Radioprogram, Our Lord is coming, 8.01.2018
Announcer 1: Dear Listeners, Let us read from Ezekiel 3, starting from verse 17,
“Christian laborer, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore, hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.Yet, if you warn the ...
Radioprogram, Our Lord is coming, 8.01.2018
Announcer 1: Dear Listeners, Let us read from Ezekiel 3, starting from verse 17,
“Christian laborer, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore, hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” It is written, “His blood I will require at your hand”
“The primary task of the Church is to evangelize the world”. I believe this with all my heart. The most important task of the Church of Jesus Christ is to evangelize the world.
Let us read the Gospel of Matthew 9, verses 35 to 38,
“Then Jesus went to all their cities and villages…”
Please pay attention that He went about their cities and villages. He never stopped in a place. Jesus never became a pastor. He was always on the move.
“Jesus went to all their cities and villages… preaching the gospel… But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them.”
What is compassion? It is not pity. Compassion is love in action. Are we moved by compassion? Then we will certainly do something!
“Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.””
That was the problem of His days. And the same problem is there today: much harvest and few laborers. And the solution is, “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.””
While studying the Bible, I found expressions like “all the nations”, “the whole world”, “every creature”, “every tribe and tongue”, “the ends of the earth”. In other words, I discovered that the Gospel is to be given to the whole world. Every nation, tribe and tongue needs to hear it.
If this is the case, I am to leave my country, to cross borders and to go to a nation. And if for some reason I am unable to do it, I need to send others instead of me. If I do neither one nor the other, on the Day of receiving rewards, I will be an imperfect Christian.
What about you, my friend? Do you know that the Gospel is to be given to all the nations, to the whole world, to each tribe, tongue and people to the ends of the earth? What are you doing for it? What are you going to do? Either you are to go, or you are to send someone instead of you, and woe to you if you do nothing. We must obey God’s decrees and keep His commandments. This cannot be avoided.
Announcer 2: Do you know that there was a time when the Gospel was spread throughout North Africa, and hundreds of Christian Churches were established in the whole region? Can you imagine that during the first centuries of Christianity, some of the greatest theologians were from North Africa?
Announcer 1: But what happened later? North Africa became Islamic, and after hundreds of years, there is almost no trace of Christianity there. The light of the candles grew dim, and then was quenched; the light that shone so brightly, went down. How in the world this could happen? I will tell you why.
Religious leaders and theologians in North Africa were fighting each other; instead of preaching the Gospel, they were entangled in theological disputes and argued over Christian doctrines. They were separated from one another, tried to prove their points, and having left out the most important thing, focused on insignificant ones.
What they should have done? They should have travelled to the south, to one town after another. What would happen then? Ultimately, they would have reached today’s Cape Town, and all of Africa would have been evangelized hundreds of years ago. Africa would send missionaries to Europe and even to Americas.
Announcer 2: But the same thing happens today. There are many Churches in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, that have become just social clubs, and if the Church of Jesus Christ will not wake up and give the Gospel to the whole world, what happened in Africa will befall us.
Announcer 1: God told the prophet, “Go out to the field, and I will speak to you.” The field is beyond the walls of your house, beyond the walls of your Church; it is where the work is in full swing. The field is a Gentile walking by your side, who does not know the True God and Savior, who is lost in the claws of a false religion and is 100% sure that his god is the true one. The field is your prayer room when you need to intercede for the unsaved and lost people, for those whom the spirit of Babylon has blinded and is leading astray to destruction. The field is the world.
Why Paul the Apostle travelled to Europe before the whole Palestine would hear the Gospel? Why? Do you remember that he intentionally left his country and went to Europe, to our forefathers, in order to preach the Gospel to them? So the question is, why did he dothat? Maybe he should have stayedin Palestine until all of them could hear the message of the Gospel.
The answer is, if Paul stayed in Palestine, you would still be heathens. Paul went to the field, dear friends, and the field is the world.
Announcer 2: The world is not just the United States. It is not just Great Britain. And not just Europe. The world is far larger than that. And the field is the whole world. You will never hear about a farmer who works only a little corner of his field. Farmers work the whole field. The United States is just a corner; what we need is to preach the Gospel to the whole world!
Announcer 1: We speak about the second coming of Christ, while there are people who haven’t heard about His first coming yet. It is simply not fair.
Why would some hear the Gospel twice, if there are people who have not heard it even once? While you sit at the services, and all the time hear the sermons that already seem boring to you, there is someone out there who needs that word, who is on the verge of life and death. And the word that has become boring for you, will give new life to them. And you are lazy, you are tired, you criticize the pastor and other preachers… Won’t it be better if you go and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles? Go and learn how to approach a Gentile, in order to present the true Jesus Christ to them…
The best gift a Church can give itself is to send its pastor to a mission field for a while. No vacation will be like that! He will return a changed man, because no one can see needs with their own eyes and remain the same person. Something will happen to your pastor. He will have words to speak. He will have infinitely more value for the Church than he has ever had.
My friend, what do you think about preaching the Gospel? Have you ever seen so many Gentiles in your country from Asia and the Middle East? These people are heathens, atheists or seekers. Has God spoken to you? Have you heard His call? Won’t you respond, “God, send me”? And if you cannot go, won’t you send someone instead? It is up to you to decide.
Announcer 2: Why would some hear the Gospel twice, if there are people who have not heard it even once? When Jesus left His disciples almost two thousand years ago, He has given them only one task, which is literally to evangelize the world. I can imagine how He spoke to them, “I will leave you and will not be with you for a very long time. While I am absent, I want you to do just one thing: share My Gospel with the whole world! So that every nation, tribe and tongue hears it!”
Announcer 1: These were His instructions. This is what He commanded the disciples to do, and they understood Him.
So what has the Church done during the time He has been absent? Have we fulfilled His commands? Have we obeyed Him? What are we Christians doing now? It seems there is a plan to lead Christians astray by preaching about prosperity. We have listened to so many sermons about prosperity and financial increase, that we have deviated from the true faith; the Spirit of Christ has left many Churches long ago, and the leaders seem not to notice it or just pretend they don’t.
Of course our God is the God of abundance and mother’s milk; He is El Shaddai, the One Who promised prosperity in Deuteronomy 28.
But how much these beautiful and awesome promises were misused by Christians! Many ministers have disguised their greed, unrestrained desires and covetousness under these promises! They are not content with convenient and blessed lifestyle, but have gone to extreme luxury. They become examples to their flock, the ones entrusted to them, and they don’t even realize that because of their conduct, they lose the souls that were to be saved.
Instead of populating the Kingdom of God with saved souls, we lose the laborers in the house of the Lord because of our wrong behavior. Can’t we see that such a sophisticated manipulation can be invented and engrafted to our Churches only by the devil? The devil led astray Church leaders, the ministry gifts, and with that, he led astray the whole flock. It is written in the Prophets, “I will strike the shepherd and will scatter the sheep”. Doesn’t the enemy do this?
Of course, during the earthly life of Jesus the Messiah, there were modern appliances and beautiful things according to the measures of that time; there were beautiful halls, chariots and clothes. Of course they had luxurious life. Surely, they had these things in abundance, but did our Lord use them in His work of preaching the Good News? No, no and no!
However, a time will come when He will come as a King and will live according to His royal status, together with His saints. Why we Christians want to have this ahead of time? Was it a bad example, when our Lord preached on a boat by the seashore, or when He left to deserted places to pray, or when He preached to thousands in wilderness?
Didn’t He know before coming to this world, how people would respond to Him? Did He care for super modern halls or equipment? Who we try to amaze? This world? We will be the most miserable of all if we start competing with the world. Or who we try to amaze? Our Sister Churches? Other denominations? Isn’t pride and jealousy our motive, then?
Please don’t get me wrong; no one would like to preach about the Lord or praise Him in old-fashioned halls with outdated equipment. But it is wrong when this becomes a mania, when certain things become mandatory, and we come to a place when we no longer hear the voice of the Lord but are led by human greed. And then we wonder why we did not have the presence of the Lord, why such renowned conferences had no fruit… the real reason is that we are led by ourselves. We are told that He is present in our conferences; but if so, where is the fruit?
We have become so focused on ourselves that we cannot see the Gentile refugees from the Middle East and Asia in the United States. We close our eyes as if we do not see them. Isn’t your spirit restless to pray for them, to plough the soil in your country so that these people can find Jesus Christ the Savior? Start praying for these notorious nations that cause you so much trouble. Pray for their stiffened and deceived hearts. Prepare the soil of their hearts to receive the Word of the Lord. Go into your inner room, set aside time for prayer. Remember that one day you will stand before Jesus Christ, and what feelings will you have then?
Dear ministers and Christians, do not attend a Church just because they preach the prosperity Gospel. Such places lead you astray from your calling. Go to a Church that will send you to a mission field, will lead you in prayer and will mobilize you to fulfil the Great Commission.
When you listen to preachers of prosperity, you start to look for a cozy place, turn to a sedentary person and become indifferent to the work of the Lord. Instead, you actively start making money, the desire to enjoy this world is growing, and you forget that now is not the time to enjoy blessings. The time will come when our Lord will return in His glory.
Today work has such an important place in the United States, that for the sake of work we sacrifice our visions, our holy calling, wellbeing of our children and our health purchased by the blood of Christ.
Work in itself is a necessity given by God, but the enemy has setit on a pedestal and has made it an idol, and Christians, like marionettes, obey the requirements of the idol called work.
We have been deceived by the spirit of Babylon; we think that we provide for our needs, but in reality we serve this vile and disobedient spirit. Without realizing it, we entered into the system built by the spirit of Babylon and like a helpless autumn leaf, are driven here and there by the winds of this demonic structure. We forget that we have a Lord Who is greater than this world and Who has defeated hell.
The other day I listened to a good politician who spoke from his heart saying that America became great because of Protestant Churches and the missionaries they were sending. Because of them, grace abounded in our country; their prayers and commitment made America an exemplary country. These churches taught people to be exemplary citizens, to love their country, to keep the laws, to pay taxes fairly, starting from the beginning of the 20th century. These Churches have a great input in prosperity of the United States.
The United States sent their missionaries to unreachable regions. They had so much love and commitment, they presented Jesus Christ our Savior so well in the nations closed for the Gospel. The whole world was full of revelations of American preachers and teachers. They printed thousands of books for the nations, they translated their works for the unreached nations, with the sole purpose to conform them into the image of Christ. Because of their faithfulness, the Gospel reached Asia, the Middle East and Russia.
