Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28, and I'll be reading verses 18 through 20. And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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 I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, as we Once again, approach the study of your word. We commit this time to you asking that you would open up our eyes, that we might behold wondrous things from your law. We confess we need your spirit to give us spiritual understanding, conviction, joy in the word, and to enable us to apply what we hear to our lives. We are dependent upon you, oh God, to take your word and to change us and transform us by it. Oh, please use your word. We don't just want to be the same people before we heard the word. We want to grow. We want to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. We want your word to help us go from strength to strength. So Lord, please hear our prayer. Use your word to cause us to mature in Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. The title of the message is The Urgency for Evangelism. Taking a break from our study in the Gospel of John, I've had some conversation with our brother G, our church evangelist, and I was excited to remind us about the importance of evangelism as a local church and as individuals, especially since we've been engaged in quite a bit of it in the Sassoon area, Fairfield, and Solano County, as well as down here in the Pleasanton area in our door-to-door ministry. And many of you are faithful in sharing the gospel and some even need to be encouraged and to be taught the principles of personal evangelism. But one of the aspects I want to bring out in the area of evangelism is the urgency for it, because we all tend to grow. Quiet or timid or indifferent to the importance of sharing the word, both in in word and in lifestyle with the lost. The day after I got saved in 1976, I was encouraged by those who discipled me right away to start sharing the gospel. And being freshly filled with the Holy Spirit, my eyes were opened and the door was opened for me to begin to proclaim the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. It was that first year of my conversion that God planted a burden and a desire to share the gospel with the lost. And it's never left me by his grace since then. And I thank God for it. Also being involved in foreign missions, it's expanded my opportunity to share the gospel as well to others around the world. And these experiences of sharing the gospel have changed my life. It's been a growing experience for me to be able to relate to strangers, to people that I wouldn't ordinarily talk with and have conversations with. And so I grew quite a bit and was deeply humbled by the opportunity to represent God and his truth in the world. In commenting on the call to evangelism and missions from Isaiah 6, 8, Charles Spurgeon said, quote, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said, here am I, send me. Brethren, the heathen are perishing. and there is but one way of salvation for them, for there is but one name given under heaven among men, whereby they must be saved. God, in the glorious unity of his divine nature, is calling for messengers who shall proclaim the word of life. Out of the thick darkness, my ears can hear that mysterious and divine sound, whom shall I send? If you will but listen with your ear of faith, you may hear it today. Whom shall I send? While the world lies under the curse of sin, the living God, who wills not that any should perish, but they should all come to repentance, is seeking heralds to proclaim his mercy. He is asking, even in pleading terms, for some who will go forth to the dying millions and tell the wondrous story of his love, not only in mission work, but also in personal evangelism. He says, whom shall I send, unquote. So God is calling all of us to share the gospel, and it is an amazing privilege to do so. If you look at the passage we read, this is known as the Great Commission. It is given to every believer to go and to make disciples of the nations and to baptize them and to disciple them and to command them what Christ has commanded. This is one of our primary roles in the Christian life. We must devote time to it. We must be dedicated to it. And we cannot fill up our schedules and our lives with so much of the world's activities, however legitimate they may be. so that we have no time left to evangelize. The motivation has been given to us to reach out with the gospel in so many different ways, through the spirit, through the death of Christ on the cross, saving us from our sins, and on and on. There's great inspiration provided for us to be renewed in zeal with the gospel, reaching out to the lost. But let's look in the first place at the commission the commission. This requires us to dig a little deeper in the theology of evangelism and missions. It's a deep-rooted, expansive doctrine in the Bible where God continually calls his people to go out and represent the truth and share the truth that will lead to the salvation of souls. No one understands or has this truth except those whom God has commissioned to go out and share it with the lost. We dare not hide it. We dare not become silent about it. We have the secret of eternal life. It is given to us as caretakers and keepers and stewards, and we must continually share the good news of salvation. For example, in the Old Testament, We read in Psalm 71.15, my mouth shall tell of your righteousness and your salvation all the day. I do not know their limits. The psalmist expresses that his mouth, or he is constantly speaking about the righteousness of God, explaining what the righteousness of God is and how the lost need it. He's constantly telling of God's salvation all the day. It's on his heart, it's on his mind, it's on his lips. In Psalm 96, he says, proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among the people. And so from day to day in these two Psalms, we're told to proclaim the good news of his salvation. This is a theology based way back in the Old Testament and is expanded in the New Testament. For example, the text we read, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. This does not suggest we sit or we stand or we lay down. It says go. We've got to be moving forward. We've got to reach out. We've got to identify people who would be open to hearing the gospel. We cannot sit on our hands. At Mark 16, he says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Everywhere we go, we're to be proclaiming the gospel. Luke 24, 47. Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations. We ought to be bringing the message of the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ and repentance of sin everywhere in the world, everywhere we go. Acts 1.8, He commands you and me. You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." In such a pervasive way. The command to go and share the gospel is established throughout the entirety of Scripture. Continuing in Acts 8.4, therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. At the persecution in Jerusalem, we learn, when the saints were scattered, they did not hide their light, but they went forth preaching the word, even when they were persecuted. John 15, 16, Jesus says to you and to me, I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. The fruit that we are to bear are the results of our evangelism outreach with the gospel to the lost. Have you born the fruit of seeing souls saved? Have you planted seeds and watered seeds in their lives? What and where is the fruit of your personal evangelistic efforts? This is very important. This is not an option. This is not a choice. We must, as Matthew 24, 14 suggests, the gospel of this kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to the nations, and then the end shall come. How does God? have the gospel preached. He does it through his people. And this is a specific reference to the end times, to the last days, just before the end comes. The gospel of the kingdom through God's people will be preached throughout all the world as a witness to the nations. and we must participate in this great opportunity of personal evangelism as a local church and as individuals. We don't set aside a group or a committee to go door-to-door in our doorknob bag ministry where we have tracts and church brochures sharing the gospel and inviting people to church. It's not for a select few in a certain group. It's for all of us. That is evangelism. Yes, we have this church ministry where we go door to door and it's wonderful. And I think the brethren are doing a great job and it's very encouraging to me and it's a good example. to the church, but never think that you're giving your gifts to the church and for these specific people only. All of us are to reach out with the gospel in many different ways. We read in Mark 13, and the gospel must first be preached to all the nations with regard to the second coming. 1 Peter 2.9, but you are his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We are to proclaim the praises of God. That's a synonym for the gospel. That's another way of saying we're to teach all people about God, his nature, who he is, leading up to the gospel. When we talk about the commission, God sending us forth, there's this underlying theology of sending. God comes to people, and in many ways, he sends them to do different things. The doctrine of evangelism is based on the principle that God is a sending God. That is, he sends representatives to speak on his behalf. Not only prophets, pastors, teachers, those who are called to certain positions and offices in the Old and New Testament, but he sends his people as his representatives, representing his interests and accomplishing his will and representing his gospel. This is how God accomplishes many of his purposes. And it's a privilege for God to use us, unworthy as we are, weak as we are, needy as we are. He uses us to share the good news of the gospel. And he has designed it this way. He has planned it this way. One only needs to remember the parable of the talents, those whom God has sent, those whom God has given talents and skills and opportunities who have not obeyed, not followed up, not responded to God positively, but buried their talents and left them alone and unused. The father sent his son into the world to redeem his people from their sins, and the son sends the Holy Spirit as the counselor and teacher and guide to help the church accomplish its purpose of evangelism. And in sending his church, believers spread the good news of salvation to all cultures and languages, to every place in the world as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. Our first responsibility is to go to our own Jerusalem, which is our own backyard, our own community. our own jobs, our own workplaces, in the marketplace, wherever we meet people, whether they're friends or strangers or neighbors, we are to share the gospel with them. God has provided the power of God and the Holy Spirit to help us overcome every hesitation and every hindrance, all fear, all awkwardness, all limitation, nervousness. He's given us grace to overcome all that. And we read then in 2 Corinthians 5.20, Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. Every one of us, every one of you is an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. You represent his gospel, you represent his son. It's an extremely high and holy privilege that ought not to be seen in a lower way or in a diminished way. It is an awesome privilege to take the only message that will lead to the salvation of souls and share it with compassion to the lost. The word send or sent appears over 200 times in various forms, mainly of them many of them referred to the Great Commission. And so this idea of sending means there is a sender and a messenger who is being sent to deliver a specific message. The Great Commission teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ is the sender, the person sent is the believer, and the message he delivers is the gospel. The sender's authority gives the believer the authority to represent God and deliver God's message, not his own authority, but the authority of Christ. So there's a clear commission. There's a clear call for us to go. He sends us. It's a call for all believers to evangelize personally, regardless of how you think you're not qualified or how little knowledge you have. or how down you are on yourself and your ability, God gives us grace to overcome because those whom he calls to a certain task, he provides the ability and the skill and the opportunity to fulfill that calling. You may not be called to the foreign mission field, but all Christians are called to share the gospel themselves and support the local church in spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. Not just support the local church. but also engage in personal evangelism themselves, individually, no matter who you are. If you're a Christian, you have a commission, you are commissioned. It's a job, it's a responsibility, it's a privilege to share the gospel. When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone? When was that? A week ago, a year ago, a decade ago? What are you doing? Are you not motivated enough? Do you not have enough opportunities? Do you not have enough knowledge and biblical education to share the gospel? If there's repentance needed for carnal timidity or fear, God cleanses and forgives and restores. But reverse that trend and start sharing the gospel. Pray daily for opportunities. That's the commission. He commands us to go. He sends us. The moment you were saved, you were sent. You were sent to the lost. Number two, let's look at the need, the need on your outline. Number two, the work of evangelism is enormous. It requires much participation, a lot of thought, It's not some random act that you pick up and lay down haphazardly. It requires an investment of time and training and prayer to be bearing fruit in an increased way, some 30-fold, some 60-fold, and some 100-fold. The more time you invest in being discipled and trained in evangelism, the more skillful you are in learning how to be an evangelist yourself not the office of evangelist like our brother G, but learning how to evangelize, you become more efficient at it. And God says, if you do so, you will bear fruit, more fruit and much fruit. Your level of fruit will increase. And much of that is used to pour out rewards on judgment day when we stand before God. The work of evangelism is a huge commitment that you don't pick up and lay down indifferently or haphazardly. You must invest much prayer in it. If you lack in any aspect of reaching out with the gospel, pray about it. That's what I did. When I was a new Christian that first few months and everything was awkward and I asked my disciple guys who were training me, When I didn't know how to do something, I asked them what to do, and they told me, and I prayed about it until the Lord began to implement those skills and those abilities in my life. Pray about it, wherever you lack. If you lack courage, if you lack boldness, if you lack a smooth transition with people, the Holy Spirit provides all this. He provides calmness. and he provides peace in this great commission. There aren't enough Christians sharing the gospel. There's a great need. We cannot have 5% or 10% of the members of the church as the only one sharing the gospel. Every Christian is called to it, everyone. And so when we talk about the need, We talk about first, we need compassion for unsaved people in their need of salvation. That's the beginning of what drives us to reach out. A lot of people, a lot of believers lack opportunities or don't obey the command to evangelize because their compassion for the lost is at a low ebb. We read about Jesus in Matthew chapter nine. Turn with me to Matthew chapter nine. Verse 36, Matthew 9, 36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered like sheep, having no shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. And so as Jesus observed the crowds, his heart was moved with compassion for them. The verb to have compassion in the Greek suggests strong emotion and to feel deep sympathy. When we lack those things, when we're cold, when we're looking at people superficially, the Holy Spirit opens our hearts and moves us with compassion. As we observe a dimension of the lost, that causes pity and compassion and grief for them. The Holy Spirit opens up our hearts and minds to see a side of the lost that imperils them. He reminds us, as only he can, that they're lost. He moves us to tears. He moves our hearts to groan and grieve for them. And that helps us many, many times, that transition into seeing them with the eyes of Christ, with the compassion of Christ, that motivates us, that helps us to share the gospel. It enables us to take the initiative to broach the gospel with them. We need the Holy Spirit's help. But to see that need requires the Holy Spirit to open our affections and minds to the lost in a way that our hearts go out to them in love. Jesus responded similarly when he observed the rich young ruler in his need. Turn to Mark 10, Mark 10, verses 21 and 22. Mark 10, 21 and 22. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, one thing you lack, go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come, take up the cross and follow me. But he was sad at this word and went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Jesus saw this young man in his sin of covetousness and greed And he was moved with compassion for him. It says that he loved him. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him. This young man, with his greed, thought he had kept the commandments. He said, all these have I kept from my youth up. Jesus knew that he didn't. The sin of covetousness controlled him. Everything about him was antithetical and opposite the kingdom and loving God and knowing God. But Jesus still found a way to love him. And in a similar way, that's how we are in the world. One of the reasons why we have the Holy Spirit is to be able to love our enemies, to love unsaved people when there's nothing lovable about them. There's no redeeming quality about their lives. But the Holy Spirit opens our minds and hearts to love the unlovable. This is what we need. We need compassion. And this is part of the need of the Great Commission. Our Lord's compassion moved him to share the gospel with this young man. Notice the order. First, Jesus had compassion. Second, he shared the gospel. And so compassion for the lost should be the driving force in sharing the gospel with the lost. We also need more than that. Sharing the gospel then means we need the love of God. The love of God in us being renewed daily removes all fear of man and fear of rejection. We read in 2 Timothy 1.7, any fear in our hearts, any fear of rejection or the fear of man. But also, compassion and love are the biggest motivators. Our affections determine our priorities. Our affections, our love, determines our priorities. You know how you are when you love someone. You want to do anything for them. You make it a priority to demonstrate that love to them. and tell them you love them. The same is true with sharing the gospel. When our hearts are renewed in love for the lost, we see it as a priority to want to reach out with them. We have a burden. We'll talk about that in a minute. And so what you love most determines where you spend your time and how much you sacrifice yourself. True love must be expressed. And when the love of God moves us, we must, we feel we must share the gospel with the lost. 2 Corinthians 5, turn to 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15. For the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Couple things here of note. First, the Lord tells us that it's the love of Christ which compels us or drives us. And when the Holy Spirit renews the love of God in your heart, very often he gives you that extra boldness to reach out with the gospel and help you overcome fear and hesitation. And so make sure that you're renewed in Christ's love every day. and you will have the edge, you will have the advantage in overcoming all hindrances and obstacles that hold you back from sharing the gospel when you know you need to be sharing the gospel to a certain person. How many times have we repented when God opened the door to share and we had a prime opportunity and we did not share it? Do you find yourself asking forgiveness of the Lord? And the underlying motive number two here is that Jesus died for all his children, for all his people. Why? That we should no longer live for ourselves. That those who live should no longer live for themselves. And he tells us when you became a Christian, you and I no longer live for ourselves. We live for Christ. And one of the most important priorities in the top three for Christians is to live for Christ in terms of sharing the gospel with the lost. He promises he will give you everything needful to overcome the hesitation, the awkwardness, the fear, the restlessness in sharing with the lost. The Holy Spirit will Bring to your heart and mind all those things to make evangelism as smooth and as comfortable as possible. It's happened to me a thousand times. Whenever I was concerned that I would be awkward or I'm forcing the issue, I would pray and pray and pray. And sooner or later, the Lord would make it very smooth and very easy. With the love of Christ and the boldness of the Lord on my heart, It was 10 times easier to share the gospel. But whether or not we have that ease in sharing the gospel, we're still to share it. Because we no longer live for ourselves, but we live for Him who died for them and rose again. You are not yourself for yourself. You were bought with a price. We're to live for Him. We don't live for our families supremely. We don't live for our jobs supremely. We live for Him. And so evangelism must move up on the priority list in our lives. But we're also taught that we must pray that God will raise dedicated, equipped, and compassionate laborers. Part of the great need, we're talking about the need for personal evangelism is for God to raise up dedicated evangelists, dedicated believers. That means you are dedicated and committed to sharing the gospel day after day after day. The Spirit convicts us in our hearts and we become committed to sharing the gospel. We make it a priority. We pray about it every day. We don't want even one day to go by without sharing the gospel in one way or another, either by our example, by our lifestyle, or by sharing it verbally with others. But we must be dedicated. We can't just bounce around from day to day and think that opportunities and grace and strength will abound to share the gospel. We must be dedicated to sharing the gospel as a ministry, as a believer. We must be equipped. If you hesitate to share because you're not trained or discipled or equipped in it, then you need to ask. Ask your pastors. Pastor, I want to learn to be a better witness. How can I do that? Pray about it. Get some good Christian books, like the book we have in our ministry, First Love Publications, called Even If None by Ryan Denton. Get that book and read it. It's one of the best books on personal evangelism I've read. And so we need to be equipped. You need to be trained. You need to memorize scripture. Memorize 10, 15, 30, 100 verses connected with the gospel. So it's on your heart. It's on your mind when an opportunity arises. You may not have your Bible with you, but you have basic verses in your memory concerning the gospel. And we also need compassionate laborers. We need dedicated, equipped, and compassionate laborers. You're to be dedicated to the work of evangelism. We're to be equipped and always be training and always be, thirdly, renewed with compassion. So we have proper motivation from the Holy Spirit to share the gospel. Those are three critical things to help us become faithful as witnesses. And then Matthew 9, verses 37 and 38. Matthew 9, 37 and 38. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray that the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. So let me ask you a question. Are you so dedicated and committed and have such a clear vision of evangelism in your life and in your church that you're actually praying for God to raise up laborers at Christ Bible Church? that you are praying that God would strengthen the members of the church to be better witnesses. You are going to give an account of your works as Christians on that last day. You won't be judged for your sins, but you're going to give an account of what you did with the gifts and the commands to evangelize. Have you borne fruit? Are you dedicated to this? work of evangelism. One of the things that encourages me is that Brother G, as our church evangelism, has learned over 30 years how to be more and more dedicated as a witness of the gospel. He doesn't need anybody to look over his shoulder. He's out there almost every day sharing the gospel at UC Berkeley and San Francisco and other places. And so he's learned by the grace of God how to be motivated, how to be dedicated, how to be equipped, and how to be compassionate for the lost. This doesn't take place overnight. I've seen him grow greatly. And it's a work for all of us. How many of us will consider joining Brother G out there doing the work of evangelism? How many of us will consider joining our two different groups going out door by door to put the doorknob bags on the doors with tracks? How many of us will pray, Lord, open a door at work, not during your work hours, maybe lunch or after work, but open a door at work, open a door some other time to share the gospel. How many of you will pray, Lord, teach me, train me so I can begin my own Bible study with unsafe people, with one or two or three unsafe people, have a weekly or monthly Bible study with them? This is what you must be doing, not just thinking about, not just hearing during a sermon by Pastor Joe, but you must be doing it. because you have been bought with a price. The Lord has told us that Jesus died for all, that we who live should no longer live for ourselves. And therefore, what are we living for? We're living for Christ, to walk with Him, to know Him more deeply, and to share His Word, to become light and salt in the world. A city that is set on the hill cannot be hidden. They don't take a lamp and light it and put it under a table. They put it on the table so it can be seen. And we as believers have been called to be seen in terms of our holy life as a witness, as well as the word of God being shared with the lost. And God has promised everything we need. overcome any hindrances, stumbling blocks, hesitation. He has provided it. There's no excuse. There's no excuse. Whatever your limitation, God fills up what is lacking in us. And so we're called to evangelize there's a great need the need also to plant churches this is a fundamental work of evangelism leading to missions work but it begins with evangelism this mission work that's going on in Sassoon. It requires all of us to participate, either by helping the brethren up there, attending the services, praying for the blessing of the work. It's an encouraging work, but it requires all of us to participate in one way or another, including prayer. The Apostle Paul went to a city and preached the gospel until souls were saved. Churches were then established, and new believers were trained and equipped to do the work of the ministry, which includes evangelism and missions. Again, this points back to the gospel. Church planting is based on the results that come from preaching the gospel. And by God's grace, over the last 35 years, there's been a couple of churches planted by Christ's Bible Church overseas. And so another important part of evangelism is discipleship. Remember, Jesus said in the Great Commission, going back to Matthew 28, 19, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. So when we share the gospel, we just do not do promiscuous evangelism, just sharing the word to people who we may never see again. We do that, and that's very important. That's what's called planting and watering seed. But then also, those who are interested to learn more and continue on and knowing what the gospel is to become saved and are willing to meet on a regular basis, we disciple them into the gospel until they either get saved or they reject the gospel, one way or the other. If someone is interested, continue to talk with them or meet with them regularly. Have a Bible study on the gospel of John. until they make a decision, no, I don't want this, or yes, I wanna be saved. Meet with them, make disciples of all the nations. Are you doing that? Are you doing that? That's a great opportunity. Discipleship involves establishing believers in the gospel, not stopping there, but continuing to teach them about sound doctrine, the Christian warfare, It involves helping believers to develop their spiritual gifts, helping believers understand the gospel. We've given out these gospel cards that breaks down the gospel into 10 points. Have you looked at that card? You could use that laminated card to have a Bible study. There's enough material on that two-sided card for six months. Discipleship involves the means of grace. It means training believers on the importance of reading the scripture, praying, meditating on the word, and fellowship. Discipleship means training believers about marriage, the family, and involvement and commitment to the local church. So when someone gets saved that you've been witnessing to, it doesn't stop there. You continue to disciple them in all of these areas. You know, when we talk about missions, much is made about foreign missions, and there's a great need here for sure. But there is just as great a need for missions in, first of all, the local church. There is a massive amount of people who are lost in the church, especially in the last few generations, the last hundred years. The gospel has been watered down and perverted to being man-centered from being God-centered. And so just mental assent to believing in Christ is good enough for many pastors and Christians to believe that those folks are saved. and they never bring forth fruit in the churches. And so we have our churches filling up with chaff, with professing believers who are not really converted. These people are lost still. They're living double lives. They have a little bit of morality added to their lifestyle, and they go to church, but that's about it. Behind the scenes, they have no heart relationship with God. These are people that need to be saved. And so there's all of these lost people in the church who need to be reached out to, and they need to be discipled. but also in our own communities, in our own backyard, here in Pleasanton, up in Sassoon. We need to focus on our own Jerusalem. And this is a great need. This is a great need. You have a community here in the San Francisco Bay Area that needs the gospel. Well, lastly, number three, we see the burden, the burden. The burden to evangelize is an individual burden first. There's no such thing as a Christian who just goes to church. No such thing. Churchgoers who are not converted are not saved. They just go to church. And they're making their plight worse by hearing things that they will give accountability for. And so sharing the gospel and having a burden for it is a trait, it's a characteristic of a true Christian, a true believer. We read in Psalm 126 and verse six, he who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. This is the burden of the believer. He goes forth with a heart burden and weeping. Weeping. Sometimes sharing the gospel will cause such a burden, it will bring forth tears. Not all the time. We ought not to ever share the gospel mechanically or robotically. We should be driven not by duty, but by compassion and the burden for the loss. But it's an individual burden. Let me ask you an important question. Do you have a burden for souls? You may say, what kind of question is that? Well, it's essential to have a burden because Christians are called to pray for unsaved people's salvation and share the gospel with them. I can't imagine praying in a stoic way for the lost. One of the main reasons believers neglect to pray for the salvation of the lost and bring the gospel to them is because they need a fresh burden for their salvation. So I ask again, do you have a burden for souls? That's important for the gospel witness. The definition of burden is that which is born with labor or difficulty. The apostle Paul described his burden for the Galatian church, where he said he travails in labor. He's so desirous to see the believers grow in Christ, to grow in the knowledge of Christ. It's a burden that causes travailing like a woman in childbirth. That's the kind of burden we ought to have for the lost. I remember so many times God giving me a specific burden for a specific lost person. And in prayer, I could not get away from coming back to pray for that person's soul in that same prayer. He wouldn't allow me to move on to someone else or something else in my prayer requests or in my prayer time. He kept bringing me back to pray for the salvation of this same person, particularly my sister-in-law, Pierre. I remember very distinctly for that burden to be like a wave, like a travailing wave that just consuming my heart, wave after wave of pleading with God until I was exhausted. Now that may be a very, not an extreme case, but something that doesn't happen that often. But there should be some amount of burden, small to great, upon our hearts when we pray for the lost, pleading with God, God, this person is going to hell. God, this person is going to perish. I love them. Oh, Lord, please have mercy. Save this person's soul. The Holy Spirit provides such a spirit of travailing and a burden. And if you don't have this kind of spirit, begin to pray about it. Pray about it and God will give it to you. And you will see that one of the greatest secrets of personal evangelism to their success is prayer. Prayer, not just speaking the gospel to others, but prayer is a vital part of the evangelism process. We just don't share words with people, as good as those words may be, without a heart for them. After we share the gospel, most of the time we should have a desire to pray for them. George Mueller prayed for 306 people on his prayer list. He prayed for more than that, of course, but he had a burden to keep 306 people on his prayer list for salvation throughout his whole life. Some of them Got saved shortly after he started praying. Some 10 years later, 20 years later, some 50 years later. When he died, 296, I believe, had gotten saved from his prayer list. And the other 10 were saved within 10 years after his death. God gives us a burden to keep praying and keep praying and keep praying. I know for our children, we're not going to stop praying, my wife and I. until all of them are saved, however long it takes. It's essential for us to pray for the lost. And so we need this burden, that is, that which is born with labor and difficulty. That's the definition of it. As light and salt in the world, Christians are to reflect Christ's burden for the lost because as he is, so are we in the world. Wherever Jesus went, he expressed a burden for the lost. And as he is in this world, so are we. We have the mind of Christ. We see people the way Christ does when we are filled with the Spirit. We look at them with eyes of pity and compassion and a burden. And this ability is provided by the Holy Spirit. And that's why we need to fill up our lives every day with the word and we need to walk in the spirit because that kind of diligence and using the means of grace keeps our minds and hearts where they need to be with a burden for the lost. And as Christ's representatives in this world, we reflect God's burden in our prayers for lost souls and in our lifestyle. I want you to note the various shades of God's burden for the lost in Hosea chapter 11 and verse 8. Turn over to Hosea 11 and verse 8. We see an element of the character of God that is not seen that often in the Old Testament. where we get some insight into the depths of God's burden for souls. Hosea chapter 11 verse 8, Israel is a very wicked people at this point. and God is reasoning with them to return to him. And he says in verse eight, how can I give you up Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? That is to judgment. How can I make you like Adma? How can I make you, how can I set you like Zoboam? Adma and Zoboam were two cities right next to Sodom and Gomorrah. They were in the plain at Sodom and Gomorrah that were also judged by God. My heart churns within me. My sympathy is stirred. That's a beautiful definition of a burden. God's heart churn within him. and his sympathy was stirred up for Israel as wicked as they were. So we have the nature of God. We have the divine nature. We have a similar attitude because we have the Holy Spirit within us. Our hearts should be stirred up with sympathy for the lost. Our hearts should churn within us, should groan and grieve for the salvation of souls. In Jonah chapter four, Verses 10 and 11, please turn there. Jonah chapter four, verses 10 and 11. It says in verse 10 of Jonah four, but the Lord said, you have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow. Speaking to Jonah, God says, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left and much livestock? Here is Jonah who pitied this plant that was withered away by the sun, and he didn't have any more shade to cover him. And he didn't have pity for the lost in Nineveh. And God says, look, Shouldn't I have pity, God says, for these 120,000 souls in Nineveh who are blind, who don't know how to go in or come out, don't know their left hand from their right? You see, again, a picture. We get a glimpse of God's heart of pity that burns, that churns within him. for the lost as he sees them, as only the divine heart and mind can see the lost in a way of compassion. We have the divine nature. The closer we walk with God, the more we'll have such a response when we look upon the lost. God will open a dimension of our sight spiritually to see things about the lost as wicked and as deplorable as they may be in their speech, in their behavior, God will open up our minds to have compassion on them and see them with eyes of love and pity. That's what we need. That's what we need to drive us to the lost. Remember, Mark 16, 15, Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. As I said, he doesn't say stop, but go. He doesn't say sit, but go. Not stand, but go. Not wait, but go. Why? You know, I'll tell you why. Approximately 200,000 people die every day. How many of them are saved? How many of them? Most of them are lost and go to hell until judgment day. And we are our brother's keeper. Cain said to God, am I my brother's keeper? And the answer obviously is yes. We bear the burdens of the lost that they don't bear, the burdens for their souls. And so the work is greater than we have workers for. The laborers are few. There's this great need, this burden. And the Lord tells us to pray for laborers. Are we asking, are we praying to God to raise up missionaries? What's it gonna take, a crisis in our life? Is it gonna take something that happened like in LA this last week, where upwards of 10,000 homes burned down? Many people were killed, a crisis. We cannot be lulled to sleep because of our American lifestyle. where things are so free and we have so many privileges and opportunities. We must be single minded. We must be dedicated. You can't just hear a message like this when it is such a clear command of God that each and every one of you as professing Christians are to be engaged in evangelism, either one on one personal evangelism, either in a group at church. Get involved immediately, immediately. Otherwise you're disobeying the command of God in the Great Commission. And you're to be witnessing every day as we read from those two Psalms, if possible. There's no command that you witness once a day. No, specifically no. But we are to be striving to share the gospel every day. And it's Christ's burden. And so by way of closing application, Let me remind you, as we read in 2 Corinthians, that Christ died for all, that they that live should no longer live for themselves. Our life is Christ's. He died for us. We were bought with a price. That price is his death on the cross, his shed blood. The benefit is the forgiveness of sins. But the responsibility is now from the moment of our salvation forward, we are Christ, we serve him and work and many other duties and responsibilities are just a parenthesis. There are brief pause because we have to do those things. We have to provide, we have to take care of our families, we have to pay our bills, but they are not why we live. We live for him who died for us and rose again. The greatest priority of us is walking with God and worship. The second greatest priority is personal evangelism, personal evangelism. And we draw strength and grace and motivation from our walk with God and the filling of the spirit to evangelize the way we should. Are you evangelizing? Don't forget about what you heard today. Take it to the Lord today and begin to pray about it and get involved, get involved in sharing the gospel. You would be surprised how much more quickly you will grow in all areas of the Christian life once you are frequently engaged in personal evangelism, you will learn more of the word and memorize more of the word. When you evangelize, you find yourself praying for the souls that you share the gospel with. You find yourself becoming more dedicated to God and dependent on the Lord for strength and grace to do so many other things in the Christian life when you are daily committed to and engaged in evangelism. You're causing so much of your time and priorities to be involved in the work of the Lord. That work's going to be on your mind all the time. It's going to help you in every area of your Christian life. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for dying on the cross to save us from our sins and to use us in your kingdom to share the gospel. Lord, we are not worthy of this. great privilege of representing you and your truth to lead others to Christ. We pray that you would remind us daily of this opportunity and equip us to be fully engaged in obeying you and serving you and sharing the word of God while we still have time in this world. In Jesus' name, amen.