“To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” —James 4:17
God has given us two secret weapons to use in our world today. What are they? First I will tell you what they are not: whining and complaining. It doesn’t do any good. Neither does boycotting and protesting.
The two secret weapons that God has given to the church are praying and preaching. We pray for our nation. We pray for people we will share the gospel with. And then we share the gospel with them.
These are spiritual weapons that are rarely used by the church today. A lot of times it seems as though we do everything except pray and preach. But these are things that we need to do a lot more of. In fact, I feel that to not be praying for our country and preaching the gospel actually could be a sin.
There are sins of commission, which are breaking God’s law. But then there are sins of omission, which are not doing what God wants us to do. We are told in the Scriptures, “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). It would be like walking by a burning building and knowing there are people inside but doing nothing to help them. If I don’t go in and try to save them myself, at the very least I could call the fire department.But if I were just to walk by as though nothing were happening and left them inside to die, that would be criminal.
When we see a culture today that doesn’t know God and can know God, when they need to be prayed for and preached to, doing nothing also could be criminal in a sense. We are living in a hostile culture right now. So let’s pray and preach.
I recently received your book mailing titled “Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing”. You always choose really good readings and I very much appreciate receiving these as many of these books I would never know existed. I happen to live in a very secular liberal area and sharing the Word is not welcomed. I am burdened with trying to open my neighbor’s hearts as we run out of time and being reminded I am to be a peacemaker. And agitating those who do not want to hear the Word causes more harm than good…just drives them further away. And their explosive responses are caustic. They do NOT want to hear. It is like that saying “Thou protesteth too much” However, your recent mailing (Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing) seems to be a gentle compromise. I have purchased several copies and am hoping they will be read. If not, the worst case is, God will add these opportunities to the list of times they turned away from hearing. But I try. Thank you for all your efforts. By the way, you were one of the first pastors who caught my ear. I was stationed in the Navy in San Diego 1984-1987 and every afternoon heard your Calvalry Chapel half hour radio show. I still have the tapes. I was so pleased to see you on TV this past year. God Bless you for all your years….and all the lives you have touched and made a difference in. (bad English) And I am sorry for the loss of your son. Sincerely, Nancy Plunkett in Maine.
I agree, Pastor Greg. Like you and Cathe, we lost our daughter, Melody, of 32 years just two weeks ago. In telling of our sorrow, we tell the story of our Lord Jesus Christ. For it is in him, we came to change our ways of walking with the Lord back in 2008. Boldly and together with him. Our two children had stopped going to church as adults on their own, however, we knew we had to show them what walking with God meant and that God loves them and wants them to be with him. What Jesus did for them once and for all. The Lord gave us the gift of knowing our daughter, changed her life back to Christ 2 years ago. However, 2 months ago, she came to a crossroads with Jesus and took His hand for real. She began to share the gospel with others. She went out witnessing with others from her church and was at church every time the doors opened. The Lord gave me a very special gift as in her last 20 days she wrote to her Heavenly Father from her servant heart in a new journal.
This I know, the only thing that truly counts and matters is Jesus… tell of Jesus… tell the gospel.. tell others how much Jesus loves them. God sent his only son for us because, He loves us more than anyone and more than we can know. Jesus, it is only Jesus.
Thank-you Pastor Greg and Cathe and the whole Harvest team for everything you do.
Lord God, forgive me because I’m a sinner, I want to obey Your word and Pray and Preach for my Country , I ask You to help me to do this. I love You with all my soul, with all my heart, with all my mind, in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Greg, I am with you 100%. I will continue to pray even more and tell people about Jesus!!’
Amen! And thank you for the reminder.
I pray for our nation. And with the upcoming election I pray Jesus will come even sooner.
So true. Thank you.
Thank you for this message. I do pray for my nation and will continue to do so. I know I need to share
the gospel with others more than I do and need to pray for the words to share with them. Thank you for this and I will make stronger effort to hear the Holy Spirit’s encouragement on prayer. I will pray and make a more active effort to share God’s word with many in these times and till He comes for us.
Amen …and may God grant us courage, wisdom and boldness in our preaching and in our prayers each and every day, until that great day, when we are taken up and brought to Him.
I like to think that there is no sin in protesting therefore what and how should one voice their concerns or is better to be led like a lamb to the slaughter?
Thank you Harvest and Pastor Greg for your daily blessing and sharing Gods word.
Thank you for this post. I am convinced that prayer is indeed a powerful weapon, so available to all and yet so neglected. One of my constant prayers is that we would believe that people lost and dying are desperate to hear the gospel and believing we would preach.
I am so happy to hear the number of people that attended the Harvest Crusade over the three nights and the number of them who received Christ into their hearts. I pray that they will start reading their Bibles and praying and not quit. That they will find out what a real relationship with Christ is. Thank you for what you do. So happy to be able to be a small part of it.