Great Commission Conviction #6 (8/24/08)

His children and His Body, want to do the Great Commission but have learned fear as they have disobeyed this command and been around others who have as well (James 1:22, again). Baby Christians are always excited to share their faith – Evangelism is natural for the Christian, fear is a learned trait. Fear is conquered only one way: when Church leadership will take people by the hand and model evangelism for them and then help them make the step also. People need this at least 10 times before they’ll conquer their personal evangelism fear barrier. This must come after basic instruction and training, equipping them only with the basics and then following that immediately with action and application (again, James 1:22). Too much training will overwhelm them. No application yields fear and unbelief. Equipping the Body for evangelism while simultaneously modeling it for them and taking them by the hand, encouraging their next step is key to helping them experience a victorious, abundant Christian life. “There are no happy disobedient Christians and there are no unhappy obedient Christians.” – Bill Bright. Remember Philemon v.6. Men in particular need action, risk and challenge; the Great Commission is the action God gave the Church to keep men involved, excited and committed, it is the appropriate risk for positive growth and men see the challenge of the Great Commission as an adventure – when they are equipped correctly and see it modeled for them by their leaders. Men are sick of going nowhere, seeing nothing happen. No matter how you cut it: disobedience to the Great Commission yields a lack of fulfillment and joy which in turn causes people to continually sense a need for something more resulting in a lack of commitment. Obedience to the Great Commission yields the opposite and results in the opposite: a greater sense of joy and commitment. Conviction #6 - We, as leaders, must preach, teach and model the Great Commission for our Body, personally helping Church members individually get over their fear barriers. We must train them only enough to equip them for initial obedience to the Great Commission and then build from there (there is no need to start out with a magnificent scheme; this will make failure inevitable). We must personally expose them to action immediately after training or be responsible for fostering fear and unbelief in the congregation. We must challenge, equip and personally invite men in particular to step out in this area: this will cause men to become committed and will in turn increase the commitment of other men, women and families. The common goal of the Great Commission along with noticeable results will result in joy and encouragement for everyone in our Church.