A Gospel To Share

My youngest daughter and I went to the bank to open a checking account.
She has had a savings account for many years, but with college in another year, it was time.
The woman that opened the account was so helpful.
Setting up her online banking was the longest part of our morning.

There are many security questions to answer, passwords to choose, user ID to determine.
Now if the customer can just remember all the answers they gave in order to log in.
Those things are there for a reason and I am grateful.
In this digital age, we seem to have passwords for our passwords.

One of the men who is involved with missions in our church spoke about their next trip.
A group will be traveling to Switzerland to dismantle a radio tower.
The pieces will be carefully packed and sent to Albania to reassemble there.

The language barrier may be a bit of a problem.
It is unknown what language is spoken in that part of Albania.
All of the assembly directions will be in English.
It seems that the radio station is upgrading to a new system.
Their old tower is being donated to a group that broadcasts the Gospel to the Middle East.

Coming to faith in Jesus means death in many of those countries.
Yet, the Gospel goes forth and people are being saved.
Important work is being done in the dismantling and the reassembly of the radio tower.

The word is near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart. It is the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”…Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Romans 10: 8-15, 17)

Imagine coming to faith in Christ and knowing you might be killed for that faith.
Imagine going underground so that you can worship with other believers.
Imagine being so desperate to hear the Word of God, in a place where Bibles are scarce.
Imagine that you must walk hours in order to go to church.
Imagine.

We complain when sermons are too long.
We gripe about the annoyances of others in our church family.
We have many Bibles on our shelves but scarcely read even one.
We try to find the church that is close to our house, so we don’t waste time in the car.
We don’t have to try hard to imagine.

The earliest Christians needed to worship in secret locations because of persecution.
Under Nero, Christians were arrested, wrapped in animal skins and placed in the arena.
Eaten alive by wild animals, they satisfied the crowd’s insatiable desire for entertainment.
Many Christians were burned as human torches in the emperor’s garden.

And we complain.

Persecuted Christians often scratched the image of a fish on the ground.
This fish symbol identified them to another Christian.
We see this symbol on many cars, but probably never knew what it really meant.

We have it relatively easy as Christians in our country, but it is getting harder.
We have not had arenas, or torches, or underground churches to deal with.
But we do have persecution; Jesus told us we would.

That persecution should only make us stronger, holding fast to the essentials of our faith.
We must let go of the non-essentials that so often divide.
Satan enjoys division, and attempts to divide God’ people any chance he gets.
We are actually easy targets because we are so scattered and disconnected.

What if we came together?
What if we rallied around each other as if our life depends on it?
What if we complained less and shared the Gospel more?
What if we stood on the solid Rock of Christ and His word, rather than the shifting sands of the culture?

What if?

A radio tower is being dismantled in one place and set up in another.
The Gospel will go forth.
People will be saved.
But we’re too busy arguing to notice.

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:16)