That None Should Perish
2 Peter 3:9
God is wonderful, God is merciful, God is love.
This passage states that He is longsuffering toward us.
God has every right to destroy us the moment we sin.
But He is longsuffering—He suffers long, He puts up with us and our misbehavior.
This is why sinners still have breath.
This is why erring brethren still have breath.
God loves them and wants them to repent so they can be saved.
He gives everyone the opportunity to repent before it’s too late.
This is why we are here.
In a few minutes we will begin a discussion on our evangelistic efforts.
We will not be able to reach everyone.
But we can give everyone that opportunity.
Since God does not want anyone to perish, we should share that desire.
To that end, I want us to always be geared toward evangelism in some way or another.
We will never grow unless we work to share the gospel with others.
Sure, we can have an overall vision and think big, but I prefer to think small, to think about one soul at a time. Eventually it adds up, sure, but we are in the trenches, not seeing the big picture. We need help with what’s in front of us.
We have our websites, we have our sign and location, we have our presence at the local festivals.
But our greatest asset is each of you (2 Cor. 3:2-3).
A little bit of the church, a little bit of Christ (meaning of Christian) is going out into the world.
Each of you has a different sphere of influence where you might be able to talk to someone about Christ.
Our studies the last few months (we started in July) were meant to give us the tools and confidence to go out and share the gospel.
The more practice you get, the better you’ll be at it (practice makes perfect!).
Now, instead of leaving it there, we are going to keep this on our minds every month!
The purpose of our discussion is:
To help you in your evangelistic efforts,
To encourage you with all that we are doing,
To encourage you to be more evangelistic,
To collectively pray for those on our hearts and minds.
Our goal should be the same as our Lord’s—that none should perish.
We want all to come to repentance!
Let us all participate in some way for the cause of Christ.