Scripture Reference: Matthew 9:35-38

II. The Necessity of Enlisting the Layperson – Continued

Satan’s strategy in our world today is to convince the laypeople of the church that Christianity is complicated, winning people to Christ is too complex, and only ministers can do it. What if someone could convince us that wars are too complicated, dangerous, and only generals can fight wars?

You and I are to penetrate the society in which we live with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Great Commission begins with the phrase, “Go therefore and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19).

There’s an illustration of a lady disembarking from an airplane after talking with a handsome man. Her jealous husband asked, “What did you talk with that man about?”

“Nothing in particular, but he asked the strangest question, ‘Are you a Christian?’ ”

The husband responded, “Why didn’t you just tell him it was none of his business?”

Hugging her husband she said, “Had you heard him speak, you would have known that it was his business.”

That is the spirit you and I must have as we share the gospel of Christ in the world in which we live. We need to be like the elevator operator who would say to people in the elevator, “Make sure your last trip is up.” We must never be contented as keepers of the aquarium when Jesus has commanded us to be fishers of men.

III. The Urgency of the Task

One of the great secrets of Jesus’ ministry and success was His comprehension of the urgency of the task. Listen to Jesus, “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” (John 4:35). When the fields are white, they must be harvested immediately, or they are lost. Normally, the farmers reap the fields when they are yellow unto harvest, not white.

As Jesus looked out at lost humanity, He saw them perishing as sheep with no shepherd, as a field ready to be reaped with no harvester. That is a picture of our world today.

According to the 2022 world population sheet, in 2021 there were approximately:

• 5 births per second
• 270 births per minute
• 16,200 births per hour
• 388,800 births per day
• 2,721,600 births per week
• 11,823,408 births per month
• 141,912,000 births per year

Every year there are 141 million new people born into the world; and as of 2024 there are approximately 8.1 billion people in the world. All churches of all denominations under the Christian umbrella win less than five million of these people a year to Jesus Christ. We must aggressively seek out those who are unsaved and do our utmost to lead them to our Savior.

The Bible in every one of more than eleven hundred editions says “come” six hundred times. Let us not go about in this world saying to everyone who will listen, “Look what the world has come to.” Instead, let us say to them, “Look Who has come to the world!”

According to the Word of God and the signs the Lord left with His disciples, it is apparent the time we have to evangelize is getting shorter, day by day. We need to intercede in prayer for the lost and we need to pray for anointing to evangelize. Soon, for the lost, it will be too late.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
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