Jesus did not say go make churches. He said go make disciples. If you are not making disciples, are your failing your Christ?

Church is natural when disciples are made. It’s not a place – it’s body. Bodies don’t get made – they are crafted, built, nurtured, fed, and grown.

If you think people get saved in church, you’re right – but not exclusively. If you only think they can get saved there, you are failing as a Christian.

Too many Christians fall into the trap of thinking that if they invite their friends to church, they’re absolved of further responsibility for their actions – after all, isn’t this why we have pastors?

No – this is not why God gave pastors to the church. He gave pastors to tend the flock, feed the body, and care for their souls as undershepherds working on behalf of Christ. Pastors preach, teach, listen, pray, and countless other things – but theirs is not the sole bailiwick of evangelizing the lost. It is the universal duty of every Christian to evangelize; “preach the gospel always, if necessary, use words”. Our daily lives should be a screaming proclamation of what God has done in our lives. Our actions should always reflect the perfection of Christ. Will they always? No, but that is still what they should be doing!

Not everyone has been given the gift of speaking to crowds explaining the gospel in terms everyone can understand. Not everyone has been called to lead/shepherd a flock of believers. But every Christian has the Holy Spirit living inside of them, transforming them day-by-day more and more into the image of Christ.

Think about that: the Holy Spirit lives inside us! One of the persons of the Trinity resides within every believer working sanctification constantly!

Wow. God didn’t merely call us to Himself. He didn’t merely send His Son to die for us if we believe. He sent Himself to live in us to ensure we do!

If we live-out the gospel every day, if we proclaim God’s work in us through our actions (and inactions), if we show the lost around us that not only is there a God, but we know Him – the lost will respond. Some will respond with apathy. Some with hate. But some will respond wanting to know just what makes us tick.

And we have the awesomest answer for that question – God does. The Holy Spirit makes us tick. He has replaced our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh, and is daily renewing us until we are as close to Christ as we will get in this life.

If we do that – church will happen. New churches will spring-up. Existing churches will be revitalized by new believers (and by old believers no longer sitting on the sidelines letting others do all the work (and get all the glory in judgement).

The time is now for every believer to be a selfish Christian.

Tony Evans said, “God will work His purpose in this world. You can choose to participate, or God can do it in spite of you.”

Surely we must participate!