Many churches, ministry are confounded on how to reach the lost. In our society, it seems like the more we preach the true gospel, the less people we have. We see thousands of people paying top dollars to attend sporting events, but can only find a handful of people to attend church or Bible studies. We see the young people can't wait for the weekend to come so they can go party at the nightclub, the bar, house parties, but we find no such enthusiasm from them when it comes to attending church or Bible studies. And we wonder what can we do to bring people to church, to Bible study? What can we do to lead people to eternal life?
The saddest thing in the world is to see someone suffer while there is abundant help. To see someone dying while the Savior is standing next to them. This is our predicament as ministers of the gospel. We wonder what can we do to rescue people from destruction? Well the first thing we need to realise is things are not as they seemed. Many Christians in the west seems to think that if we speak to people, explain the gospel to them in a rational manner, they will come to their senses and believe. So we focus a lot on sharing our testimonies, on helping people with the latest scientific explanations for their problems. We invite people to music days at church, to potluck etc..
We have all sorts of fun activities to attract people to Christ and as soon as the fun is over, the majority of these people never return and we scratch our heads, wondering what did we do wrong? What could we have done better to keep these people in the church? We talk and strategize about how to be more effective in the future. We hold meetings on church retention etc.. and failure follow after failure. The problem is as Christians we have been deceived by the Devil in not understanding the true nature of the battle we are involved in. We have ignored the clear statements of the scriptures and seek to accomplish the work of God using our own human abilities based on our understanding
The Bible says," we are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12. Our battles as ministers of the gospel is against demonic forces, not human beings. So the first thing you must do in trying to save souls, you must consecrate yourself to God. You can't be trying to preach to others, trying to rescue souls while you yourself are in the iron grip of sin. You must first seek the Lord and ask Him to save you from sin, darkness and error and for His Holy Spirit to abide with you, to empower you with zeal for His cause .
The other crucial thing we must understand in looking into why people are not interested in the gospel is that the majority of people in the world 🌍 and in the church are under the power of Satan. 1 John 5:19 ," the whole world lies in the power of evil one." What this means is your family members, your friends, your co workers, your neighbors, the people on social media, people at your church are for the most part under the control of Satan and they will want nothing to do with the gospel, with the Word of God. The Devil who is their master will not allow them to. And that is why you find them promising to come to church, Bible study and then their schedule at work changes.When you invite them to church or Bible studies, all types of inconveniences come up. New schedule, flat tires, errands etc..The Devil put hindrance in their ways so that they can't come to hear 👂🏾 the word of life. The other thing to know is that not only are most people in the world and in the church are under the control of Satan and His demons, but the Bible says, 2 Corinthians 4:4, " Satan, who is the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who dont believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news. " So not only are most of our friends and family are in darkness, under Satan's control but Satan has blinded them, taking out their spiritual eyes
So, most of our friends, family, co workers, neighbors, church members are not only under the control of Satan but they are blinded to the fact and are absolutely blinded to the beauty of Christ and His gospel. So imagine trying to show a beautiful river to someone who is in chains and blind 👀? It's not going to work. You first need a miracle, God has to intervene on behalf of the blinded soul to rescue him from the slavery of sin and the blindness it causes. Most people are under the control of Satan because most people love and are practicing sin and the sins in their lives make them hate the gospel since the gospel condemn their sins, so that they will not come to Jesus.
This is the reason why our friends and family are more interested in going to the movies, to sporting events, to the nightclub etc.. they can only go where their master the devil allows them to go. But when it comes to a church that is preaching truth, a bible study where truth is preach, the Devil say no further and throw all types of discouragement their ways so that they will not come to the light. They will come to music day, they will come to potlucks because everyone loves food but the Devil will not allow them to come eat the food that last unto eternal life, the Word of God. So friends, in simple words, people reject the gospel because they are under the control of Satan.
What must we do ? We must become prayer warriors. This is a spiritual war and it requires spiritual weapons. If you want your friends, your family, co workers, neighbors, church members to be saved from the power of Satan, you must be praying for them continually. You must intercede for them before the Lord, asking the Lord to free them from the power of Satan, the bondage of sin. Your friends and family will not come to the Lord unless the Lord break them free from the power of Satan. But God will not free them unless they are willing to be freed. So friends we are in a war and we must be prayer warriors .
And lastly, we must ask God for His Holy Spirit to empower us to go out into the world to preach the gospel through words, actions, our lifestyles, to use every mean at our disposal to expose the evil of sin and to present to the people Jesus, the sin pardoning Savior. We must ask God for courage and strength to never be wearied, nor discouraged in the battle against Satan to save souls. We must preach in season and out of season, when people want to hear, when people don't want to hear and hopefully the Lord will rescue some from the way of destruction. People are enslaved to the Devil, let us allow God to use us as tools for their deliverance
2 Timothy 4:2Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
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