Weekly Sermons

Opened minds preach Jesus!

Affirmation:

Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”                                      -Luke 24:46-47

This was the worldview of the Greeks & Romans, was fundamentally pessimistic – you can’t do anything about the chaos that the unkind and moody fates bring your way – and you certainly shouldn’t see history moving toward a purpose.

A look at the other Great Commission passages

And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and My God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”             -John 20:28-29

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things which I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”      -Matthew 28:18-20

And they sang a new song, saying (to Jesus): “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.”     -Rev. 5:9-10

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father put in His own authority, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”                                                -Acts 1:6-8

Opened eyes looking at an opened Bible will lead to opened minds who finally understand God’s will for each individual life and the world!   

The 3 R’s of Evangelism according to Luke 24:46-47: 

1.        We preach the Risen Christ, risen after dying for our sins

2.        We preach Repentance

3.        We preach Remission of sins!

The Promise is the Person who is the Power – the Holy Spirit who indwells believers.

There are 7.75 billion people in the world in 238 countries

2.4 billion are “Christian” (31.2%); 597 million “Evangelicals” (7.7%)

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105 countries that are over 80% “Christian” (44%)

34 countries are between 60% and 80% “Christian” (14%)         USA = 77.5%

22 countries are between 40% and 60% “Christian” (9%)

20 countries are between 10% and 40% “Christian” (9%)

27 countries are between 2.5% and 10% “Christian” (11%)

27 countries are between 0.1% and 2.5% “Christian” (12%)

Only 2 report 0% – Maldives (pop. 512,000); Western Sahara (pop. 591,000)

46 countries are over 20% evangelical (19%)                                   USA = 26.8%

44 countries are between 10% and 20% evangelical (19%)

64 countries are between 2.5% and 10% evangelical (27%)

84 countries are between 0.1% and 2.5% evangelical (35%)

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Current Evangelical Growth Rate:

32 countries have a 5% or greater Evangelical growth rate (13%)

99 countries have a 2.6-4.9% Evangelical growth rate (42%)

82 countries have a 0.1-2.5% Evangelical growth rate (34%)      USA = 0.8%

26 countries have a NEGATIVE Evangelical growth rate (11%)   UK, Japan