This past week we talked at FUEL about becoming "Fearless in Reaching the World". I simply wanted to run a quick recap on what we were trying to communicate during the Sunday talk:
1. God has Called Us to Reach the World: Not unlike the men we saw in the "Saving Private Ryan" video clip. We have not been called to just reach our friends who look and live like us. The soldiers in that video clip were dying to save a people overseas. A people who spoke a different language, who held different values, who looked and lived very differently than the soldiers themselves. These American soldiers, sent to deliver France from German occupation gave their lives to save the world... not America. So, we too, have been called to save the world, because ALL lost people matter to God!
2. When we enter the world we must remain true to who we are in Christ. Jesus spent time with the worst of sinners. The religious leaders of his day balked at his desire to love and reach truly lost people. But make no mistake, Jesus was true to the Father and to His identity all along the way. We, too, must remain true to who we are in God. Jesus tells us to be "in the world, but not of the world"... we must never compromise who we are in Christ in our effort to reach the world.
3. Our series this month is "Fearless" and Jesus, when he gave the Great Commission, seemed to understand that his followers would naturally be afraid of the influence, judgment and persecution of the world. So, He gives this promise at the end of the Great Commission, "Remember I am always with you, even to the end of this age". He encourages us with His presence. So, when we feel overwhelmed by the weight of the world and the hatred of the world, Jesus invites us to find rest in Him.
