A CHURCH TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD
By
JERRY FALWELL
A. INTRODUCTION
I still believe Thomas Road Baptist Church can do more to evangelize the world than any other church. If you were living in the early 70s, there was no church reaching the lost like Thomas Road Baptist Church. We did it through the Old Time Gospel Hour, radio, records and later cassettes and through the beginnings of Liberty University. A book I wrote called Church Aflame ignited interest in evangelism
When we go to the Mountain, Thomas Road Baptist Church will not be a church to change the world because we have the biggest auditorium, or because we have a TV ministry, or because I am the pastor. No! We can only change the world if we have a heart for the world and deliver the message for the world. We can only change the world if we evangelize the world.
1. The Basis for World Evangelization is the Great Commission.
a. All persons
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
b. All the earth
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
c. All power
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:18-20).
2. Last summer I preached a sermon, i.e., A Church To Change The World. That sermon focused on our humanitarian ministries, such as the Godparent Home, Elim Home and the “feeding” projects we have done in Haiti, Thailand, etc.
That sermon said Thomas Road could change the world because of my “Mars Hill ministry,” witnessing to the world.
3. This sermon is focused on preaching the Gospel to the world.
a. Our church can preach the Gospel to everyone in the entire world. I remember twenty years ago raising money to preach the Gospel on Trans World Radio in HJCA (Heralding Jesus Christ Abroad) so Thomas Road could preach the Gospel to every person in the world from this pulpit right here. We did that once; I’ve not lost that passion. We can do it every week. We can do it every day.
b. The Gospel can crush hardened hearts, it can make the spiritually blinded see. I know of men who have broken their alcoholic addiction with Jesus, I know of drug addicts who have been freed by the Gospel, and I know of homosexuals who have gone straight because of the power of regeneration. I want to preach the Gospel to the world because it’s the only message that transforms the world.
4. Every church and every Christian has the obligation to be a soul-winner. George Barna said only 4 out of 10 Baptists shared their faith with someone in 2001. He said the percentage is much lower with other denominations.
B. FIVE OF THE GREATEST CHALLENGES FACING 2002 A.D.
1. FIRST CHALLENGE: ISLAM: PEOPLE WHO NEED JESUS CHRIST
The tragedy of the Twin Towers on 9-11 changed the face of American life and I don’t know if we can ever be a trusting, open society as we have known in the past. There will be more security in industry, airlines, government buildings, and as much as any of us don’t like it, the government will be prying into everyone’s business more than ever before.
While 9-11 made us aware of terrorists, it also made the world aware of Islam: both the normal Islamic faith and radical Islamic cults. I have heard statistics that there are between 1 billion to 1,200,000,000 Islamic followers in the world.
Media have told us more about what Muslims believe than ever before. Islam worships one God, Allah, but that God is not our Heavenly Father. Not one of them will go to Heaven apart from faith in Jesus Christ. That’s not a mean vindictive statement, nor is it an elitist statement to exclude anyone; nor is it an arrogant statement that we are the only “right ones.” Just as God is broken hearted over every lost Islamic person--the fanatics included--so we the Church ought to be broken hearted over lost Muslims. “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
How do I know that God loves all Islamics? Because I believe the Bible and what it says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Too often we stop at that verse, but look at the very next verse: “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17).
2. SECOND CHALLENGE: UNTRAINED PASTORS/CHURCH LEADERS
Two months ago Bill Bright and I were on the phone with other church leaders talking about the great needs in the world. We were talking about the many untrained Protestant pastors. Ninety-five percent of pastors around the world have not had any formal training, no Bible institute classes, not even lay leadership training at the local church level. When we minister to ministers, we minister to the multitudes.
There are 50 million believers in Red China alone; most of these are worshiping in house churches. Mission authorities believe that there are over 1 million church leaders or pastors in China alone and most of them are untrained. When we minister to those Red Chinese ministers, we minister to the Red Chinese multitudes.
Around the world, there are approximately 4-5 million pastors or church leaders. I heard Tom Phillips of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association say that in one African country half the pastors can’t read; these are jungle churches and bush churches. When we help these pastors, we help evangelize the regions where they minister.
America is not experiencing revival, but there is revival breaking out around the world. In 1980 one percent of Argentina was evangelical, today 15 percent of Argentina is evangelical. While most of that growth is Pentecostal-Charismatic, I praise God for these new believers and new churches.
Bill Bright said, “One billion will come to Christ in the next ten years.” Think about that number . . . that’s astounding! But that means we need more and better follow-up of new believers, more and better churches, more and better pastors. That’s where Thomas Road Baptist Church will carry out the Great Commission through Liberty University.
Liberty has over 32,000 graduates, and another 32,0000 students who have been to our University to take Bible classes and evangelism classes. But that is a “drop in the bucket” compared to the great need that faces us today. I still pray for 10,000 students on campus and 40,000 in our External Degree Program. I still expect Liberty University to have over 50,000 students in one year. Obviously, Liberty will need more freshmen than ever before, and more money than ever before; she will need more buildings than ever before, and more parking spaces than ever before. Ask God to give you giant faith to pray for gigantic miracles at Liberty University. If we have a billion new believers as Bill Bright says, we will need instant training to touch . . . teach . . . train . . . more than a million new pastors to carry out world evangelism.
A MINISTRY TO MINISTRIES
IS A
MINISTRY TO THE MULTITUDES.
When you think of reaching the world, think of your ministry to future ministers through Liberty University.
3. THIRD CHALLENGE: THE YOUTH POTENTIAL/EXPLOSION
Young people are a challenge like never before. First of all, there are more young people in the world than ever before; over half the world is under the age of eighteen. Second, there are more voices calling youth than ever before, i.e., MTV, media, rock music, and sport stars. All of these voices deny the existence of God and blaspheme His name.
What about the young people in our church? Pollsters like Barna, Gallup and others used to ask the question of young people: will God and the Church play a part in your life when you leave your home/family? Sixty percent used to say “Yes.” Now only 33 percent say “Yes.”
When we asked the question in the past, “On a scale of 1-10, what part will God play in your life?” they used to get the answer: between 3 and 4; now we get the answers 8 -10.
When pollsters asked young persons ages 9-17 what they thought about the world. Here are the following results:
1. That the world needs to be changed.
2. That they want to help change the world.
3. That one person can make a difference.
4. FOURTH CHALLENGE: THE INTERNET
Ten years and one month ago, the first web page was posted on the Internet; now I read that 3 million a day are being published world-wide. I just have difficulty believing that figure, but that’s what I read.
A little more than five years ago I was asking for the FAX number of pastors; Jonathan told me to “go for the email.” I told him, “No one had an email address,” because I didn’t have one. I was only able to gather around 70,000 FAX addresses for pastors. I was wrong about email addresses. Now I don’t even send Faxes, but I send emails weekly to over 200,000 pastors.
As stated at Billy Graham’s Amsterdam Conference on Evangelism, it was estimated that 83% of the pastors of the world have an email address or have access to email. If the pastors don’t actually have an email address, they have access to email through someone in their congregation. That’s not just in America, that’s world-wide.
I heard it said the other day that God will use the Internet to reach people for Jesus Christ, just as He originally used the Roman Road of Salvation and later used the Four Spiritual Laws written by Bill Bright.
Let me tell you what is happening on the Internet:
We can feed our Gospel message into a computer, and it can accurately translate our message into 75 languages of the world.
Our Gospel message is 85% reliable when translated by a computer. And they say that within five years, it will be 98% reliable.
Within five years we can stream down a computer message or video to your watch, and view it on your watch face.
We now have computers without wires; and one day we will have the potential to broadband to every computer in the world, no matter where you are, through a satellite connection.
You’ll be able to download into your car any music or lesson or sermon you want to hear, and listen to it while you are driving.
You will be able to download 40,000 messages you want to hear in one transmission, and listen to them one at a time.
OLD MAPS WILL NOT GUIDE THE CHURCH
IN THE NEW WORLD
Understand me, the Gospel will NOT change. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). There will always be a place for preaching, even though to many preaching is foolishness today. Remember, they thought that preaching was foolishness in the time of Paul. So they will think it is foolish in the future. “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23). But listen to what God says about foolishness, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25). God also says, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27).
The method by which we reach the unsaved may change, but the message of preaching will never change. The Internet is just a new method; let’s use it to reach the world. Thomas Road Baptist Church must be the church to lead the way to evangelize the world.
We must learn to preach on the Internet, just as fifty years ago we learned to preach on television, just as fifty years before that, we learned to preach on the radio; and just as fifty years before that, we learned to preach with a microphone to mass audiences. Every generation has its new challenge, and ours is the Internet.
If you’re not networking,
You’re not working.
I am a part of a conference that is being held in Orlando called Beyond All Limits and they have asked me to preach the introductory keynote message. You’re hearing here some of the things that I will preach there. That conference in Orlando will be the launching of a new Global Pastors’ Network, that is a Christian Internet service designed to reach every pastor in the world.
I believe it is possible to connect every pastor in the world to one network, and to reach, teach, preach, and equip them through one network. Our goal is to train 5 million pastors, and Liberty University will be a part of that training.
A young man led to Christ through the Campus Crusade ministry, i.e., Martin Schartz, built Real Networks and has 500,000 customers paying $10 a month to watch movies, ballgames, musicals and concerts through their computers, i.e., notice I said computers, and not television. His company will help us design, engineer and build this fantastic tool to reach the world. Because I’m keynoting the conference, Thomas Road Baptist Church will help carry out the vision of preaching the Gospel to the world.
5. FIFTH CHALLENGE: SECULARIZATION
One of the great challenges in the future is a growing American secular society that is becoming more hostile to the Gospel and Christianity. Many of the voices of the Libertarians are re-interpreting the First Amendment of the Constitution, i.e., the Separation of the Church and State, to take every Christian influence out of the State, society, the home, out of every institution in society. Notice the following:
a. The First Amendment is to protect government from the Church, not to take the Church out of all the institutions of society, i.e., the home, the school, business and education.
b. The First Amendment is a wall that recognizes the State on one side, and the Church on the other. However, the Libertarians are re-interpreting the First Amendment to eliminate every influence of the Church. They not only want to take the Church out of government, they are hostile to the Church and will take the Church out of American life. If they could, they’d eliminate the Church.
c. Why do Libertarians and secular society hate the Church? Jesus said it first, “He that hateth me hateth my Father also” (John 15:23). This is really rebellion against God, not just hostility against who we are and how we live.
Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).
What the Bible says, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:5). That means that the unbelieving mind turns its back on the light of God and rejects His message. Remember the Bible says, “. . . and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Again Jesus said, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light” (John 3:20). Why is that? They won’t come to the true light of God “lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:20).
Why do the Libertarians, secularists and the atheists all hate the Church? Because God makes them feel convicted . . . guilty . . . and sinful.
CONCLUSION
These are five of the greatest challenges facing Thomas Road Baptist Church today:
1. Islam
2. Untrained pastors
3. Youth
4. The Internet
5. Secularism
What is our response? It is the same response that the Church has always had.
First, take courage in the Lord, knowing God can overcome any challenges.
Second, pray for the Lord to give the Church wisdom, power and effectiveness to rise up against the challenges.
Third, pray the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into the Harvest.
Fourth, commit yourself to the biblical mission of Thomas Road Baptist Church to meet the world-wide challenges.
Fifth, dedicate yourself anew to the service of Jesus Christ.
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord,
I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
For more information on the TRBC Pastor’s Bible Class, log on to the Internet for TRBC Home page at www.trbc.org/pbc.
