Are you willing to change the world? Are you willing to make a difference for God? That’s what God created you to do. To live an exciting, adventurous life changing your world. Some would say, the world is too big and I’m too small, what can I do? God would say, with Me nothing is impossible. Together we can do great things. Others would say, well I’ve tried in the past, but I haven’t accomplished much. God would say to you, Don’t give up, don’t get tired in doing good, you can make a difference for eternity with your life. Yet others would say, I’ve got too many problems of my own to think about doing anything to change the world. God would say, when you put Me and My kingdom first in your life, I will meet your needs and take care of your problems.
God wants us to become like children again, He wants us to dream again about doing something great for God. Of living the adventure that you were created to live. What is at the heart of the adventure that you were created for? You were created to change your world, by leading other people to Jesus Christ. Jesus summarized His marching orders for every believer in
Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
When we embrace Jesus’ mission for our lives, what is His promise? His promise is to be with us in that mission, to the very end of the age. When does this age end? When does Jesus return? He will return when the mission of changing the world by making disciples has been fulfilled.
Matthew 24:14 (NIV) And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
If you’re a believer, then you can tell someone else about Jesus. That’s what it means to preach the gospel or good news about Jesus.
Today, my message is called “Getting People Interested.” You cannot force another person to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Each person must make a decision of their own will whether to trust Jesus as their Lord or reject Him. In today’s world, many people aren’t very interested in Jesus or church. Most of the time, they aren’t interested because they really don’t know much about Jesus. Even the things that many people think they know about Jesus and the Bible are wrong. Biblical literacy in our society is at an all-time low. So, we want to learn how to get people interested in learning more about God. We want to be more like a fisherman with a lure than like a hunter with a gun. We’re going to look at an example of how Jesus reached out to an unlikely person, to learn some lessons about how we can reach out.