Continuing the post from yesterday based on Romans 10:14-15,
#2 - “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?”
If we truly want people to believe in Jesus then we MUST do all that we can to make sure they hear about Him!
I think one of the fundemental problems that exists in church world is that we have communicated very clear messages…however, very few of them actually have anything to do with Jesus. We say things like…
- Do more, try harder
- Don’t do (fill in the blank!)
- This particular political party must be our obesssion.
- Don’t watch this movie or listen to this music
- Boycott this
I could go on and on…but I think we all get the point. The church spends WAY too much time talking about what it is against and never gets to the heart of the message that can actually change people from the inside out—JESUS!
They can’t believe in Jesus until a church decides that HE is going to be their one obsession!
#3 - “And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
You and I are called to preach the Gospel every single day.
- How we treat the waiter or waitress this weekend is preaching a message!
- How we react when someone cuts us off in traffic is preaching a message (and our kids are on the front row!)
- How we talk about our spouse is preaching a message!
- What we are willing to say about others when they are not around is preaching a message!
Everything we do preaches a message…our lifestyle openly declares whether or not we love Jesus…or merely just the idea of Jesus! If we claim to love Jesus but are not living for Him then we are nothing more than, as Craig Groeschel would say, a practical atheist!
Being a Christian is NOT about simply what we KNOW (none of us will ever know more than satan!) It’s what we DO with what we know!
People outside the walls are “listening” to us “preach” every single day…and you and I need to be willing to (preach) live in such a way that shows the world that we believe!
Let’s do our best to live out to a watching world what it means to love Jesus…our life just might be the message that God uses to help someone cross over from death to life!