Works And Faith - You Can't Save Anybody - But You Can Show Everybody

My Utmost For His Highest

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… —Matthew 28:19

{CHAMBERS} “Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go…make disciples of all the nations….” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God […] The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? […]“All authority has been given to Me….Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19).”

{ELGIN}  Our new life is all about trusting God in all things for all things.  When Martie and I packed up and moved to Texas, we knew in our knower that God has called us.  And when we know, we go.  So we arrived but did not find what we expected to find … Waveland in Texas.  Instead God had led us to a very different place.  Instead of being in the middle of destruction, we were on the fringe of it.  We really expected to be immersed when we arrived, but we were not.  So we thought perhaps we misread the map and we should be in another place .. maybe we heard God wrong.  Then we began to meet with the people who are struggling with the loss that came with Hurricane Harvey.  The stress.  The hopelessness.  Then we saw Waveland.  Not in the houses around us but in the faces and voices of the people.  It is the people that we have been sent to help .. not their homes.  But one way we will help the people is through their homes.  When people approached Jesus because of their physical need, He always pointed them to their spiritual need .. the “true” source of their trouble.  It is so easy for us to drift over to the work and miss the main thing.  God wants to use all of us … Christians … to tell people about Jesus and salvation through Him.  About hope in despair.  About the faithfulness of God when your insurance company says we won’t give you what you need to restore your home.

But … “God will make a way Where there seems to be no way He works in ways we cannot see He will make a way for me He will be my guide Hold me closely to His side With love and strength For each new day He will make a way”  That is a song written by Don Moen.  That is the message that we have for the people here.  It’s proof is demonstrated through the help that they receive through us.  Whether it’s us rebuilding homes or you coming alongside someone struggling with life, we are called to be salt and light. People seeing Jesus in us.  We know that there is nothing that we can do that will have eternal value that is a result of the work of our hands.  But God can speak through all of us as we serve others.  In Matthew 25 is the story of the sheep and the goats.  The sheep are going to heaven .. the goats are not.  In the case of the sheep Jesus commended them for doing good things to Him and the goats were condemned for not.  Both the sheep and the goats asked the same question.  “Lord, When did we see you?”  He answered to the sheep “When you did it for others, you did it for Me.” And to the goats “When you did not do it for others, you did not do it for Me.”  If Jesus is Lord then you will reach out to people who are in need.  Not just to give them water that will satisfy for the moment, but to give them living water that will satisfy for eternity.

So to make the bottom line the last line.  Be careful that you don’t look at your circumstances and assume that God has not led you there because  what you are facing is beyond you.  That is a perfect opportunity for God to show His power and lift up His Son. You can’t save anybody, but you can tell everybody. Let them see Jesus through you.