No Greater Joy
“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7)
I don’t know of a greater joy on this earth, next to being a Christian, than leading someone to Christ. It is unbelievably great. Jesus said there is joy in heaven over one sinner who comes to repentance (see Luke 15:7). Think about that: one sinner. Heaven breaks out over one person. It means there is a lot of applause in heaven every time a person believes. This is God’s heart, and it should be our heart as well.
If I am a true disciple, then I am to go and make disciples of others—effectively to reproduce myself. That brings us to what Jesus said: Go into all the world and preach the gospel (see Matthew 28:19–20).
So how are you doing in this regard? Are you going into all of your world and preaching the gospel? Are you making disciples? New believers need you, and you need them. And, as I have often said, we have a choice: we can evangelize, or we can fossilize. If we don’t take what God has given us and share it with others, then we can actually reach a state of stagnation.
We can take in God’s Word, and if we don’t do something with it, we grow lethargic and actually sluggish. What we need is not necessarily more food. We need to do something with it. We were blessed to be a blessing. We take it in, and we should give it out. And as we share those truths with others, it will energize us.
This may seem like a daunting task, but when Jesus commissioned His disciples to go into all the world, He also promised to give them the power to do it. That power was poured out on the day of Pentecost, and the church was set into motion. And that same power that began the church on Pentecost is here for us today.
Summary sentence: Are you blessed to be a blessing? Find out more about sharing your faith.
Tags: Pentecost, evangelism, Great Commission
Copyright © 2012 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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“We can’t allow our emotions to dictate our worldview; rather, we must base our worldview on absolute truth. And the only place where you can find that absolute truth is in the pages of Scripture.” —Greg
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