I recently read through the book of Acts. I love seeing how the early church was so bold and on fire. They went out to all lands and preached the Good News. Paul, especially, gets me pumped up. He man was radically transformed and set ablaze for the Kingdom of God. This passage about Paul in Acts really jumped out to me:
"Paul went into the synagogue and spoke out boldly for three months. He talked with the people and persuaded them to accept the things he said about the Kingdom of God. But some of them because stubborn. They refused to believe and said evil things about the way of Jesus before all the people. So Paul left then, and taking the followers with him, he went to the school of a man named Tyrannus. There Paul talked with people everyday for two years. Because of his work, every Jew and Greek in Asia heard the Word of the Lord." Acts 19:8-10
The first thing that really stuck out to me were the time periods. I like to rush things. I like to see things happen fast, but I'm learning more and more that that's not very realistic. Paul stayed in the first place for three months, and even then most people turned away from the Good News. Also, notice how Paul left once they became hardened. He didn't waste time with those who heard but turned away. He moved on to those who hadn't yet heard. Now don't get me wrong I don't believe anyone is past redemption, but I do think there is a certain point you can get to with someone where you've done all you can do, the rest is up to the Holy Spirit. So Paul went on and in this new place he stayed for two years. Not only did he stay for a long period of time but notice that everyday he talked with the people about the gospel. The last part of this blows my mind as it says that because of this daily faithfulness to the task every single Jew and Greek heard the gospel!! Every single one! This should be a wake up call to all of us. It only takes the daily faithfulness of one person for God to use them to change an entire continent!
Let's get busy. You aren't responsible for the results, but you are responsible to your faithfulness of sharing the gospel day end and day out. If we've truly met Jesus, how can we not speak of all He's done!
Evangelism has always been a big thing for me since day one. God really has instilled a burning passion in me for reaching the lost, for literally seeing the world come to know Jesus. People ask me what my biggest prayer is or what I would love to see God do in my generation and its always been the same thing: my prayer is that each and every single person on this earth would come to know Jesus, not just know about Him, but know Him. And people take that well, "Oh, yeah, me too! That would be great!" And I kindly nod and in my head I think to myself, "Am I really alone on this one, God?". You see people can agree with that statement all they want, they can even really desire for it to come to come true, but there is drastic difference between wishful thinking and actually taking action.
Sometimes I think I'm all alone on this walk with Christ. Sometimes (a lot of times), I think I've totally lost my mind. The reason being? Because when I tell someone I want the world to know Jesus, every single person I've come into contact with, people I've seen in cars, on the street, on the television, people I've walked by, given food, helped out, or totally ignored come streaming through my mind. Faces, families, lives. When I say the word "world", I don't mean a generic "everyone", I mean a personal each and every one. That lady that cut you off in traffic that might have just lost a loved one. The man that bags your groceries trying to make enough to feed his family. The teenager that egged your house, trying to find something to do because his parents have put work before raising their kid. The child that looks alright from the outside, but is already coming to a conclusion that life is not worth living.
I don't think I could even count how many people I come into contact with each day, but I know that each and everyone holds the potential for God to move. For God to redeem. But there is only one way that this will ever be able to happen and thats by being who God has called us all to be. In Mark 1:16-20 we see Jesus pick his first followers. We see how they drop everything and just go with Jesus, but something that sticks out even more to me is in verse 17. "Jesus said to them, 'Come follow me, and I will make you fish for people." You see Simon and Andrew were fisherman, like many of that day. As fisherman, they fished. You wouldn't say that they were fisherman if they didn't fish, right? Just like you wouldn't call someone who didn't cook a chef or someone who didn't paint a painter. But Jesus changes their occupation just slightly in verse 17, saying they will now be fishers of people. So likewise if you do not fish for people then you wouldn't be deemed a fisher of people.
Christ calls us ALL to be fishers of people. That is our job, our calling, our occupation first and foremost. And with the vast amount of people that we come into contact with each and everyday, I'd say we have no excuse to not fulfill this role. Yet, more than half of this country claims to be "Christian". I'd challenge you and ask are you a "Christian" or are you a "fisher"? Because the term Christian is only a term society has deemed. Fisher is an occupation Christ has called us to. The world is hurting. The world is in need of a Savior, Jesus Christ. And they will only come to know him if we, as followers of Christ, are faithful to the task He has called us to. If we take the thousands of opportunities that stand right in front of us.
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