The Indictment and the Initiative

This past week I was able to share with our church the basic framework for our ministries. Using the terms “Sow Know Grow Go” we were able to see what fulfilling the Great Commission in our context looks like as First Baptist Church of Fairburn, GA. Over the next several Wednesday nights we will unpack these ideas in greater detail, so I would like to invite you to join us at 6:30 each week.

But, this starts with the word “Sow.” Sowing is the testimony of the Gospel that each of us has to share because of the work of Christ in our lives. It seems to be a marvelous concept that mostly remains in the concept phase of our walk with Christ. On Monday I had an indicting conversation with a woman at the gas station. She was a Jehovah’s Witness and began the conversation with me in hopes to win me to her *false* religion. As we talked for nearly 30 minutes, it became clear to her that I was pressing her for the Gospel of Christ Jesus and she had a hang up.

Are you ready for the indictment? Her words were “I do not see Christians, people in the Church, doing what Jesus told them to do. I see them arguing over politics and on social media rather than telling people about the Good News of God’s Kingdom like Jesus said to do.” I had to confess to her that she was not wrong and that I did not disagree with her on that point. So, let me check her indictment with you…is she wrong? How often do we as Christians proclaim the Good News of God’s Kingdom with the hope and tenacity to which we discuss our sports teams, grocery store sales, political views, or even our kids?

Well, fortunately the indictment is not true for us all! On Tuesday I was able to move within the context of our church to an initiative that debunked the indictment, at least for the men involved. I was invited to lunch by some of the older men in our church. It is a monthly thing from their Sunday school class to go to a local dig, fellowship, and buy the lunch of 2 or 3 random patrons. When the unsuspecting person requests their check in order to pay, the server presents them with a card that these men designed with information about our church, an invitation to the church, and a statement that their lunch had been taken care of already. One step further, these men personally engaged other men in the restaurant with the Gospel as well as the server. Why? Because they sought as a class to do something within their means for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

In Exodus 3 and 4, Moses encounters God at the burning bush. You may know the story well, but if not, read it real quick…I will wait. Okay, so, God calls Moses to be His means of deliverance for the people of Israel from the land of Egypt. It’s a bigger task than Moses is ready to accept, afterall, he was only trying to find a lost sheep (another story about how God seeks us, the lost sheep…will get that one another day). That’s where Exodus 4:2 really catches all of us. God asks Moses “What is in your hand?” Not that God didn’t know for He knows everything, but He wanted to Moses to see something great about our God. Moses had a stick. That day it became a serpent as a sign, another day it turned the Nile to blood, on another it parted the Red Sea, and on another it hit a rock and made water come out.

See, our God calls us to obedience and has already put something in our hand that He will use. To someone else, Moses just had a stick. To Almighty God, Moses had a tool that He could use in ways beyond belief. To someone else, 5 men sat at a restaurant eating and “doing something nice”. To Almighty God, 5 men sowed the Words of life into at least 8 lives. That is something only God can control. Now, the question comes to you. What is in your hand? What do you have or what can you do that God can magnify for His purpose by His glory that His name be honored? Will you fall under the Indictment that Christians aren’t proclaiming the Gospel or will you, by the means God has supplied, take the Initiative to use what you have for him?

I believe that God will be honored as you seek to Sow the Word. By the way, when you point someone to Jesus, the only hope for salvation, you won’t go wrong! Find someone and some way this week to Sow. I cannot wait to hear how He uses you to reach others.

See you Sunday for worship. I love you all.