LOVE

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LOVE

• The Heart of Evangelism

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Introduction

• 1 Corinthians 13
• So now faith, hope and love abide, these three
  but the greatest of these is love.
• Matthew 2234-37
• You shall love the Lord your God with all your
  heart and with all your soul and with all your
  mind. This is the great and first commandment.
  And a second is like it You shall love your
  neighbor as yourself
• If you are serious about being a Christian, love
  must be the driving force behind your
  discipleship!
• Love for God and love for your fellow man!

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Dan

• Why have you chosen to spend your life preaching
  and teaching Christ? LOVE!
• Why do you avoid the immoral temptations of being
  a man and remain faithful to your wife? LOVE!
• Why do you feel the need to tell people that you
  think they are wrong? LOVE!
• Why do you go door to door ministering to the
  poor and sick every week? LOVE!

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Dan

• In every facet of my personal journey of faith, I
  have made it my aim to be driven by my love for
  God, love for Gods family and love for the lost.
• I hope tonight I can share some of that passion
  with you and allow the words of God to inspire a
  renewed spirit of evangelism in your personal
  life.
• Romans 138
• Owe no one anything, except to love each other,
  for the one who loves another has fulfilled the
  law.

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Squandered Blessings

• Romans 91-5
• God richly blessed the Jews.
• They were adopted as Gods children.
• A special covenant was made.
• A law to guide them was enjoined.
• A temple to signify Gods presence.
• Every promise made was a promise kept.
• From their patriarchal fathers Christ ancestry
  was traced.

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Squandered Blessings

• God chose to enter the human race through their
  Jewish seed.
• So how do the Jews respond to these blessings?
• They squandered it all as they refused to accept
  Jesus Christ.
• In spite of all these blessings from God, they
  were lost.
• for unless you believe that I am he you will
  die in your sins. - John 824

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Squandered Blessings

• It is mind-boggling to try and understand how one
  could squander such blessings.
• But it really was nothing new!
• Think back! - Freedom from slavery crossing of
  the parted Red Sea.
• And then an almost instant rebellion as they
  worshipped a golden calf as Moses ascended Mt.
  Sinai.
• How could they do such a thing?
• Exodus 3230-32

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Atoning Love for the Lost

• Brethren, I want you to see something more
  shocking than squandered blessings from a
  rebellious nation.
• I want you to see the willingness of both Moses
  and Paul to lay down their lives for those they
  were leading and teaching.
• Moses blot me out of the book
• Paul I could wish that I myself were accursed
  and cut off from Christ for the sake of my
  brothers, my kinsmen

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Atoning Love for the Lost

• The great people of the past shared Gods concern
  for the lost
• Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law
  is not obeyed. (Psalm 119136)
• The sure sign of a serious Christian is his or
  her concern for the lost.
• In the first 8 chapters of Romans, Paul is
  rejoicing over salvation in Christ.
• In chapter nine, Paul looks at the Jews who were
  lost and wept.

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Atoning Love for the Lost

• Moses, Paul, the Psalmist
• Here are men who love souls!
• Here are men who long to see souls saved!
• Here are men who want more than anything else to
  see others won for Christ!
• It is this compassion for those who are perishing
  that serves as evidence that we have the heart of
  God.
• Sometimes we need to be reminded of just how much
  God loves all of those for whom Christ died.

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Compassion Cultivates Hearts

• The depth of Pauls concern for the lost is
  revealed in his willingness to give up his
  eternal salvation for the people.
• Why did he care like that?
• He cared that much because he was inhabited by
  One who cared that much.
• Christ is the source of this kind of love.
• Sharing Christs concern for the lost is more
  than a five-step plan for salvation.

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Compassion Cultivates Hearts

• Matthew 935-38
• The world has been harassed and left helpless by
  churches as churches fail to lead it to Christ.
• We become more interested in building up churches
  than building up people.
• People are left helpless as we measure everything
  by numbers counting heads and counting
  contribution.
• We overlook the deepest needs of a persons
  heart.

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Compassion Cultivates Hearts

• Jesus looked out at the crowds and saw people
  He saw the deepest needs of humanity He saw
  fields ripe for harvest.
• Matthew 1414
• Matthew 1532
• Matthew 2030-34
• Jesus performed many of his miracles of healing
  for individuals long before he told them who he
  was or how to be saved.
• Jesus cultivated hearts with compassion.

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Compassion for Evangelism Begins at Home

• One of the basic tenants of Jesus teaching is
  that we should love one another.
• Love is what makes Christianity an appealing way
  of life.
• Unfortunately, this has not always been the case.
• All too often, people have used even Christianity
  as an excuse to treat one another harshly.

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Compassion for Evangelism Begins at Home

• This does not mean that we accept as true
  everything that someone may do or teach or
  believe as right.
• But it does mean that we love the people that we
  believe may be doing wrong things or teaching
  heresy.
• When Jesus told us to love people, He did not
  limit it to people like us, or just people we
  agree with.

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Compassion for Evangelism Begins at Home

• All of us want to be loved unconditionally for
  who we are.
• Even when we are wrong or our behavior is out of
  line, we want to people to love us as a fellow
  human being.
• We know deep down this is the only kind of love
  that will motivate us to change.
• Sharing Christs concern for the lost begins at
  home.

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Compassion for Evangelism Begins at Home

• Do you know what you have to do before a local
  church can grow?
• You have to teach church members to love one
  another!
• Pauls love for the lost began at home.
• It began with his Jewish brothers.
• That is where it needs to begin with us.
• It begins with loving our fellow Christians.

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Compassion for Evangelism Begins at Home

• Ephesians 432 be kind and compassionate to
  one another
• John 1334-35
• A new commandment I give to you, that you love
  one another just as I have loved you, you also
  are to love one another. By this all people will
  know you are my disciples, if you have love for
  one another.
• Could you say to the brother or sister sitting
  beside you the same words that Paul said about
  his Jewish brothers?!

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Conclusion

• The world is in crying need of Christians who
  have a burden for souls.
• Yet many of Christs followers are complacent
  about the fate of the lost and the need of
  pointing them to the Savior.
• As David Ausburger wrote in Witness Is
  Withness, we must have a passion born of
  compassion.
• 1 Corinthians 13