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Show the Light;
Share the Choice
by Judah Strickland
“I am sending you to them to open their
eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power
of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
Acts 26:17b-18
“I’m sending you”
“Open the eyes of the outsiders”
Who’s going to tell the outsiders?
Who’s going to tell the people on the margins. Who’s going to
tell the alone, the hurt, the different than- who’s going free
them?
Jesus did. He died on the cross for
their Sins; He defeated death and the devil, proving the power
of the one true God, and giving us a choice in choosing what
is good and evil for ourselves, or in trusting our creator.
But He doesn’t make the choice for us.
Tell them what?
Open their eyes to see the light, and
the dark. The outsiders have seen the dark. They’re stuck in
it. What they need to see is the light. They need to see the
door out. The Emergency exit sign that’s lighting up.
“And choose God”
Show them the door out. You need to
dive under the waters to save a drowning person. They need to
choose life. You can’t make that choice for them, God won’t
make that choice for them.
You can’t push them through that door.
You can just show them the way out.
You can’t force someone to be saved.
You can just clear the choices to them. Clear the fog that has
been spread on what is good and evil.
“Present My offer of sins forgiven, and
a place in My family”
Show them the choice, red pill or blue
pill, the dark or the light, drowning or on dry land.
A place in my family. Show them the
community of the Harvest. Show them the family of believers
that fight sin. Show them the strength of the Body of Christ.
Show them the choice.
“Real living by believing in Me”
The only way to live real, true, pure
life is to believe in Jesus.
God is sending you to free people, to
break the chains, to heal the sick, to cast out demons-to give
them a choice.
People who are stuck, who think that
there is no way out. Show them a way out. Give them a choice.
Offer them to join the family of Christ.
People feel alone and hurt. How will
accepting God’s love change them? This is why we show them the
family, the love that is God.
People feel that there is no way out,
so show them The Way, The Truth and The life.
We need to show people Jesus. God is
sending you, so you'd better get ready. Are you ready to
preach, pray, or die at a moment’s notice for God? If we don’t
show people the light, they may never see it.
Paul was a tent maker. God didn’t call
him to be a minister, He called him to tell people about
Jesus. No matter what we do for work, God wants us to choose a
lifestyle not a job, choose the mission. God wants us to
choose Him.
There are real dangers to sharing this
choice. Jail, death, attacks, persecution, all of which Paul
experienced as he lived out the choice. if this happens to
you, you just know you’re doing it right.
Because we serve a God who breaks
prison doors, so we don’t fear getting locked up. We serve a
God who was stood strong despite attacks, so we don’t fear
them. We serve a God who defeated death. The God who came back
to life again, and took the power from death, to life. So we
don’t have to fear death.
Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian priest
who was arrested for preaching the Gospel in his Communist
Country. He was thrown into solitary confinement, with no
windows, lights or sounds (the guards wore soft shoe soles for
this purpose) but every night would communicate via Morse code
to the other inmates, preaching to them about Jesus.
Wherever Paul was he told people about
Jesus. Stranded on an island, stuck in a prison cell, on home
arrest, in Jewish communities and in gentile ones. He was a
Jesus follower first, and everything else second.
Wherever we are we can tell people
about Jesus.
God
is sending us. Let’s get ready. Let’s share the choice
wherever, whenever. Sometimes it means preaching on a street
corner, but other times it means have conversations with
people, asking if you can pray for them and following it up
with offering the choice. Sometimes it’s discussion with
friends about Jesus.
Let’s go show the light, share the
choice wherever we are, in whatever way God gives us room.
Jesus is sending you.
We might not be sure how yet, and
that’s okay.
But right now let’s take a moment to
pray, let’s circle up and pray.
Yahweh fill our hearts and minds.
Please inspire and guide us. If now is the moment, send us.
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