I’ve been serving the Lord for 39 years and I’ve come to one conclusion: Those who do not think about eternity, they live a selfish life, they do not preach the gospel, do not give value to the church or the teachings of the church, they don’t have a prayer life, do not love the lost and do not invest their time in the kingdom of God.
I am here to talk to two types of people, because there are at least two types of people who are listening to me: Those who have never had an encounter with Christ and are not yet born again and then there are those people who have been in church for years, but live a selfish life and and they may be in danger when they enter eternity.
Hell is a reality and because of that, those who are saved have to warn and help those who are lost and departing to eternity without salvation.
The Bible says you are eternal! You will never end, you will spend a few short years on Earth , and Eternity somewhere else.
Did you know that nobody in the scripture talked more about hell than Jesus.
Let’s read Luke 16:19-31. Here there is a story that Jesus told about eternity and hell.
“19 There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. 27 Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment. 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”
Luke 16:19-31 NKJV
I’m here to say that that God wants everyone to be saved !
Hell is a real place, and God loved you so much that He came up with a Way to save you from it.
The Bible says that hell was not made for man but was prepared for the devil and his angels:”. Matthew 25:41
In this story where Jesus spoke about eternity, It indicates that this man did not have a second chance.
It also indicates that this man became an evangelistic. On earth he didn’t give attention to things of God, but in hell he wanted to reach his brothers.
Think of it. He was in hell and he wanted his brothers to be reached by somebody. To go to his home and warn his brothers not to come here. To serve God and be saved he doesn’t have to come to that place. He became an evangelist in hell! But we have to became evangelist right now.
Those people that have gone into eternity, may be in hell now , if they could come back to earth, they would warn you : Turn away from your sinful life, repent of your sins, receive Christ, be sure of your relationship with God, preach the Gospel , make disciples, don’t be lazy, don’t come to this place!
“Prepare to meet your God in judgment”
Amos 4:12 NLT
You know, we prepare for everything, except for death. We prepare for education, business, careers, marriage, old age, but not for the moment of judgment.
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,”
Hebrews 9:27
“For the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23
No one will escape the law of death. You will also die. You have a Body that is earthly and a Soul that is immortal.
With death, the body will go to the grave and in the dust it will be undone; the Soul, however, will go to Eternity.
If God has saved you from the awful judgment you deserved, now you belong to Him and He counts on you to save others. You’ve been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus; you are under divine orders.
Why are we are in church and why do we belong to this family? Why do we have our Cell groups?
My dear ones , this is what small groups are for. In here, I preach, you receive the word, you are blessed, you are saved, you are healed; but in the small group, it is a church that was designed to do more, to give and share with others what you’ve received.
I can’t go to your job, I can’t go to your school, I can’t go to your neighbourhood and to your family and relatives but after you’ve been saved, blessed and healed in the church you go and bring the word of salvation to them.
The small group are designed for you to take the Word that you’ve receive here and penetrated where I can’t. This is the way the church is supposed to work.
So I’m pleading with you: The eternal destination of the lost is in our hands, and you were saved to reach out the lost. We are not here to entertain people, or to live for ourselves, we must get together and do church the way Jesus intended.
You are in a small group to know each other, to love each other and to take the Word of God that was preached and share it with other hearts and souls.
Please live in community and be connected to a small group !
The heart of Shalom Christian Fellowship is Cell Groups.
Cell meetings are not a program of our Church, Cell meetings are not an event of the church, Cell Meetings are the Church. They are our church.
The Bible calls the church the body of Christ and a Body is made of individual cells. Within the Body of Christ, the Cells are the small group.
If the Cells in your body are healthy, your body is healthy, if your Cells are sick then your body is sick.
If our church has healthy Cells , we are going to be like the primitive church. Because even when the apostles were murdered and the church was under persecution, the Church kept growing and saving the lost.
For many churches it has become all about the weekend or Sunday service! We do not believe that.
In the beginning of the church, there were no weekend church. If you read the church history, the church had no building, yet that was the fastest period of growth of the church.
In the primitive church they were 120 people and the next day they were 3,000, then 5,000 thousand, without a building.
They had big Meeting and small meeting. Large group to Worship and small group for Fellowship. That’s the ways God wants to church to grow.
We should not just preach the message of the Bible, but we must also use the methods of the Bible
Many churches have the message but don’t practice the method!
The method of the Bible is simple: Temple courts – big meetings for worship and house to house – small meetings for fellowship.
You don’t need much to have a church, all you need to have a church is love! We can not love a crowd ! Love only happens when you have a manageable number of people. Small groups are better !
Small groups is not a program of the church, it IS the church! Only in a small group can we obey the Bible.
Just in the New Testament the phrase “ONE ANOTHER” is used 58 times!
Love one another, care for one another , pray for one another, encourage one another , greet one another , serve one another , share with one another , build up one another , forgive one another , teach one another , comfort one another, encourage one another and on and on…
58 “One Another” of mutual ministry of the body of Christ and that can not take place in the crowd .
I’m always teaching that if anyone is not part of Cell meeting they are not part of the church. If all we have is the Sunday service we have no church , no fellowship, no congregation. We can not obey the Bible on “One Another” in Sunday services !
Our mission is : bring them in, build then up, teach him, send them out.
Bring them in, build them up, teach them and send them out.
In the small groups, in our cells we bring them in, and in the cells we build them up, teach them one on one and send them.
We need to love people and meet their needs. Love attracts people and people are looking for love. But they are in the wrong place.
How to turn an unbeliever into a believer, a believer into a disciple, and a disciple into a minister and a minister into a missionary? I was turned into a missionary in a small group.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2 NKJV
What is the law of Christ? Love your neighbour as you love yourself.
When you are in a small group and you pray for someone that is in a tough time, you encourage them, you give an encouraging word , then you have just done “The One Another” bit. You have contributed to the family of God.
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV
My question is : Who are you looking out for? Who are you encouraging and building up? Can you name 3 specific people in our group of friends, in your family, in your small group that you’re looking out for?
That’s what it means to be a Christian! That’s what it means to be part of the family of God. That means that you are not just called to be loved and cared for but you were called to love and care others
All the stuff that you’re most embarrassed about in the world, God uses it for good in the church.
In The church the very thing you most embarrassed about, your bad habits, your pains, your sins, your mistakes, your weaknesses, God says: in my family I will use those to encourage other people.
Who could better help somebody who’s on the verge of a divorce than someone who was once in a broken marriage?
Who could better help someone who’s struggling with an addiction than somebody who’s been an addiction?
Who could better help someone who has been abused than somebody who has been abused?
Who could better help someone who has pain and suffering than you that has been so hurt?
God says : I can use it all ! I will use your pain, your addiction and sufferings, to encourage and to save others.
Many people are lost and God will use you to save them.
God will use everything that went wrong in your life as a testimony to save the lost.
Remember that the eternity of your friends, your neighbours, the people around you are in your hands!
I will finish up by talking to the two types of people who are listening to me: if you are not sure of your salvation, if you were not born again, today is the day! Give your life to Jesus, and start a new life next to Jesus.
You who are a Christian, repent of your selfish life. Be an evangelist now, love the lost and show God’s love to them! Invest in eternity, invest in people’s lives, invest in your cell, help your cell leader, offer your home to be a home group and be prepared for eternity.
God bless you.