LORD, WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?
What can I say, Lord?
Who should I talk to?
Who should I invite out to the house for dinner?
Who should I feed?
Who should I clothe?
To whom should I give a drink?
What, O what dear Lord can I do for you today?
He gave me this word, not just for me, but for all who call themselves Apostolic...
There are so many people in this world with "ministries". Everyone is doing something to promote their beliefs, their gospel, their church. So many denominations doing the "work of Christ" in their neighborhoods, towns and cities....well, except for the Apostolics. Now don't get me wrong I know there are plenty of Apostolics with ministries and Apostolic churches doing lots of things to further the kingdom of God but is it enough, or is it the right things? Is it really making a difference? Is it really spreading the gospel and delivering God's word to the hurting or is all of it done within our 4 little Apostolic walls?
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat:
I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in:
naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord,
when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger,
or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to
one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment:
but the righteous into life eternal.
Matthew 25:41-46
If you ask around, the consensus is, most people believe Apostolics are unfriendly, unhelpful, unsociable and lack true Christian character. Why? Because in truth, most Apostolic churches and people shy away from getting involved in community events. They never volunteer at or donate to food and housing shelters, soup kitchens and the like. They rarely get involved at charitable events or awareness events. They are not involved in anything at the local schools and usually do not even take out ads in the local newspapers extending an invitation to their church services.
I was once a member of an Apostolic church where the pastor refused to become a member of the towns ministerial alliance simply because none of the other pastors in town believed our One God message. He would have nothing to do with the other ministers even so much as to shake their hands and smile. Now granted they do not preach truth; but, they are; however, getting their chance to preach false doctrine to LOTS of people, simply because they ventured out from beyond their 4 baptist walls, or Catholic walls, or Seven Day Adventist walls to reach sinners.
I wonder what kind of message are we sending to people when we are "too good" or "too holy" or "too something" to get involved with them, especially when we won't extend our hand to establish a relationship when them.
Have you ever wondered why your church has not really grown much in the 5, 10, 20 years you have been there? Could it be that you have not been casting your net out far enough, or on the right side of the boat?
Winning souls is pretty hard when the only things we do is reach within our 4 walls for them...inside our 4 walls for the unsuspecting soul that just so happened to come to the occasional church dinner he was invited to, or maybe the passion play or Christmas pageant his bus kid is starring in.
Is your black light choir, sign choir or puppet ministries doing enough to reach outsiders or is it just entertainment? Is your worship ministry true worship or is it just entertainment? Are the passion plays and Christmas pageants really drawing in the crowds of sinners needing to hear the gospel? Chances are they are not. I'm not saying we should stop doing those things, but I am saying maybe we need to step up our game a little...or a lot! Someone's, everyone's eternity depends on us. We need to take this thing to the streets. It's not enough to just throw a little shindig at the church or on the church grounds from time to time. Having the occasional block party is not going to do it. We need to GO OUT into the highways and hedges and COMPEL them to come in.
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in,
that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:23
There are dying souls out there that need to hear the gospel...the true gospel...and we need exposure to them because we are the ones who have the true gospel to share with them!! We must reach beyond our four Apostolic walls!!!! Every soul counts and if we are not going to where the souls are, how can we reach them?
How can we reach our towns people if we won't help down at our local soup kitchen, if we won't volunteer at the food pantry or the battered woman's shelter, if we won't have a booth offering free water or snacks at the local Relay for Life run or town festival. Some of us....and I am guilty...never stop by the hospital to offer up prayers for the sick. Some of us never head over the local nursing center to see if anyone needs anything. We don't stop to think about the prisoners or beggars in our town and figure out something we can do to take the gospel to them or to just lend a helping hand. We have become thoughtless, careless or too good, or perhaps too lazy to carry this gospel to the masses.
There are hungry souls out there. There are thirsty souls, hurting souls, beggarly souls and imprisoned souls out there that need us and we must do anything and everything we can to help them. That's what we were called to do. We weren't called to start a black light choir, or sign choir though those things are fun and nice. We were called to feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, clothe the poor, give drink to the thirsty.
You want to do something for the Lord today? Try reaching beyond the four walls of your church to harvest the lost souls in your community. Their souls depend on YOU...Your soul depends on you! Now...Go ye into ALL the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15
