By Larry Rosenbaum
“Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” Acts 20:26-27.
Many of you are familiar with the illustration used in discipling new believers of a wheel with four spokes. This wheel represents four things necessary for Christian growth: reading the Bible, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and witnessing to others. Without one of these spokes, the wheel does not move smoothly and the Christian does not grow. Today, it seems that most Christians have lost one of these spokes.
Pastors rarely speak about the responsibility of Christians to share the gospel. If they do, some will accuse them of legalism. We don’t think it is legalism to set aside time each day to read the Bible and pray. We don’t think it is legalism to be in church on Sunday morning. But somehow, if we set aside a regular time for evangelistic outreach, we are accused of being legalistic.
We must discipline ourselves to do the things God wants us to do. We set aside times to pray and study the Bible. We set aside times for church activities. Otherwise these things get neglected. Why can’t we set aside time for evangelistic outreach? Sure, there will be unscheduled times when God will lead us to witness to people. We should take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel with people as we go through the day. But we should also schedule times for organized outreach. Every Christian should be able to spare at least four hours a month for some kind of outreach to the unsaved– whether it be street witnessing, going to prisons or nursing homes, child evangelism, door-to-door, or some other outreach.
Our churches need to be declaring the whole counsel of God, but many have avoided one crucial point. It is the responsibility of every Christian to witness to the lost, both in his everyday life and through special outreaches. This message needs to be preached loudly and clearly in our churches.
