Matthew 28: 19-20 says "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
I have a close friend who I had a long visit with some time back and he is a devoted Christian man, trying to be involved in church and wanting to be obedient to God and he said to me that he has been praying for some time now, searching for an answer from God as to what ministry He wants for him and just cannot seem to hear God's leadership at this point in his life. Well, I could not let it go unsaid, and so I said it. You don't have to pray for God's leadership in your life. It's naturally good practice to keep God in the loop, but He already commanded you in the verses above, and I might say, above everything else in ministry life to "spread the Word" of God! In most cases with Christians today, that seems to me to be just another method of delaying the obvious in our Christian walks. God has told us very plainly, in the above verses that we have an obligation to "GO" and "Share" and "Teach" EVERYONE "...to observe all that has been commanded to us..." People will say, "I'm too inexperienced in sharing the Gospel." Of course they don't seem to be too inexperienced to share EVERYTHING ABOUT THEMSELVES" on Facebook.
I look at this as what I was taught to be a "normal traffic pattern" of life. As we "Go" we "Share"; as we "Share" we "Teach"; as we "Teach" we "Win" the lost of the world over to the Lord and they become His disciples so He can command "Them" to "Go, Make, & Teach" the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sure there are other things that need to be done within and outside of the church, like feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, ministering to the lonely, (we delivered chemo "Goodies Baskets" to a handful of patients every time I went for treatment) but we didn't have to pray about that need. God just revealed it to us and we did it. He has made it very clear. "Go, Make & Teach" disciples about My love so they can go in return and do the same for someone else. What we fail to see is that God never said, as you fellowship within the confines of the church building "Go, Make, & Teach"
In the book of Acts, chapter 1:8 He says "...you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth". That pretty much covered the entire map at that time. Don't find yourself so "heavenly conscious that you are, no earthly good"! You don't have to pray about sharing your relationship with God. Everything you do inside and outside of the church is secondary to the action which Jesus gave to us when He said "GO".
So what does "Normal Traffic Pattern of Life" mean, anyway? Well, it means that when you are standing around the water cooler at work, the football game last night should not be the "hottest" topic. It means when you share lunch time with someone who is hurting, helping them find a "life mate" is not what God wants. It means that you must, without fear, and with the strongest conviction, open your mouth and introduce Christ as the "end all, fix all" to this life's difficulties and disasters. Don't be afraid to say what you know about Christ. The blind man who received his sight, knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and he walked away from that event declaring, "...all I know is that once I was blind and now I see." Do you see the events of the world today? They are one disaster after another and we all sit back and say, "Man, Jesus must be coming back soon." But do we believe it? Do we need to pray about it? I don't believe so.
Here's my story! All I know is Jesus! Once I was blind and then I could see (Jesus)...because someone introduced Him to me. I've knelt on a cold chemotherapy room floor in front of a chair of a lady receiving her treatment while I had a needle stuck in my chest receiving my own treatment and we prayed and asked Jesus to save her, and guess what? HE DID! Her discomfort turned to peace all at once and nothing else really mattered. I don't know how many people God has put in front of me but I have tried to be obedient to each and every command to "Go, Make, & Teach" every one about the Lord. Have you experienced that joy? In the "Normal Traffic Pattern of Life" God has commanded us to "Go". And when we "Go" tell His story.
What are you waiting for?
Have your friends search the scriptures. See if what I have said is not the truth. Then let them pass it on to their friends and tell them they got it from you. Wouldn't it be terrible on that day you stand before God and one of your closest friends stands along side of you and says "If you knew this truth, why didn't you share it with me?"
DON'T JUST SIT THERE AND WAIT FOR GOD TO SPEAK! HE HAS ALREADY SPOKEN! Study the scriptures. You'll find out that I am right.
Dave
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