tracts is that they convey the  message of the gospel in a very simple and understandable manner. As simple as A,B,C,D, as a matter of fact. They also include the sinner’s prayer, so that anyone who receives any of my tracts has the opportunity to be saved if they care to read them. This means that nobody who gets any tract from me will have an excuse to give – such as “nobody told me”. Often when I travel, I deposit them in public places, wherever I find myself. However, the truth is that sometimes I forget to do so.

 

Recently, as I traveled back from Scotland, I found myself repenting all the way because I had forgotten to leave some tracts in my hotel room. I could not forgive myself. I tried to imagine what could have absorbed my thoughts so much as to make me forget to do so. I was greatly troubled. However, I was pleased that the Holy Spirit had convicted me of this, and I repented all the way back.

 

Father’s Business

Beloved, the fact is we ought to be about Our Father’s business. His business is so simple and so straightforward. The last commission Jesus gave to us was “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned” (Mark 16: 15-16).   The point is this: we have a duty to tell everyone the good news about the kingdom of God, and the saving power of the blood of Jesus. If they fail to believe, at least we would have fulfilled our responsibility. Paul the Apostle, in Acts 18:6, “shook his raiment, and said unto them (i.e. the Jews who opposed him and blasphemed) ‘your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean …’ In other words, Paul was saying, I have done my part, you have yourself to blame for not believing. In Romans 10:13-14, we read “for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?  

 

Dear friends, every day and everywhere, we come across people in our homes, places of work, where we shop, travel and so on. The question is, are we really concerned about the souls of these people? I recall the song, which says

 

‘Get all excited, go tell

  everybody –

 that Jesus Christ is King’

 

It goes on to say,

 

‘You talk about people

 You talk about things that really

 ain’t important at all

 You talk about the weather

 You talk about problems we

 have here at home and abroad

 But friends I’m excited that the only solution for the world and all that are in sin, is Jesus Christ is still the King of kings’.

 

One can sense the feeling of frustration that led the writer to put those words in a song.

 

Spirit in the Air

Recently, as I shared these thoughts at our Cell meeting, a holy anger rose up within me. I said to members of my Cell, “in Africa, you can preach the gospel on the bus, on the street, anywhere, anytime”. I even told them how I could share the gospel in the classroom, in between my lectures. What is it then that prevents us from been able to share the gospel freely in Europe, especially in Britain? The Holy Spirit whispered to me, ‘it’s the spirit of anti-Christ’.

 

Beloved, there’s a spirit of profanity all around us. There’s a spirit of complacency and apathy. There’s a spirit that makes people want to talk about anything else but Jesus. We’ve got to shake ourselves up, and declare that that spirit will not rule over us. We’ve got to take authority over the spirit in this land that makes it ‘unsociable’ to talk about Jesus. Who was the most sociable person that walked the face of this earth? Didn’t He have problems with the Pharisees who called Him “a winebibber and a friend of sinners”? Hey! We’ve got to learn from Our Master, how to do His business. He has left us an example to follow in His footsteps. However, unless we have eternity in view, we’d be so earthly minded, that we’d forget that ‘life is but a vapour that appears for only a little while, and vanishes away’

 

 

Paul An Example

Many of us can hide under the disguise of being too busy to find time to preach the gospel. Whether we are in employment or self-employed; full-time or part-time, housewife or a professional, there is no excuse. The account of Paul the Apostle in Acts 18:1-6 illustrates that he was engaged in his tent-making and still found time to preach the gospel. Unless, and until we realise that soul-winning is meant to be the lifestyle of every believer, we’d be wasting our time. And, in any case, there is no way this can happen unless we have a consuming passion for souls. Passion for souls itself comes from a deep-rooted love for Jesus. It is not possible to be in love with Jesus and not want to talk about Him. Isn’t it the case that people like to talk about something they love? 

 

My prayer is that the Lord will help us to realise why we have been saved, and that He’d put a sense of urgency and desperation in us, so that like Paul we’d cry ‘woe is me if I do not preach the gospel’. Isn’t it ironical that we who have the ‘Good News’ try to keep it to ourselves, whilst everyday, we are bombarded on all sides with what is ‘news’ to the world, and yet is anything but edifying?

 

‘You Never Told Me’

I believe that one of the worse things that would happen on that day when we all stand before the Judgement Throne, is to be accused by our friends and close associates of keeping the gospel away from them. How would you like someone to say to you,  on that Day, ‘but you never told me’? Honestly, is it possible to truly love someone and then to see danger coming, and not warn the person? I doubt it very much.

 

In John 1:40-51, we read about how Andrew introduced Simon Peter, his brother, to Jesus, and also about how Philip introduced Nathaniel to Jesus. When we think about the role that Peter later played in the life of the early church, we can appreciate the significance of the role that his brother, Andrew played in introducing him to the Messiah.

 

 Father’s Heart

Father, God, we ask You to forgive us, for the coldness of our hearts, and the lack of passion for souls. Please help us to realise what it meant to you to send Jesus to die such a degrading death on the cross, because of your unwillingness that any should perish. You have done all there is to be done for the redemption of man. All You ask us to do is to be your mouth piece to spread the good news. And not only that, but also, to live the life so that others would know and understand what it is to belong to You, and the difference You can make in their lives. We ask for grace and wisdom to discharge Your commission faithfully and truthfully. Reveal your heart to us, Lord, and help us to recognise the urgency of our task, and the consequences of failing to do as you bid us. If it were impossible, You wouldn’t ask us to do it. So, we thank You, for listening to the cry of our hearts, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!