The point of revival is to fire us up to share Jesus with the world. Wednesday night Pastor Greg shared with us the prophecy in Isaiah 60:1-3 where a great or gross darkness will be entering the world. I believe we are seeing the beginning of that. Look at all that is going on in our country and around the world. The dark cloud of evil seems to be growing everywhere. But there is hope, because not only are Christians sensing it, but so are non-Christians. People everywhere are looking for hope.

I have personally seen this because for the last 3 weeks I have gotten some very interesting comments to my revival posts. Up until now, not many, but suddenly, lots of negative comments. People are saying things God doesn’t exist, God is a fairytale, God is who you make it out to be. Many people have that opinion. Jesus says most will not find Him, which is sad because Jesus loves them all so much!

I am good with these negative posts, because I then get to share the Good News of Jesus with someone who is obviously searching. How do I know? Because if they thought I was just blowing smoke and I was just crazy why post a comment on a church site? They must know that trying to change our mind is a waste of time. But people are coming onto our site and commenting. They are looking for something, because if they didn’t care why comment.

As I talk with them an overriding theme has come about. They think religion doesn’t work. And they are right religion doesn’t work. Religion is man made and tries to convert people. No one wants to be pressured into anything, but religion does that. Jesus did not teach that. We need to stop making the mistake that we are to go out and convert people.

When we do that, we become combative, and we look like the world. Everywhere you look in the world someone is trying to sell you something to get your money. When our aim is to convert people, we look like that to them.

The other thing that happens is when it is our goal to convert people and we don’t see many, we think we have failed. When you haven’t. And then people stop sharing the Good News because they are discouraged.

Jesus said in Mark 16:15 go into all the world and preach the Gospel (the Good News) to all creation. Our job is to simply share the Good News.

What is the Good News? The classic: Jesus came and died for us, for our sins, because He loved us so much, He was willing to pay the penalty. Then He rose from the dead to defeat death and show us that we too could live forever in Heaven with Him. In a place where there is no sin, no tears, no pain, no bills, and think about it, He is God, He makes sure it lasts forever we just get to enjoy it. The Good News is Jesus simply wants to be in a relationship with us.

This is all great, but it doesn’t make sense to the lost. They have likely heard it over and over again. They also have seen Christianity become corrupt like anything else so there has to be more.

What Jesus needs you do is to share what the Good News means to your life. How does the story affect your life on a day to day basis. Revival is God wanting to affect your life on a day-to-day basis for good so you can share your experience with the Good News. The world does not need to hear another story from the Bible, they need to hear your living stories of Jesus loving you.

The world needs to see the difference that Jesus makes in something they can relate to. That is, you. They can relate to you. They can’t quite relate to Jesus right away because they don’t know Him, but they know you. You go through the same experiences they go through. What makes the difference is what they need to see. That is what makes Jesus real.

Share the Good News in a way that shows people how much Jesus means to you. Do it often. You can do it with your mouth, you can also do it with your actions, how you treat others, how you deal with adversity. So many ways to share the Good News. And remember that is all Jesus asks you to do, share the Good News. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to do the rest. Don’t put pressure on yourself or think no one is responding.

You never know what will happen. Sometimes it takes someone seeing the same thing multiple times before they give Jesus a chance. You might just be one of those necessary encounters that opens the door for Jesus to come in.

You want a revival to keep going in your life, share the Good News, your experience with Jesus, and Jesus will always give you something new to share because He loves you, and He loves those around you and wants to give them all the chances they need to come to Him.

But what if people get upset, make fun of me?

That will happen, but don’t let that stop you. It actually shows they listened. The fact that they said something means they are searching, something penetrated their thoughts. If they didn’t care, why say anything at all. Take that as win, and then let the Holy Spirit do His thing. You just need to keep sharing the Good News.

Your relationship with Jesus will go to the next level. It must or you will get discouraged and Jesus knows that. He wants you to share and He will be motivated to do more so you stay excited. One more bit of Good News, with Jesus there is also a next level in your relationship without end.

In Pennsylvania we have Gus. The second most famous groundhog in PA. (In case you are wondering Phil is the most famous). Gus tries to sell lottery tickets. Why do people buy lottery tickets? They want to have a better life. Gus says keep on scratching (scratch off tickets). Jesus says when you are with Him you have won the lottery. You are guaranteed a better life in heaven. It is not that far away (see last week’s post), and by the way I will be with you here till the end to bless you. So how about this phrase, Keep on Sharing! When you get to heaven one day Jesus will say, you kept on sharing, and you thought no one was listening but look all of these are here today because you shared.

How many people scratch off lottery ticket after lottery ticket in hopes of winning. Occasionally they hit a winner, but over time the cast majority, over 99% of all who play the lottery spend more on tickets than they ever win. But they keep scratching with that hope of winning it all. A lottery machine is by my ATM. Last week someone came in and won $100 on a ticket. They were so excited. They took all their winnings and bought more. Not one ticket was a winner. You know what they did next, they put in $20 more dollars to buy more tickets, all losers. So that person who was so excited to win $100 walked away $20 in the loss column.

We just need to keep on sharing because we have the ultimate lottery ticket. Anyone can win, and Jesus wants everyone to win. Jesus says we will be rewarded in heave for sharing Jesus. Not converting people but sharing the Good News. One more thought, those who ridicule your sharing will often repeat what you said to make fun of you. What if when they repeat what you said to someone and that person, didn’t mock it, and then began to think about it, and begin a journey to Jesus. Jesus then counts that in your column so you can’t really lose by sharing the Good News. the impact of sharing the Good News will blow your mind in the end.

All Jesus needs is for us to share and keep sharing and He will do the rest. You will be rewarded in heaven, but also here on earth as God blesses you with revival in your life so you can keep on sharing!

Remember Jesus loves and cares for you, I love and care for you, and you are awesome! (And let others know that, Keep on Sharing!)