During the month of March, we focus on Missions. This includes Foreign Missions and the mission ministries at home. There is another part of missions that is just as vital that I am afraid that we are not as involved in as we ought to be. That part is called personal witnessing.
God has called each and every one of us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with our family, friends, and acquaintances. We are to tell them about the amazing love and salvation that can be found in Jesus Christ. Some might say, “Well, I don’t think it is a good idea to discuss religion with other people.” And I might understand what you are saying, but I am not asking you to discuss religion, I am telling you that you need to talk to people about your relationship with Christ. People might be able to argue with you about religion, but no one can argue with your story or your testimony. You just need to tell and show them what the Lord had done for you. How God has worked in your life. How God has blessed you! How God has brought healing to you! How God has given you forgiveness and how you have found that joy and strength to keep going each day. People are hurting, and they need someone to help them find the answer to their situations, and that answer is Jesus.
If we are going to reach the people in our world for Jesus, we are going to have to understand a few things. First, we are going to have to understand how vital it is that people come to know Christ as Savior. There is nothing more important in this world than a person’s soul. Scripture teaches us that a person’s soul is worth more than the entire world. “What shall it profit a person if they shall gain the whole world and lose their own soul, or what shall a person give in exchange for their soul.”
We need to understand that people’s eternal destination is determined by how they respond to Christ. We need to help people meet Jesus. There seem to be three groups of Christians, just as there are three types of people at the scene of an accident. At accident scenes, there are three groups of people, each with a different response toward those involved in the accident. The first group is the bystanders and onlookers. They are curious and watch to see what happens but have little active involvement. The second group is the authorities, like police officers. Their response is to investigate the cause of the accident, assign blame, and give out appropriate warnings and punishments. The third group is the paramedics. They are the people usually most welcomed by those involved in the accident. They could care less whose fault the accident was, and they do not engage in lecturing about bad driving habits. Their response is to help those who are hurt. They bandage wounds, free trapped people, and give words of encouragement. Three groups - one is uninvolved, one is assigning blame and assessing punishment, and one is helping the hurting. In which group are you?
When it comes to reaching the lost and hurting, we’re going to be in one of these three groups. We will be uninvolved and let others do the work. Or we will condemn people for their foolish behavior, saying things like, "It’s your own fault that you’re in this mess. If you had been going to church and doing as you should, this never would have happened!" Or we will be concentrating on helping those who are lost and hurting. I hope we will be showing compassion like those in the last group!
The second thing we need to understand is that reaching the lost takes effort. Helping people come to know Christ is not always easy. It will take hard work and effort.
Several years ago, I was directing a week of camp at Vandemere. At that time, all the boys and men stayed in a big room that was full of bunk beds. One evening in the middle of the night, I was awakened by the door going outside shutting. I got out of bed and realized that one of our young campers was gone. It just so happened that I had been told that this boy was known to sleepwalk on occasion. As I looked out the door, my heart dropped when I realized the river and pool were just a few yards away, and I did not see the young child. My heart began to accelerate, and I began to yell the young man’s name. By that time, one or two of the other male counselors came outside and asked what was wrong. I explained to them what had happened, and we began to search near the pool and river bank. We did not find the camper, and I began to get even more excited, rushing around even more. We looked everywhere we could think of, and finally, I went into the dining hall, and there was the young boy sitting at a table fast asleep. I felt so relieved that we had found him. (By the way, after that, I put a bed in front of the door so no one could get out without us.)
We had been so concerned over that young man that we made every effort and searched everywhere. I never said, "Well, I’ve lost one child, but we have other campers here at camp." No, one child mattered! He mattered enough to give everything we had toward finding him. Here’s the point - it took an effort to find him, and it will take that same kind of diligent seeking for us to reach the lost. In our Christian lives and in the church, it sometimes seems that we do the opposite. We tend to wait for the lost to come to us. We’re passive rather than active. We’re waiting for people to come to Christ instead of putting effort into bringing them to Christ! I know that we all could do a better job of witnessing for the Lord. We want people to come to know Christ as Savior, but have we really put the effort in. This has to change if we’re to reach the lost for Jesus.
How do we practically exercise this principle? What do you and I need to do in order to be following Jesus’ instructions about giving effort to reaching the lost? There are several things we can do. First, a significant part of our prayers should be for the lost. Second, making every effort means making evangelism a significant part of the ministries of Elm Grove. We must also be careful to dedicate a significant part of the ministries toward disciplining those who are already Christians. Nevertheless, this is no excuse for not seeking the lost as Jesus instructed us to. Third, making every effort to reach the lost means we must be willing to make outreach a significant part of our personal and church spending. And fourth, we must intentionally form a relationship with those who do not know Christ and tell them about Him. We must intentionally invite people to church, Sunday School, and other events at the church so that people can hear the Good News. It has been proven time and time again that more people are introduced to Christ by their friends, family, and acquaintances than they are by strangers or even sermons from preachers. The most important thing you and I can ever do is to share Christ with someone.
Another thing that is necessary for reaching the lost is persistence. It is not easy to reach people’s hearts so that they receive Jesus. It is not usually the case that our first efforts meet with success. Sometimes it takes years and years of persistence, but we should not be discouraged or give up.
The story is told that following an exhilarating performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, celebrated classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma went home, slept, and awoke the next day exhausted and rushed. He called for a cab to take him to a hotel on the other side of Manhattan and placed his cello—hand-crafted in Vienna in 1733 and valued at $2.5 million—in the trunk of the taxi. When he reached his destination, he paid the driver but forgot to take his cello.
After the cab had disappeared, Ma realized what he had done. He began a desperate search for the missing instrument. Fortunately, he had the receipt with the cabby’s ID number. After searching all day, the taxi was located in a garage in Queens with the priceless cello still in the trunk. Ma’s smile could not be contained as he spoke to reporters.
Here’s the point, Yo-Yo Ma did not quit but persisted because what was lost was too valuable to give up on. The spiritually lost are too valuable for us to quit trying to reach even though our efforts do not pay off quickly. We must keep telling, living, and doing the good news of Jesus Christ. Unsaved people matter to God. Scripture tells us that all heaven rejoices and throws a party when one person comes to know Christ as Savior. If lost people matter this much to God, shouldn’t they matter this much to us? Shouldn’t we be willing to give everything needed in order to reach the lost? My answer is "yes," and I hope yours is too.
May the Lord place a smile on your face and love and joy down deep in your heart as we seek to win the lost to Jesus. Be blessed, and be a blessing!!!!
Pastor Baggett
In Children's Worship, we have recently completed our series on Love! We finally made it through all of the words in 1 Corinthians 13! To find out more about all that we learned, take a look at the February 2023 Newsletter! Now we will be turning our attention to sharing God with others and understanding His grace!
On Wednesdays, we continue to learn about prayer! We are learning about who we pray to, when and where we can pray, and SO MUCH MORE! Our Kids have enjoyed popcorn prayer and play dough prayer! If you see some of our Wednesday kids, ask them which they liked best!
We are getting ready for some exciting Easter fun! Go ahead and put the Easter Egg Hunt on your calendar (April 8th) and be prepared to invite all those you can! We are planning a special and fun way to invite your neighbors and friends to spend time with us hunting eggs!
Continue to pray for all of our volunteers! They do so much for the Kingdom of God by sharing God's love with these little ones! If you see someone serving, please take a moment and tell them thank you! Continue to lift up our kids as well! Pray that they may walk with Jesus, in close fellowship with God, all the days of their life.
That is my prayer for each of you as well.
Be blessed!
It is a great time to be involved in youth ministry! Yes, there are days when it seems challenging and hard, but we have a God whose grace is sufficient for all of our needs and supplies us with everything. I say this because we have the great opportunity (and I dare say the responsibility) to be a place that is open and welcoming to any and everyone that comes to Grove Youth! One of our hopes is that each teen that we interact with knows that God loves them, and we do too! Even if that means opening up the gym for some ball and having snacks to enjoy. Being here is a place of refuge, and this is a place they can begin seeing and encountering God, who is there for them.
We are looking for others willing to help us out to be a smiling face to our teens. Please let me know if you are willing to help us pour out love on them!
~Pastor Jonathan,
Youth Pastor of Elm Grove Church
Dear Church Family,
God has answered my prayers again.
Thank you so much for your help in getting a ramp for Pat.
"Your thoughtfulness means so much more than words can say."
God Bless you all,
Pat & Barbara Roberson
