HomeJOY TO THE WORLD
By Arthur Blessitt
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Communicating the Gospel of Christ
Arthur Blessitt
Blessitt publishing
Copyright © Arthur Blessitt 1986
INTRODUCTION
One day when I was in college I went to the post office. As I walked in, I saw a poster on the wall. It was a picture of Uncle Sam. He had his finger pointing out and under his finger were the words, 'I want you.' As I read those words, my heart was suddenly pierced with God's call. I noticed something strange, for each time I moved, the finger was still pointing and the eyes were still looking. It was the artist's way of making it a personal call. I realized that Jesus Christ was saying to me, 'I want you! I want you as long as you're standing in front of the cross.' And he is saying to all Christians that He wants you. He wants you living in victory. He wants you everywhere declaring the good news. He wants you loving the poor, clothing the naked. He wants you to be His example in this world. And to those of you who have never given your life to Jesus, He is saying, 'I want you!' He wants you in His family. He wants you to be in heaven. He wants to give you His Holy Spirit. He wants to forgive your sins. He wants to give you a new life. He wants to put your life together. Isn't that good news! God wants you.
God has chosen us as His witnesses. He has chosen us as His ambassadors so that we may communicate the love of God. We are the only way the world will know. God has not chosen to engrave His message in the sky, God has chosen you and me as His ambassadors. And it is our privilege to communicate and share the glorious message of Jesus Christ. He has entrusted redemption to us. It is the greatest compliment in all the world that God has enough confidence in us to use us as His witnesses. The Bible says, "And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Rom. 10.14).
Jesus said, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations'" (Mt. 28.19). We are to make disciples of people everywhere. We have been chosen by God to deliver a message. We've not just been saved to escape the flames of hell or to enjoy a paradise of golden streets. No, we have been redeemed by God to know Him, and to experience His love and to convey His message of love to people who have lost their direction, who have not come to understand this. And so, God has entrusted Himself in my flesh.
The Bible says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body'" (1 Cor. 6.19, 20). God wants our bodies to be His tabernacle. He wants us to be His witnesses, delivering the message of life everywhere. Isn't that a wonderful privilege? How would you feel if you were to take a message from the President to the leaders of another nation? You would feel pride, and yet humility. You would feel honour, and maybe you would feel a sense of unworthiness. But God, the Almighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords has said that He wants Mary, John, Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones, to go to your next-door neighbors and let them know that He loves them. He's going to use you as His witness to those who are hungry, as you feed them, and they'll know He cares. To those who don't understand it, you'll explain the Bible so they'll know that He is interested in communicating with them. God has chosen you. And you can't fail. How can you say no? How can you say, I won't go? God is pointing, God is calling. You accept that call and go for God.
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DAY 1
For the next few weeks I'm going to be looking at the most wonderful person in all the world, and that is Jesus. Now, as I share about Him, I want you to understand this. Many of us, as we witness, talk about giving our lives to Christ, but we're always talking about living the Christian life, about reading the Bible, about repentance - that's talking about the things we shouldn't do. But many of us talk about the things we should do. I find that a lot of us never really concentrate on Jesus. It is Jesus who is the Saviour. It is not a plan that saved you. It is not a way of life, because Jesus is the way, He is the truth and He is the life. I want to encourage you to talk about Jesus.
Who is Jesus? I could write for hours and hours about Him. I want to share a capsule of thought about who Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ is God. He is God who came in the flesh and was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit. When He died upon the cross and shed His blood, it was the blood of God that was shed for the remission of sin. That is why only through Jesus Christ can people be saved.
He was born in a manger stall, and was identified at His birth with the poor and the homeless. Most of the people of this world are poor, and don't have an adequate diet and Jesus Christ understood. He was born in that sort of condition. As a young child, He had to cross the Sinai Desert with His parents, all the way through to Egypt, because Herod threatened and sought to kill Him. He lived as a refugee. He came back and grew up in Nazareth. He was baptized by John. He went into the wilderness and fasted and prayed for forty days. He began to preach and teach and work miracles. Never a man spake as He. No one has ever done the things that Jesus Christ did. Unique in all of history, He is the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. He loved the poor, He loved the drunkards and the prostitutes. He said, 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest' (Mt. 11.28). He went into the homes of the rich. He cared for people in every circumstance. When you share Jesus Christ show who He is. He said, 'When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself' (Jn. 12.32). Sometimes people don't want to hear about your church, but everywhere I go I find people who want to hear about Jesus.
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DAY 2
Continuing with the subject from yesterday, Jesus Christ. Jesus lived in the world. He walked along the roadside, He sat down in the grass, He was weary, He cried. He loved people, He was hungry, He was thirsty and yet he was God. When people heard Him speak, they said nobody had ever spoken like that. They had heard prophets, but they had never heard anyone like Jesus. They had never seen anyone live the way Jesus lived. He actually loved the people. When He was around lepers, He touched them. When He was around prostitutes, He let one wash His feet. When He was around the poor, He gave them something to eat. Jesus Christ cared and He loved. Then the day came when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will". (Mt. 26.39). Jesus Christ willingly gave Himself before Pilate and the angry crowd, and let them lead Him away. Then He hung on the cross, crucified.
I have walked for many years carrying a huge cross; I've been spat upon, and I've seen a lot of bitterness. Jesus Christ really suffered for us. Scourged and nailed to the cross, He not only suffered physically, but He carried our sins too. That's the difference. Many people have been crucified, but only Christ died for our sins. As His head was slumped in death, He cried out, "it is finished" (Jn. 9.30). The way of salvation was paid for through the blood of Jesus. When you witness, be sure to share that the blood of Jesus Christ is what cleanses us from all sin.
Then on the third day, Jesus was resurrected, triumphant! Hallelujah! He is alive and living. He ascended unto the Father, and two angels said, "This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1.11). One day, one moment, the sound of the trumpet shall ring and the shout of the archangel shall be heard and Jesus Christ shall descend from heaven, and all those who are ready and prepared will be caught up to meet Him in the air! Are you ready?
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DAY 3
Now I'm going to look at how Jesus shared the message of truth with a different person in different circumstances. There was a man named Nicodemus, he was a good, moral man and he was a leader. And he came to Jesus and said, 'We know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him'. (Jn. 3.2). This man knew that here was a miraculous person; he saw miracles in the life of Jesus. But then Jesus answered him back with a straight shot. Here I'm looking at how Christ shared. Nicodemus said something complimentary to Jesus and He said, "Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God". (Jn. 3.3) Jesus always spoke straight, but lovingly, kindly and clearly. There was no way to misunderstand Him. He said that you need a new birth, or you'll never see the Kingdom of God. And then Nicodemus asked how could a man go back into his mother's womb and be born a second time. Here was a man thinking worldly, materialistic thoughts, and Jesus continues to deal with him spiritually. He said, "Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God". (Jn. 3.5). Jesus took this man who was thinking of earthly and physical things and presented spiritual truths to him, and He kept comparing them. He didn't rebuke him but He changed him. He transformed him to realize that there was a spiritual dimension in his life.
Now let's look at what Jesus said to him. '" tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify what we have seen, but still you do not accept our testimony." (Jn. 3.11). Jesus was speaking of that which He knew to be the truth. Share the message of life simply and clearly.
Jesus then goes on to explain the full gospel to Nicodemus. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." (Jn. 3.16, 17). That was Christ's witness to Nicodemus. He explained the full gospel, the gospel of repentance; of us turning from an old life to live a new life; a new birth; and then He shared how He was coming to give Himself for our sins and that in Him we have eternal life. Jesus was saying that He had not come to condemn him, but that if he believed in Him, he may be saved. In other words, 'I've come to deliver you the good news'.
Now as you witness, I challenge you today to witness with the love and the understanding of Christ. If people say something to you which is earthly, change it and bring Jesus Christ to them and share the truth of salvation and love of Jesus.
