Jesus Saves: Where Do You Put Your Faith?

Summary

This evening "Jesus Saves" outreach service gathered the church to encourage one another and to keep its eyes on those who do not yet know Christ. Several brothers and sisters shared, and the central message, brought by a young brother from 1 Kings 22, asked one searching question: where do we place our faith? When two kings sought guidance, four hundred prophets told them what they wanted to hear, but only one true prophet, Micaiah, spoke the word of the Lord. We face the same choice every day at school, at work, among crowds who pressure us to drop our convictions.

Just as King Ahab disguised himself in battle and was struck by a "random" arrow, we are tempted to hide the royal robes of our salvation when we step into the world. Yet God stays faithful to the faithful, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (the message also leaned on Deuteronomy 20, where the Lord goes with His people into battle). A poem drawn from James 1 pictured the gospel as a mirror: we must not merely hear the word and forget our own face, but let Christ exchange our stained garments for His purity and keep returning to the mirror of His Word.

The service then overflowed into testimony from street evangelism in Tarpon Springs and Clearwater - tracts handed out like seeds, the cross carried through the crowds, some people rejecting and some receiving. Matthew 16:26 reminded everyone that gaining the whole world is worthless if we lose our soul, while a closing word from Genesis 26 and John 4 likened the gospel to wells of living water that the enemy tries to stop up but that we are called to keep digging open for thirsty souls.

Key Points

• Do not follow the crowd of four hundred voices; place your faith in the one true God who speaks the truth.
• God stays faithful to those who stay faithful to Him, for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• Salvation is the royal robe we wear; do not disguise it when you step into school, work, or the world.
• Be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer who looks in the mirror and forgets his own face.
• Christ takes our stained garments and gives us His purity: it is finished, go and sin no more.
• What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Souls are the focus.
• Carry the gospel to the streets like wells of living water; the enemy stops the wells, but we keep digging them open.