Brian Cole: 'Our First Task'

“You have nothing to do but save souls. Therefore, spend and be spent in this work. And go not only to those that need you, but to those that need you most... It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance.” -John Wesley

The Church can so often get caught up in legitimate acts of kindness – standing for political righteousness, feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, etc. – but our PRIMARY task is to share the gospel.

Yet according to Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ, “Only 2% of believers in America regularly share their faith in Christ with others.” This means that 98% of the professing Body of Christ is “lukewarm” when it comes to obeying the Great Commission.

Oswald J. Smith said: “Oh my friends, we are loaded down with countless church activities, while the REAL work of the Church, that of evangelizing and winning the lost, is almost entirely neglected.”

We have polished the acts of worship, prayer and praise and neglected the sober task given to us by God. Charles Spurgeon said: “Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that.” Billy Sunday said: “I believe the lack of efficient personal work is one of the failures of the Church today. The people of the Church are like squirrels in a cage. Lots of activity, but accomplishing nothing. It doesn’t require a Christian life to sell oyster soup or run a bazaar or a rummage sale. Many Church’s report no new members on confession of faith. Why these meager results with this huge expenditure of energy and money? I will tell you – there is not a definite effort put forth to persuade a definite person to receive a definite Savior at a definite time, and that definite time is now.”

The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Romans 10:13-15 – “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.”

I may be a Pastor of a Church, but my first and primary role as a Child of the One True King is to share the Gospel with others: not just in Church, but especially outside the Church walls. I wake up every morning with one thought on my mind: Over 150,000 people will die today, and most of them will be spending eternity without Jesus Christ. What can I do today to make sure at least one of those will spend eternity with Jesus?

This is one of the reasons I travel all over and speak wherever the Lord sends me, to be able to share the Gospel and see people set free and come to know Jesus Christ. But even outside of speaking events, or the Motorcycle Ministry, or jail and prison ministry... I speak to many people God puts in my path and tell them about Jesus. I do this in many ways, NOT shoving Jesus and the Bible down people’s throats, but I deal differently with different people. If someone gets upset with me over it (and in the 8 years I’ve been doing this, that’s only happened once), that’s ok. I would rather rile someone up and get them upset with me than to have not tried at all and be accountable for that.

I love people too much to not want to see them get to heaven. If that means offending a few on the way, so be it. I love people too much to not want to see them set free of the bondages they are trapped in, and if they get offended in the process, so be it. There’s only one way to be truly set free, and only ONE way to get to heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ. If you don’t know Him, it’s this easy: Jer. 33:3 – “Call unto me and I WILL answer you...” Call out to Him today!

https://youtu.be/c1ewBAiYh8Q (404)