|
|
"THOSE…"
This past Sunday was in every way a "Grand Day." 601 precious souls gathered together to worship our God and spend time together. Many, who were in attendance, are not members of the body of Christ. Therefore what a great opportunity was afforded us to set forth to them the gospel of our Lord (Rom. 1:16).
Monday night I had the opportunity to discuss the events of Sunday with the some of the brethren over dinner. As we thought about how wonderful it was to have so many in worship, it was stated that quite a few years ago it was not uncommon to have such a number on a regular basis! Could you imagine, 600 plus folks assembling for worship with the Seagoville church every first day of the week? And to think, this at one time (or at least close numbers wise) was the norm.
One of the brethren with whom I spoke, in discussing the days when 500 in attendance was the norm, said, "A lot of personal evangelism was being done back then…." In other words, the reason so many were in attendance was because the brethren were "beating the bushes" to find individuals with whom to study the Scriptures. People were being converted and thus numerically the church was growing. Her words reminded me of a well-known passage of Scripture:
"Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts 8:4).
| And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15) |
Who made up the "those" of this verse? We could say, "those who were scattered." Yet, who was scattered? The text of Acts eight would indicate that the "those" who went everywhere preaching the word were indeed the church (cf. Acts 8:1). In the first century, every Christian felt the responsibility, even in the face of persecution, to teach and to preach to others the "unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3:8; Acts 5:42). We should not be surprised therefore when we read, "However, many of those who heard the word believed and the number of men came to be about five thousand" (Acts 4:4). When everybody’s preaching and teaching, the likelihood rises dramatically that many more will be converted.
Wouldn’t it be great to again see large crowds gathered for our assemblies? Yes it would, because numbers represent souls. The only way this will be possible is if all of us become a part of "those" who go everywhere preaching the word of God. Who do you know that is lost? With whom could you set up a Bible study? Even if you do not feel able to teach the study yourself, you could still make the contact so someone else could. Let us all determine to be part of "those" who are serious about evangelism (Mt. 28:19,20).
~ Bill Burk
|
|
