#4 - The People Who Need To Hear The Gospel The Most Are The People Who Show Up At Our Church Every Week - Acts 2:5-6
I’ve read through Acts at least 20 times or more…but I saw this section of Scripture this time and it FLOORED me…the people who came running to see what was happening, heard the message and 3,000 of them were eventually converted (Acts 2:41) were religious!!!
They could say all of the right things, pray all the right prayers…heck, they probably had a Christian fish on the backside of their camel!!!
BUT…they didn’t know Jesus!!! (BTW…He said there would be people like this in Matthew 7:21-23! I am preaching on that text this weekend…and praying that people will literally get the hell scared out of them!!!)
One of the false assumptions that the leadership of a church can make is that everyone who attends knows Jesus.
In the Southeastern part of the US people think that they know Christ because they were involved in some sort of program or process…but they’ve never met the person of Jesus Christ.
I’ve always said that the most untapped harvest that exists today are the people who show up every week…who are trying to be a good person by attending…but really are in desperate need of repenting.
I never will forget a revival that happened at my home church in the early 1990’s. One of the most amazing things took place—the associate pastor at the church…the guy who seemed to love Jesus the most…the guy who literally witnessed to everyone wherever he went…the guy who preached so hard one night that his false teeth flew out, he caught them & put them back in and kept preaching—THAT GUY RECEIVED CHRIST!
People were blown away by it…and some were even skeptical…but he told us, “When I was a kid I went to my preacher and told him I wanted to receive Jesus…and he told me that I didn’t need to do that…that I was ok.” He said he wrestled with that for years…and pride kept him from doing what he needed to do…until he finally surrendered to God’s Spirit and asked Christ to come into his life.
It was God’s mercy because in less than a year he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and soon afterward stepped into eternity. I’m SO glad the Gospel was preached SO much that he finally heard it!
I can’t say it any clearer than the Scriptures say it…THE FIRST TIME THE GOSPEL WAS PREACHED…IT WAS PREACHED TO RELIGIOUS PEOPLE! We can’t be afraid to share the Gospel! The people who have met Christ will be amazed and overwhelmed by it…and those who need to meet Christ will surrender to it…if…well, next lesson…