How badly have we failed the Great Commission?

[soundingthealarm]

Even on our very best day ...we all are as filthy rags. The Apostle Paul said he had not arrived and YET in John 17 Our Lord, The Good Shepherd said He would NOT lose one who are His.

It starts with the person in the mirror BELIEVEING upon Jesus as the Son of God and then as we live our lives we all desire for those placed in front of us as family/friends/neighbors/coworkers etc to come to saving faith.

I think what Ken is pointing out the waste of time and resources of building physical structures and devoting so much time and devotion to the Titanic instead of making sure people are getting into the only Life Boat given us. But most of what he's calling the church is really more of the modern day golden calf calling itself a church.

 

[KenE@21B]

Never mind.... you misinterpreted my meaning.

 

[Purchased With Blood]

Never mind.... you misinterpreted my meaning.

Let me just conclude my thoughts. Yes, many churches have mismanaged their funds, especially today. However, the most important factor by far in completing the Great Commission is that people know the correct way to get saved. It is not through obediently keeping any instructions, which is a form of law keeping. The original post was as an article and I am analyzing it as such. Someone not saved can come on this forum and read that we need to obediently complete the Lord's instructions to spend eternity with Him, and then guess what, they decide that Christianity is not for them.

 

[HeIsEnoughII]

As followers of Jesus Christ we literally have one job: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age"

The result (reward) for believers obediently carrying out the instructions of our Saviour is eternity with Him: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
However, in the nearly five decades that I have been born again, all I have seen is church congregations building bigger and grander edifices, at enormous monetary cost.

These are then run as businesses, requiring treasurers, finance and maintenance committees, project managers, etc, with huge salaries being paid to the pastor (often this is split between him and his wife to reduce taxation).

I do not see anywhere in Scripture where Believers are instructed to do this - in fact I have actually had some of my best church meetings in rented school halls.

In the small town where I grew up and worked in South Africa, I lived in one house for 25 years. In a 10km radius around this house there are at least 30 churches of various denominations.

Sadly, in those 25 years, I only ever had ONE church come knocking at my door to share their 'Gospel Message' - and that was when 2 young men from the Jehova's Witness church came around to clock up their 'works-based' quota of visitations.

In the next city that I moved to, there are currently over 200 churches, many of them built on prime property. A very conservative estimate of the combined value of these churches would be enough to send half a million missionaries out into the world for three years to spread the Good News of the Kingdom.

Many huge, historical churches around the world have already fallen into disuse, some being used for rave parties and other worldly events.

So - to get to the point - if church leaders REALLY believed the Word of God, they would understand that the greatest priority of the Body of Christ should be to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

All that is needed to accomplish this is enough people and money - but to date, money has always been the one constraint that has prevented enough people from getting the job done!

Besides, after the Great Tribulation, one would expect that most of these grand edifices will lie in ruins anyway....

When I visited eastern Europe the churches were already functioning museums. That was last century.

Your premise though, it seems odd..I don't think money is a barrier for God. If you want to you can conclude that the money spent on luxury is better served elsewhere, I would certainly agree. It is certainly a shameful thing to waste the resources God gives us.

I actually consider the opposite. There is coming a time when no man can work, and that doesn't appear in a vacuum. It likely will take some time to see that fully.

This world is increasingly hostile to Christ. It's not about if anyone is brave enough to preach somewhere it's about the overall chilling effect, the unstated rules, the silencing of the sheep if you will. The church no longer has any functional role in most Americans daily life.

As we get closer to the end of the age it's only going to get worse, in my opinion. We see it every day, crazy things happening and no one can stop it. People try to say something and are swamped by the evil malaise.

We are all humans, we see what is going on and can't stop anything.

I've wondered before how such a seemingly strong group of believers, the US, can be so easily defeated and swayed, to see how the Revelation could play out. Well, I think I'm seeing it start to play out before my eyes.

 

[Wally]

Its been often said: You gotta wanna.

If you have no desire to be saved, if you feel you are good enough, if you have hardened your heart so much that the convicting words of the Spirit fall on deaf ears,

It will be much like when Jesus walked the earth.
People SAW the dead raised, SAW the lame and infirm healed, SAW Christ personally... and still chose unbelief.

Even if the workers are many, a field of tares will yield only tares.

So continue to glean and do the work commanded: To Believe in Jesus and give an answer for your faith.
The harvest may not be much, but the joy in heaven over one more soul brought into the family is priceless.

And the encouragement of fellow brothers and sisters during the last days is a sweet aroma to God.