975. Loving God with a Heart for Evangelism

Welcome to The Daily Platform. Our program preacher sermons from travel services at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Every day students are blessed by the preaching and teaching of the Bible from the University Chapel platform were continuing a study series called loving God. These messages were preached in a special seminary chapel for students preparing for ministry today speaker is Dr. Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University.

The title of his message is loving God with a heart for evangelism from Mark 1228 through 31 get to see all of you today. Those of you that are not South Carolina. Welcome to South Carolina weather and is like a baby's diapers always change in and that South Carolina weathers like the people it's generally mild and pleasant, but when it's main its main and so when it gets cold in South Carolina. It's not like cold up north I was in Niagara Falls on Sunday morning at a church there and it was chilly but it is that my son said to me said that this is not like the sound, he said. South weather is just different than North weather, so it's still cold up there, but slow different down here and ask you take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to the book of Mark chapter 12 were going to look in verses 28 to 31 in just a moment. I think today is on the idea of loving God and doing that through our evangelistic work and so my attention this morning is really to challenge our hearts to stir our hearts up. Most of us recognize the responsibility to evangelize.

We all understand that. But to to to be out and doing it is a whole another ball game and perhaps the greatest struggle that all of us have to overcome in the matter of evangelism are our own fears is amazing how easy it is for us to be bold about certain subjects that we believe and when it comes to spiritual truth until we have to talk to somebody about the Lord and then we just sort of freeze up and were paralyzed with fear weathers the fear of rejection or the fear of failure, whatever the question is how do you get rid of fear is not like fears going to go away and never come back again. But how do you deal with the fears of your own heart and John tells us that there is no fear in love but perfect love actually drives fear out just like light drives out the darkness in a room because they cannot be together like can't dwell with darkness so love can't dwell with fear and love cast out fear God is not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So when we consider the matter of evangelism. We consider the matter of overcoming fear in evangelism. What is the compelling motive behind this is the motive of love. As we look at Mark chapter 12 verses 28 through 31. I'm not gonna really deal with it in the overall context of the passage because I think that this these two commands we have here transcend any passage because it's overall commandments and we read in verse 28.

One of the scribes scribes came in. Having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him which is the first commandment of all. And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is hero Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all of thy soul, with all of my mind with all thy strength and this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater then these and as we consider these two commandments to love God into love men than what we see here is the primary motivation behind all of our evangelistic work in the first we see here is the primary and fundamental motive of all evangelism and that is a genuine love for God that is a love for his person a love for his glory.

A love that people would honor him and live their lives for him. This is the consuming passion for all men to know honor and truly worship God.

I'm reading in my own personal reading time a book by Jonathan Edwards. It's called the end of all the end of all creation. But here's the great thing about it. It's written in language that you can understand if you've ever read Jonathan Edwards. It takes like two hours to read one paragraph and you still understand it when this guy came along and he wrote he rewrote it in a way that we can understand it. So I'm actually I'm leaving it up.

What is the end of all creation. What is the ultimate purpose of all things in this world of all that God is made, it is ultimately for his own glory all of creation is for God's own sake, and therefore Paul viewed his evangelistic work among the Gentiles like a priest in the temple whose offering sacrifices to God.

Romans chapter 15 verse 16. Listen to what it says.

Paul said that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy Ghost and the words he used a very interesting that I should be the minister literally a public servant of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. He saw himself as not only an apostle, but a slave to the Gentiles. And then he says ministering to them the gospel of God, that word ministering there is ministering as a priest and Paul Saul every Gentile as worshiping a false God, and he wanted to turn them from worshiping an idol to worshiping the father and the son to turn them from error to turn them from to truth to turn them from darkness to turn them to the light, and Paul viewed that every Gentile they got saved, he was bringing them to the Lord as a sweet smelling sacrifice as an offering to God and when we look at evangelism. How do we do view it. We should view it as a means by which which God actually is being worship more the first time as I went to India number of years ago, I was overwhelmed with the raw idolatry the likes of which I've never seen before and so I went into a Hindu temple. And there I watched the people blindly follow a piece of stone in the be frankly honest with you. It ticked me off that these people were worshiping a dead idol. I saw multiple worshipers coming from all over India to the state of Kerala to worship which is in southern India work to worship and pay homage to a Hindu deity whose name is Augie upon in his name literally means the God of this world. It is estimated that there 45 to 50 million devotees who come every year to worship audio upon in his temple. And they come in many of them are wearing black clothes. They go almost 40 days without bathing all is a dedication to a God that doesn't exist in reality it does exist as a demon spirit I understand, at least to some degree Paul's passion when he was zealous for God's gospel because he was jealous for God's glory. We should be jealous for God's glory. We should be stirred up in our hearts that people are not giving to God the glory that it that is due and what is the difference between what we see in India and what we see in America when multiple thousands of people live every day without the knowledge of God, where they worship the God of materialism through a covetous heart living with no fault of God was flying a few years ago in a flight out of Indianapolis and I sat next to a man who was a soldier. He was actually getting ready go back to Germany's 43 years old and he's like from the countryside from the sticks of in the of Indiana to be frankly honest with you, you know, you think of somebody in the Midwest out in the countryside. You think they have at least the knowledge of God me brother Fred you're from that part of the neck of the woods.

You don't southern redneck India AMI Indiana skews me and so I started talking to Scott and asked message you know you ever go to church.

He said I've never been to church my life 43 years old from Indiana never been a church in his whole life ever darkened the door of a church and asking us to do you ever think about God and he looked at me. Sincerely he said I never think about God's not dislike God is it even in his mind, not stirred me up because I think about God all day long. And here is a guy living in a world created by God. Amanda was created by God himself who has the manifestation of God at every turn in this world of creation.

And he never thinks about God. What is a primary and fundamental motive of evangelism is that people would come to know the glory of our God and the glory of his son love of God is a motivation for our evangelism but let me also say not only that God should be worship and also love for God includes my personal obedience to him in the matter of evangelizing because evangelism is actually an act of obedience. Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments.

Listen to what Paul said, for though I preach the gospel. I have nothing to glory of I don't have anything to boast about for necessity is laid upon BEA. Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel. Paul viewed it as kids duty whether he wanted to do it or not, whether I feel a compelling desire to share Jesus Christ for whether I feel nothing at all whether I somehow feel that I'm in fear and I'm I'm I don't feel like I can do this. God has commanded us to share the gospel regardless of the way we feel. Paul was not looking for a pat on his back or somebody to brag about his work. He was just simply a slave who was constrained to obey measure question how many of you have ever come to the reality that your evangelism is really not an option that it is an obligation. One thankful that God's command alone, though it should compel us to be a witness, God still knows that we need to have a stirring in our hearts.

God is given to us the Holy Spirit to prompt us to help us to bless us for the work of evangelization. How many of you ever been prompted by the Spirit to witness somebody. How many of you didn't do it. How many of you did do it and when you did do it.

What was the result within your own heart you know to enter it for me personally sharing the gospel is one of the quickest ways to enter into first of all, the reality of God's presence and secondly the experience of genuine joy because I have found whether somebody becomes a Christian or not. I have the joy of being able to share with them the very thing that can get them into heaven just like a doctor has a joy when he can help somebody overcome a disease and there's a satisfaction in his heart that he was able to serve them. So there is a joy in the heart of people that are effectively sharing the gospel. That's why evangelistic people are genuinely joyful people. If I walk into a church on a Sunday morning and it's his dad is 4 o'clock and this is its is called is a frozen day. I think where's the evangelism because evangelism always warms the heart. It always brings a joy genuine gin generally on evangelistic church is a joy Fulcher why because people are excited as a spirit of anticipation I got to go to one of those churches. This past Sunday Niagara Falls New York. We flew to Niagara Falls. The church was Bible Fellowship center. The pastor's name is Cal Calvin Vander may using a Calvin Vander.

May you not think very evangelistic, his brother John Vander may live here in town and works with us up in our office with Carol Kier's dead in our in our communications department onto the what that guy was the most excited guy been around in a long time and he I mean, that guy was so excited. This church was like and he was the song leader and guy has a built in loudspeaker when he speaks and he just got up booming voice and he was leading the singing of the people were just busting it out.

They were so happy. Our people got up to sing I think we had for five specials and you know after each special they were just so happy they just started clapping. You know that is not like they were sitting there thinking this is entertainment. They just excited, then church in there. They're all fired up. There they were there 15 minutes early, all sitting in their place in the atmosphere. The atmosphere had a joy about it.

I got up and preached the message and gave an invitation and a dear lady came down while she was weepy pastor letter to Christ right there. Another man got saved in the service. I mean, it was joyful.

It was the joy of the Lord there. What is the blessing and the benefit for God's people when they obey God.

Joy is always the result of obedience, we consider the motivation behind evangelism. What is the great motivation.

It is this compelling love we have for God, but the notice.

Secondly, the second motivation for evangelism is love for our neighbor Rita Mark 1231 and the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There's none of the commandment greater than these. Jesus confronted a lawyer with his responsibility to love his neighbor and the lawyer retorted by asking who is my neighbor.

From that point Jesus began to tell them the story of the good Samaritan who helped the Jewish man who been mugged on the road to Jericho even left for dead and exposes a religious man, a priest in another religious man, a Levite who passes them on the road but he doesn't help him in his knee. You know, sometimes religious people are not all that helpful in the real world. Then along comes this good Samaritan, a Samaritan, do I have to describe to you the viewpoint of a Samaritan to a Jewish person.

That's the whole point of Jesus's story. He's flipping their whole viewpoints upside down. He did that a lot in this good Samaritan comes along and he responds and he helps and he cares and he meets all the needs to save this man's life. What we have described in that story we have a description of what loving your neighbor is also have a wonderful illustration of a great model for evangelism because you know you serve people you get lots of opportunities to share Christ with them.

By the way, the pastor pastor Vander may just bought a brand-new Chevy truck 2500 Silverado.

The reason he bought it was because it was a cool truck but because he has a snowplowing ministry and he plows 40 driveways in his community. All through the winter for free, and he does it to get the gospel out.

I said how many of those people are coming to your church. Is it actually not as many as you think, he says, but as an opportunity to serve and ask you to show Christ loved the people and be able to share the gospel with them because he is serving in these loving people. Here's what Jesus is saying your neighbor is any fellow human being. You meet who has a need and everybody needs Christ.

Therefore, I should be looking for and responding to the opportunities to present the gospel to those I come into contact with on a daily basis who are in need.

Galatians 60 and as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good all on to all men when we learned about loving people. We learn that love is opportunistic love looks for the opportunity to serve.

Now let's be honest, most of us that's not the way we naturally think I don't think we go through our day looking for the opportunities to be able to serve, especially people without the gospel but God puts people along our way.

Who all have needs and God gives you multiple opportunities to witness. If you take them. I got convicted at the end of last year, you know, I traveled in evangelism and so it was kind of you know, just was my life.

That's the way I lived in that come to Bob Jones and I'm living on campus about Jones in on I'm here.

I mean, I don't really go off campus. A whole lot except to you know go to church or to leave or you know to go somewhere else and so I got really convicted that I wanted to share the gospel with people and I just pray Lord I pray for open doors. This was like at the end of the last of last school year and and so probably about the third week of June I was preaching up at the wilds here North Carolina in finished on Friday night decided to come back home and spend the night Friday night I was coming down the mountains.

If you ever driven up there before and you know that wind the road. I was about halfway down it was raining.

It was probably about 1030 at night 1015 at night and I'm coming around a curve going down the hill and I see two people standing on the side of the road. They have this little you know headlights on the four head and they were they were in running close jogging clothes and I see them standing there and then suddenly it was a man and a woman and suddenly the woman steps out in the middle-of-the-road.

She waves her hand like and so I slowed down and I rolled the window down and I looked at the woman I said, ma'am, can I help you, and she said and she is a little salty language so I won't say what she said but she says basically we have a problem I say will what's your problem.

She said well we we we are ultra runners never heard of it in my life. Apparently an ultra runner runner is somebody who starts running and they run to three and four days nonstop and the only time they sleep is a stop on the side of the road and lay down to sleep for an hour and or two and they get up and they start running okay what the woman was from from Columbia, South Carolina man was from Atlanta Georgia. He was a lawyer and they had parked their vehicle at Oconee County State Park and they been running since Thursday morning and this is Friday night and they been running all the back roads in the trails along the South Carolina North Carolina border.

What happened was that day. We had torrential downpour as we had hail and then they they got attacked by Yellowjackets so they were ready to stop running and I said why don't you get in the car and I said I'll help you.

She says we you can take me down to the road I'll try to get arising on a Nazi get in the car. I said I'll help you do whatever you need is the Lago drug Oconee County State Department is a long ways away so were going downhill and I start talking to her. I said I said so your cars and Oconee County State Park. She said well actually we have a car there.

We have a card table rock so we put it at the beginning and the end they were headed to table rock State Park as we go right by there as it will be perfect. I'll just take you to your car while I got a captive audience. The guy sitting in the backseat. He did have assured only only had a pair shorts out and I mean that guy was a chiseled piece of muscle.

I guess he was about 45, 46 years old.

Come to find out that in the month of May.

He ran a race in I believe it was hungry and he broke the world record as an ultra runner for running 606 miles in six days what people get into it.

I guess you know so I'm talking to this this this these two people I don't know if there are couple or not. I did that duty and I asked Tressa where you from, she said Ron from Columbia so I grew up in Columbia. Of course, that was the entrance way into beginning to share the gospel.

I told her where I went to college.

I told her how God changed my life and God save me and then I told her that I'm now in Greenville, South Carolina, and on the president of Bob Jones University. You know it in and for her. This is like blowing your mind and for me is, blowing my mind. But we came together well. They weren't really overly interested, at least in their communication of their spirit of the gospel, but you know they didn't have a choice are sitting there and I'm sharing Jesus with and so I take him to the place and they thank me. And so the next day the lady writes me an email and she's thanks me for you know picking the issue.

You know, I'm the angel in the night.

You know that kind of thing. But here's what's interesting is the very next day I got a letter from a pastor in Asheville, North Carolina, and he told me that he was a runner and he said I received an email from this girl that that wrote me that we picked up. He said she wrote me and told me the whole story.

He said I want you know that I've actually been sharing the gospel with her and of course I wrote back in and thanked him for the email to the point of the matter was that I'm just a part of God's plan and that person's life God's providence brought us across pathway. All of us here who believe in the sovereignty of God. Know this Is Way, God works in you get to be a part of that. What is evangelism evangelism is taking the opportunities that come our way. Are you taking gospel opportunities to be frankly honest with you if you're not doing that you're really not getting ministry. We all know, I mean we all understand that were here to study were here to learn and thank God for that.

But I'll set your see I lived here two years worked in the local church here in the area was involved in evangelism here when the church Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night will visitation Thursday night youth activities on Saturday night all a part of our ministry preparation on Saturday mornings when out and knocked on doors and invited teenagers to activities so they could hear the gospel love is opportunistic. Are you opportunistic love is not only opportunistic but it is creative, it is enterprising. It is proactive is looking at all the possibilities is looking at all the options. I'm amazed at what height young men go to pull off an incredible unsuspecting engagement. You will do incredibly creative things to show your love and if we can be that creative in an engagement.

How much more creative.

Can we be in evangelism if sometimes we think it's there's only one lady evangelizing a do it this way will God gave you a brain so that you can be creative so you can think of all kinds of avenues and options to get the gospel to people why we do this is because we love people, because love is caring, personal evangelism should never be perceived as impersonal.

Our heart should be broken. Our heart should be full of love.

True evangelism loves people. It cares for people it serves people.

It treats people as human beings.

It's respectful it's courteous it's not roughshod over people. We don't speak down to people.

We are their friends.

We are their servants, we are concerned about their lives. We seek to build bridges by building relationships with people we show interest in their interests with some people you can do this in a minute with other people. It'll take you a lifetime so that you can be able to share the gospel with all for the purpose of showing them God's love and showing them love that they need in their life, so I hope that our hearts will be stirred and that we will be committed to evangelism. I want to put your feet to the fire.

If you are not seeking opportunities to share Jesus Christ.

If you're not convicted about it if you're not stirred up about it. We got a problem. Folks, because if we love God and we love people that what we do, we will share the gospel with them. You been listening to a message preached at Bob Jones University by Dr. Steve Pettit and this was part of the seminary chapel series. Loving God.

Join us again next week as we continue this series on The Daily Platform