Friday, January 1, 2010
The Lifeblood of the Church
And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
—Acts 2:47
Show me a church that doesn't have a constant flow of new believers coming in, and I will show you a church that is stagnating. The first-century church was an evangelistic church, and I believe that every church that is functioning in the way God wants it to will have a constant flow of new believers coming in. New believers bring much-needed life, while older believers bring much-needed stability and maturity. We have a choice before us, which is to either evangelize or fossilize.
After you have been a believer for awhile, you can start taking things for granted. But when you have a new believer who is hearing things for the first time and his or her life is literally being changed, it can revive you.
It is a little like going to Disneyland with adults as opposed to going with kids. It is kind of a letdown to go there with adults, because the first thing they do is complain about how much everything costs or how long the lines are. But kids never complain about things like that. When you take a kid to Disneyland, it is the happiest place on earth for them. A child sees it differently. And when you see it through a child's eyes, it makes it a different place.
The Great Commission is not to make converts; it is to bring people to Christ. It is to teach them God's Word and get them on their feet spiritually. And then do it again . . . and again . . . and again. We invite people to come forward and make a decision for Christ, but God wants them to go forward. He wants them to mature in the faith. And He will use you to be a part of that process.
Copyright © 2010 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
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