Thursday 23 August 2012

Charles Azuwike: WHY WITNESS? PREACH CHRIST.


Have you ever asked yourself, "Why should I witness?" Several reasons should come to mind. 

First, because Jesus commands you to: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," (Matt. 28:19). Also, Ezek. 3:11 says, "and go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not..." 

Second, you must witness because you love the unsaved (if you don't, you should). The most loving thing you can do is present the gospel in hopes of bringing others to salvation. Galatians 5:22 lists love as one of the fruits of the Spirit. It is love's nature to give. Take for example John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." Love gives, and if you have only a small portion of His love, you will want to give to others. 

Third, witness because it is a wise thing to do. Prov. 11:30 says, "...he who is wise wins souls." Now, I know I am not a very wise person. But, since God says I'll be wise to win souls, or try to, then great, let me at it. I want to be wise in God's sight. 

Fourth, witness to keep people out of hell. Hell is a terrifying place of utter anguish and eternal separation from God. Those who are not saved go there. Witnessing is an attempt to keep them out of hell. 

Fifth, witness because it pleases God and brings glory to His name. 

Sixth, witness so people may find the love and fellowship of God (1John 1:3), the greatest of all treasures. I can think of no greater gift than salvation. It frees the sinner from sin, it delivers the lost from damnation, and it reveals the true and living God to those who don't know Him. 

The angels of heaven rejoice greatly when anyone passes from judgment into salvation (Luke 15:10). Shouldn't we as Christians rejoice too? Shouldn't we weep over the lost? Shouldn't we ask the Lord of the field to send laborers into His harvest (Luke 10:2)? Certainly! The salvation of others is the goal of your efforts. The love of God is your motive. Is there anything greater? So, give.

The devil has got men talking about everything but Christ, and Him crucified. You see in our preaching, if we don't get to the cross we have wasted our time - I firmly believe that! This is the totality of our job:” to preach Him”.

In one of Count Zinzendorf's letters he described the kind of preaching that was typical among the Moravians in their revival in 1727, and I quote him: 'Our method in proclaiming salvation is this: to point out to every heart the loving Lamb who died for us. Never, either in discourse or in argument, to digress even for a quarter of an hour from the loving Lamb!'.

Isn’t it scary, heart-rending and shameful to see/hear so much chaff, junk, self-gratifying, self-glorifying and self-centered messages today? Some of us preach church, others preach against church, some preach their pastors, others preach against pastors, leave everyone alone and “preach Christ”

That's what they did in the early church - at the very beginning of the church they preached Christ. My brothers and sisters, that's what we need now. An Ethiopian eunuch was coming from a festival of sacrifices, and God's Holy Spirit sent Philip the evangelist to speak to him. He heard him reading from Isaiah 53 about the cross: 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed'. Philip asked him: 'Do you understand what you're reading?'. He says: 'How can I understand, except someone explains it to me?'. Then Philip, the Bible says, opened his mouth at the same Scripture, Isaiah 53, and preached unto him Jesus!

This is what brings revival! I am hungry for revival, I badly need revival to come … when God comes in a very special sense, manifests His presence and His power among His own people, the Christian church; and that has an overflow that benefits unbelievers - not just unsaved people in our friends and families, but it touches whole communities and has been known in the past to, indeed, touch whole nations, lets pray for revival, lets create a platform for it … change your message, go back to the crux of the matter, PREACH CHRIST!


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