By: Dale Weckbacher
Mark 16:15
And He said to them,
"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
NKJV
I was raised in the church my entire life. When I was a child, I can remember the church
we belonged to would bring in an evangelist from time to time for a
revival. These evangelists would usually
come in and hold several services at our church during the week. The emphasis of these services was to share
the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people and the members of the church were
encouraged to invite friends and family members who did not have a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. These
old-time revival services were a way for our local church to reach out into the
local community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This past Thanksgiving the church I belong to now conducted
an outreach into the local community surrounding the church by having a block
party. The Saturday before the block
party about 200 of us went out into the neighborhood knocking on doors and
inviting people to the event. The event
was a smashing success with around 2000 people attending, or course free
turkeys were a great drawing card. We
are doing a similar thing this Easter Sunday and the weekend before Easter, we
will once again go out into our neighborhood inviting people to services where
they will hear the message of the Gospel.
Unfortunately, in many churches today, I hear little mention of revival.
Luke 21:26 speaks of men’s hearts failing them with fear as
the last days approach. We could
interpret this scripture literally citing increasing heart disease in our times
but I believe we should interpret this figuratively as meaning men’s souls and
spirits failing them as they see little hope in these troubling times.
I listen to talk radio part of the day while I am at work
and balance it with my favorite music. The
callers to the talk shows I listen to all have concerns about the state of the
country and world. I have also observed
that many of the callers seem to balance their concerns with a hope that some
great leader or program will somehow bring the answers. This is where we, as the men and women of God
can step in and begin bringing revival for we have the answer, and the answer
is Jesus Christ.
Leading people into a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ is not just the job of the person in the pulpit but is actually the job
of every believer. When Jesus saw the
multitudes coming to Him, he said the following
36 But when He saw the multitudes,
He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered,
like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, "The
harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to
send out laborers into His harvest."
(Matthew 9:36-38, NKJV)
We are the laborers Jesus asked his disciples to pray
for. I believe the next great revival
will not be like revivals in the past where great orators presented the gospel in
great revival meetings, I believe the next great revival will occur as ordinary
men and women who have a relationship with Christ begin sharing, and living
lives in a close relationship with Christ and His Word. The question is will those of you reading
this be a part of this revival.
A couple of years ago I prayerfully asked the Lord what I
could do to be part of this revival. I
then began writing the book “Empowered Evangelism” with the purpose of
equipping believers like myself with the tools necessary to share the Gospel
with friends, family, and anyone else God places in our lives. The book is available on through my book page
at https://sites.google.com/site/dalesrbooks/. A link to this page is also available at the
upper right hand portion of this page.
Over the next six Saturday postings, I will be summarizing
the book as a way to encourages all of us who are believers in Jesus Christ to
share our faith with those God places in our lives. It is my hope that this will empower each of
us to begin living our lives for Christ and sharing the good news of what Jesus
has done in our lives and how He desires to do the same in their lives as well.
I believe we are on the verge of a great revival, a revival
in which we all have a calling and privilege to participate. Will you join me in this? If so, comment with a yes to this posting.
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