Ignite with Barry Meguiar Podcast

Barry Meguiar 00:00
You know, if there’s anything that God makes abundantly clear in the Bible, is that once we know who he is, we are to share our faith in the marketplace every day. I mean, go ye to the world and preach the gospel. Go tell you know, love our neighbors as ourselves. We are Christ’s ambassadors. We are reconcilers. We’re called to the ministry of reconciliation. We’re called to be salt and light, and salt and light both change their environment. We’re called to change our environment. We’re called to be the light at the top of the hill so everybody can see what we have and want what we have. And all these scriptures, I mean, I could go on and on and on, the scriptures, even from the Old Testament, replete in the sharing of our faith and the loving of those around us and leading people to to God in the Old Testament, it’s very specifically to Jesus Christ and then in the news. But the question comes down to why? Why is it so important to God that we share our faith? And I have a surprise for you. This is my own theory, but I think it’s true. Secondarily, it’s to win the lost. Yes, secondarily. I think the reason for us sharing our faith is secondarily to win the lost. I think primarily, it’s to win you and be it’s to keep our hearts. You know, if we don’t share our faith, I’ve talked about before, this attribute sets in, and we just start to lose what we have. I had one of the most respected men in my life that passed away when he’s 83 years of age, and a year before he died, I sat with him. This man was revered in his denomination, in his church, he’d done everything you could possibly imagine in the church, and supporting every cause he was there. I mean, I couldn’t count how many people were in awe of this man. And I sat with him, and I said, I talked to him about his life and all, and then I then I came and I said, so what does your conference come from, and knowing that you’re going to spend eternity with God Almighty? And he started telling those things. And he started telling about all the things he did, and all the ministries he supported, all the youth camps he sponsored, and in all the different age groups in the Sunday school class, and being the Head usher, being the chairman of the board and the chairman of the building campaign, and all these things, all these things were going through his mind. And I said, Is there anything else? And he thought of some more things that he did. You know, 80 years of the church. He was in one church for 83 years. This man was revered in his church. At the end of the conversation, I found that he had never said the one right answer, that Jesus Christ died for my sins. I mean, we get caught so caught up in the things of church that the church becomes our God that we so easily move away, unless we keep that fresh in our minds that we’re sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ on a regular basis in his love and how he directs our steps and the miracles that we’re in the game we’re sharing it pretty soon it just fritters away, and, quite frankly, we lose the joy of our salvation. That’s what really takes place. I mean, I see it. I see it in people I know and friends I know, they’re in church, they’re in church, but they’re just going through the motions. And the letter to the church at Ephesus, I’ve been there. I’ve been to the sites for all the seven churches in Asia, in Turkey, and the letter of the church at Ephesus, they all speak well, but this one in particular got me when he says, basically, my words, you know, I know. I know who you are, and I know you go to church Sunday morning and Sunday night, you’re there every time the doors are open. And I know you’re faithful, and I know you give sacrificially, and I know you know good teaching, but from bad but I have this against you. You’ve left your first love, and you’re no longer doing the first work. First Love, obviously, is Jesus. First love is God Almighty, and if we put anything in front of him, that becomes our God, and so oftentimes that is our church or some ministry that we’re doing, we’re so caught up in doing that, right? We’ll lose our own joy. And secondarily is that you’re no longer doing the first work. What is the first work? What’s the first thing every new Christian does where they when they receive Jesus Christ, they tell somebody they don’t go sing the choir, go on a missions trip or greet people. They tell people about Jesus Christ. I was blind, and now I see when we stop doing that, that’s a problem to the point where he says in that letter, read it Revelations, chapter two, but I have this against you. Even though you’re faithful, I have this against you. You’ve left your first love. You’re no longer doing your first work. And unless you repent, he’s calling people in the church to repent. He says, Unless you repent, I’ll remove the candlestick. I’ll remove the Holy Spirit from you. We have a lot of folks in church today. They’re going through the motions, but they’ve lost their joy, and the Holy Spirit is departed. You think about the parable the five wives and five foolish virgins. They’re all waiting. They represent the church today. They’re waiting for the Lord to return. They all look like Christians. They all have the clothes. They have all the church technology and wordology. They can say they look right, but when the master returns, half of them were without the Holy Spirit. In fact, he closed the door. He says, I don’t even know who those of you that don’t have the Holy Spirit are. I can know you, but if I that do, entered on in. You know, today the. The statistics tell us that half the people in our churches are not saved. What side of the line are you on? What side of the line are you on? You know, don’t even get close to that line. You want to go way over your way. Know how to do that? It’s to share your faith and let it flow out of you. Every day, the church is our service station. It’s not our service it’s our service station. And then we go into service. And from Sunday to Sunday, what are you doing from Sunday to Sunday? That is our service. And when we do that, we’re rich in joy, and it’s flowing through us. We have joy in the morning, at night, noon and every other time. And I truly believe that the reason he has called us, without exception, unequivocal, to share our faith every day, to be his ambassador is because he wants to keep us fresh and alive and serving Him and close to him to our last breath.