Fishers of Folks

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"Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men" (Mt 4:19)


We are saved to save others. We are Christians to make others Christians. We are born again to win others for the Kingdom. We are God's children to bring others into God's family. We are disciples of Christ to enroll others as His disciples. We are in the Church to church the unchurched. We are sanctified to show others the way of holiness. We are going to Heaven and we cannot meet our Lord empty-handed!

One sometimes wonders why there is no joy in our Churches. People are long-faced and there is no excitement or enthusiasm or exuberance. The answer is simple. There is no soulwinning. When the shepherd found his lost sheep he called his friends and neighbours and said, "Rejoice with me!" So said the woman who found her lost coin and the father who found his lost son (Lk 15:1-31). Soulwinning excites Heaven with great joy! (vv 7,10). One who does not win souls is out of tune with Heaven. Dancing is not Pentecostal. It belongs to all soulwinners! (v 25). Von Zinzendorf (1700-1760), the Founder of the Moravian Church, said, "Our joy until we die is to win men for the Lord!"

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a ticket to enter the Kingdom of God but an ordination for soulwinning. The last recorded words of Christ before Ascension said exactly that (Acts 1:8). When Christ Himself was anointed with the Holy Spirit He went out soulwinning (Acts 10:38). The early Church filled the cities with the Gospel and turned the world upside down when they were baptized with the Spirit. The entire Church was a band of (p)reachers! (Acts 8:14). Paul's Epistles to Timothy are called pastoral epistles but he admonished Timothy to "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim 4:5).

The devil will oppose evangelism tooth and nail because it plunders hell and populates Heaven. Throughout history he has been changing his tactics to sidetrack the Church from reaching the unreached. The Perfection doctrine has paralysed many sincere Christians. As we keep on serving God, He will keep on cleansing us. We are sanctified to serve! Moses was cleansed and commissioned! (Ex 3:5,10). So was David (Psa 51:12,13), Isaiah (Isa 6:5-9), Jeremiah (Jer 1:4,5) and scores of others. We are sanctified for the Master's "use" and "every good work" (2 Tim 2:21). Don't become a doll in the showcase, dusted everyday!

Evangelising the evangelised, Reaching the reached,
Blessing the blessed, Converting the converted,
Baptizing the baptized, Comforting the comforted,
But neglecting the neglected — this is sin! (R. Stanley)

Courtesy : http://www.stanleyonbible.com/dd/daily_devotions.php

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