KEEPING THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING

Presented by Gerald Cumby One of the problems in today’s church is getting people to understand how important it is to witness for Christ in both word and deed (vocally sharing your faith and living a life of Christian values). The emphasis today seems to be on offering benefits and extracurricular activities, gymnasiums/work out rooms, and a “Disney World” like Children’s Activity Center to families in lieu of training them to be witnesses for Christ.

I have always believed the Church’s primary goal should be to win souls for Christ. In other words, “keep the main thing the main thing.” When I say “Church’s” goal, I mean the Bride of Christ’s main emphasis/objective. Forget the denominational differences. Center in on the main goal…winning souls into the Kingdom. Any evangelical denomination should have as their #1 goal…to preach the gospel and an invitation given to accept Christ as Savior. When the cross is preached by any denomination, the Holy Spirit will work in the hearts of the listener. The drawing by the Holy Spirit is critical in winning souls to Christ. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is an active moving in the hearts of the people.

        “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

Once saved, the goal should be to offer to the new convert the appropriate, Spirit anointed training in winning souls to Christ.

        fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30

Witness in word and deed simply means we should be ready to express ourselves to others (witness) by speaking and living the truth found in the Word of God.

        Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
        John 14:6

It is imperative for the local church to preach repentance for the sinner, the message of the cross, and an invitation to accept Jesus as their One and only Savior.

See www.maranathatoday.com website for several articles, training section on winning souls for Christ, i.e. Evangelism 101, Training for the Harvest of Souls, Altar/Prayer Team Ministry Training.

After salvation, it should be important for the born-again believer to seek a releasing of the Holy Spirit in their life. The Holy Spirit makes His residence in the born-again believer. Just as it is a choice for the sinner to accept Jesus as Savior, it is a choice for the new convert to seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The infilling is the releasing of the Holy Spirit who is already at work in him to help him/her be all that the Lord intends for him/her to be. If a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, he/she is “overflowing/spilling out” the Spirit of God to others.

The Church then should practice and instruct the need of the “group experience of fellowship with other believers” with the new convert to help them sustain the new life in Christ. I have found that the best way to know the importance of fellowship in the Church is to practice and promote the Biblical way of addressing the fellowship issue in the local church. In other words, the first believers’ fellowship training (at Pentecost) was the foundation for our fellowship today. This new fellowship was focused on the apostles' teaching...he teaching by which was imparted by the Savior Himself and instilled in His disciples and made manifest at Pentecost. The amazing thing about Pentecost is that their attention was not drawn to some man or church doctrine. It was drawn to the apostles' teaching. The importance of the apostles ' message was that it revealed the truth about God. The message sought to focus their attention upon God. It was the message that brought them into fellowship. It was the God- centered message upon which fellowship would be sustained and maintained.

• There was no church until they responded to God's call of salvation.
  
• They were moved and motivated by the Spirit-guided message of the apostles. The original language carries with it the idea of being persistent listeners. They weren't passive listeners; they were active listeners.
  "Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God; it whets our appetite." Jesus said, "If any man has ears to hear, let him hear." And he said unto them, "If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.” (Mark 4:23-24) NIV
• They were not caught up into the charisma or personalities of the people proclaiming the message. The focus is on God and his message of salvation. Fear came upon them as they beheld the many wonders and signs done by God through the apostles and those believers at Pentecost. They never lost sight of God.
• They were focused on the message of the cross. Their focus was on Christ's sacrifice winning the victory for them. This was the central focus of their new life. The apostles and others who had experienced Pentecost presented Jesus as the fulfillment of the messianic promise of the Old Testament. It was God's wisdom and power that made their salvation possible. No more animal sacrifices for them . . . God had made his Son to be sin for them. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• All The Believers Were Together. Beginning a new life focused on Christ bringing them together in a devoted fellowship
  • Togetherness is important because it is encouraging.
  • There was an intense feeling of responsibility for each other
  • A Worship Filled With Awe and Wonder
• At The heart of their worship was the celebration of God.
• There was a great quality of togetherness.
  • Because we are "in Christ," we are reconciled together forever to God.

An old tract called "The Seven Togethers" summarizes the completeness of our union with Christ. It says we are:

1. crucified together with Christ (Gal. 2:20);
2. dead together with Christ (Col. 2:20);
3. buried together with Christ (Rom. 6:4);
4. made alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:5);
5. raised together with Christ (Col. 3:1);
6. sufferers together with Christ (Rom. 8:17);
7. glorified together with Christ (Rom. 8:17).

The word “together” is significant. In that one word we see all the barriers to fellowship removed. This made them attractive to the world. This resulted in God adding to their number daily those that were being saved.

Conclusion: The early church was not even called Christians at this early date (Pentecost). In fact, at this early date this body of believers doesn't even have a name. They were simply described as those " . . . who received his word" and as "those who were being saved."