Luke 9:23-26   23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me.  24 If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.  25 And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or forfeit your own soul in the process?  26 If a person is ashamed of me and my message, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in my glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.

To win in the world is to lose in eternity.  Our ultimate reward comes not in what we get here on earth, but what we give to God.  If we give our lives over to the world, that is it’s own reward.  But if we give our lives over to God, we gain eternity.  God desires more for us that what this world can offer.  He desires us to have true eternal life.

Matthew 9:35-38   35 Jesus traveled through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went, he healed people of every sort of disease and illness.  36 He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd.  37 He said to his disciples, “The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few.  38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.”

Harvesting is work.  You don’t just go out and yank up a plant.  You have to help it grow, tend to it, keep it away from weeds, then, when the time is right, you harvest.  We often think of evangelism is just about someone making a decision to come to Christ.  The truth is that it takes a lot of work to bring someone to the point of accepting Christ.  That is the hard work of a follower of Jesus.

Romans 10:14-17  14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?  15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  16 But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?”  17 Yet faith comes from listening to this message of good news– the Good News about Christ.

We do not come to Christ in a bubble.  We learn about Christ through the testimony of others.  And others come to know Christ through our witness.  The gospel relies on us to deliver the good news.  It is us telling others (and living out faith) that draws people to the transforming power of Christ!

Acts 3:18-23   18 But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had declared about the Messiah beforehand– that he must suffer all these things.  19 Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins.  20 Then wonderful times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will send Jesus your Messiah to you again.  21 For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his prophets.  22 Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’  23 Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be cut off from God’s people and utterly destroyed.’

With repentance comes refreshment.  God not only gives us a second chance, but gives us new strength to battle our temptations.  We aren’t told “don’t do that again” but “I will help you not to do that again, if you let me.”  God’s desire is to see us live refreshed through the Holy Spirit that we can face the temptations of life through His strength, not ours.