Born To Reproduce Series

BORN TO REPRODUCE

1 John 1: 1-4, 1 John 2:12 (pp.855) June 9, 2013

INTRODUCTION

I’ve been in ministry now for almost 35 years…3 and a half decades...in children’s ministry, youth ministry, and as a preaching minister…I’m 53…for the first years of my Christian life I was a traveling evangelist…driving from place to place, sharing my testimony with youth groups, camps, conventions, revivals…I remember Wayne Smith telling me with laughter (imitate Wayne laugh) “An Evangelist is a preacher with 7 sermons and a fast car!!!!”

I didn’t have 7 sermons…I had my life’s story…one of providence, rescue and redemption…rescued from the fire, at least twice!!!

From the very beginning of my conversion I knew I was saved for a reason…I was saved so I could tell others how Jesus wants to save them…” It wasn’t complicated or difficult for me to understand what God wanted me to do….Tell somebody…Tell everybody…I did…I told my friends I use to get high with (they thought I was insane) I told my teachers (I went back and finished High School.) I told people at church, at work…I told everyone that Jesus had saved me…I was born again…I finally felt free, forgiven and I understood my purpose for being alive…or at least as much as a brand new baby in Christ can. Bring other people to Jesus…Tell them about how Good He is…Look for the Holy Spirit’s opening…don’t be ashamed of your Lord!!!)

So maybe the most important question is this…if you are a Christian do you desire to “Reproduce?”

I DO YOU LONG TO SEE PEOPLE COME TO CHRIST THROUGH YOUR LIFE?

When John the beloved disciple writes his first letter to the churches you can almost feel the passion and urgency of what I’m talking about in the first 4 verses…

1 John 1: 1-4 (p855)

Jesus, the Word of Creation…we’ve heard Him speak, we’ve seen His love in action in the flesh, we’ve touched Him…We proclaim that He is the Word of life!!! We saw it happen right before our eyes…we witnessed God in the flesh…He brought us into a relationship with God the Father…and our motive for writing this…our reason for sharing this…So you can have the same relationship too…only then will our joy be complete.

Will you honestly answer this question…deep down inside, do you long to see people come to know Christ through your life? If the answer to that question is anything but an unqualified unapologetic yes, then I encourage you to examine your heart. Is Christ in you? Do you believe His word? His word that claims that apart from Jesus there is no entrance into the father’s presence…there is no forgiveness of sins…and all who do not receive God’s grieve will spend an eternity in Hell? Are you experiencing His affections? Do you delight in knowing Him, spending time with Him, proclaiming Him to people around you? Ultimately are you abandoned to His will for you to be His witness in the world?

If these things are not a reality in your life, then no matter what decision you made many years ago and no matter what church you attend, you may not actually be a Christian, for these features are the fruit of followers of Christ. If you don’t desire to reproduce and if you don’t desire to see people come to know Christ through your life, then I encourage you in the words of 2 Corinthians 13:5 to examine (yourself) to see whether you are in the faith.”

Is Christ in you? Because if He is not, if your heart, mind and will have not been transformed by the forgiveness of your sins and the filling of His Spirit---then I urge you…crucify your pride –die to sin and self today and come to life in Christ.

You see its God’s Spirit that produces this burden…this longing to share the word of life…You can resist Him…(I know this for a fact, because I did for months before I surrendered). You can quench the Spirit, you can lie to Him, you can blaspheme the Holy spirit…but you cannot be born anew apart from the Holy Spirit or be God’s adopted child without the Holy Spirit living in you…You cannot bear fruit or accomplish anything of value in the Kingdom apart from Him…He is God’s eternal deposit in our Souls guaranteeing eternity…He prays for us…intercedes…comforts…gives us the words we need to speak in witnessing situations…He is Christ Himself living in us….

So, I ask the question again…do you desire to reproduce…Do you long to see people come to know Jesus through your life? If you do not…there is a salvation problem, because if the Spirit of Christ lives in you He will unequivocally break your heart for lost people…Whether you’re shy or loud…talkative or quite…The spirit of Jesus cannot live inside you and be unnoticed!!!