Purpose #5 Reach Series

Colossians 4:5-6

Purpose #5: Reach

Introduction

A. How many people get scared when they hear the preacher say reach.

B. I wont make you raise you hand this time

C. But honestly, how many people think, oh now, he is going to want me to stand out on the corner and preach fire and brimstone

D. He is going to want me to go downtown and hand out tracks

E. He is going to want me to memorize the master plan of evangelism and go over the script

F. I admit sometimes the thought of reaching people can be scary

G. However, we know that we are told to reach people in the Bible

H. Please understand this is not an exhaustive study, this is meant to be a practical and applicable study on reaching

I. Today we are going to look at

a. The why

b. The who

c. And the how to reach

I. The Why

A. Explanation

1. When we talk about reaching people we have to ask the question WHY?

2. It is a fair question.

3. Why do we care?

4. Why should we reach someone?

5. Why would they care what we have to say?

6. Why would they listen to me?

7. These are valid questions.

8. They do have answers however

9. Turn to Romans 10:14-15

10. The Bible makes it very clear, why we have to reach people

B. Application

1. What does that mean for our Church

2. It is the purpose of the church to be reaching

3. It is our job as a church to be reaching people for Christ

4. This is not something that is meant for one or two people

5. The work of reaching is everybody job

6. Here is the reality folks, and some days I wish this was not true, People who die without knowing Christ go to hell

7. The Bible Does not care if they lived a good life

8. The Bible does not make an excuse if they did not hear

9. Read Romans 1:19-20

10. The question is do we care about people enough to reach them?

C. Illustration

1. When I was doing my internship at Oak Hill I worked closely with a one of the pastors who is now a missionary in France. Paul was always coming up with ways to scheme and make money. I had to pick him up at the airport. His plane got in early and while he was waiting he started to return peoples buggies and receive the $.25 for doing so. See people did not car enough to receive that quarter.

2. Granted that is a quarter, but we often get that same attitude when reaching people

3. We ask is this really worth it. It is if you don’t want people going to hell.

4. Sorry I am so blunt, that is the truth

II. The Who

A. Explanation

1. Who should we be reaching?

2. The reality of the situation is that we, referring to Bakerstown Alliance, are not going to be able to reach everybody

3. The good news about that is there are other Bible believing Churches that can reach people we can’t, Bakerstown Pres, Bakerstown Methodist, Grace Evangelical Free…

4. However, that does not mean that we can slack of on our job of reaching people

5. Who are you naturally attracted to?

6. People who are like you

7. Think about it, you find people who are going through the same things in life as you are

8. When you were in school you hung out with people in your grade

9. When you went to college you started to become friends with people in your major

10. When you graduated and went to work, your friend became the people you work with

11. When you had a kid, next thing you know you found other people who had a kid, began taking turns watching each other’s kid and forming a special bond

12. Is this always true? Of course not, but it is a good guide line

B. Application

1. So what does this mean for our church?

2. Despite what I have read in different church growth books and such, I do not feel this area has one homogeneous group

3. In the Mars Pine Richland Hampton area there is not one specific group

4. You could not sit down and describe how everyone is in this community,

5. That is ok, In fact that is ok

6. That will allow us to find our special niche

7. The easiest person for us to reach is the people who are like us

8. Why? Cause we instantly have a common bond, because of that common bond they will trust you

C. Illustration