George Sweeting
February 2, 1999
9:30 am
Message Summary
George Sweeting began his message by asking the question, "What do we need to reach our generation?" Immediately, answering his own question, he stated that "everything we need begins with the letter 'A,'
- A lot of prayer
- A lot of vision
- A lot of commitment
- A lot of laborers
In his message, Sweeting included many fine examples of Christians like D. L. Moody who have labored before us, setting examples in evangelization and impacting their generation. He outlined reasons why we need to evangelize and have a passion for souls, based on Paul's example.
The first reason we need to evangelize is because "each Christian has an enormous opportunity and an enormous debt," Sweeting said. Paul's passion for souls is revealed in Romans 1:16 and Romans 9:1-3. He reminded us that the world doesn't owe us anything, rather, we are the debtors and we owe the world our lives. Sweeting told his own burden for his and his wife's homelands of Scotland and Germany. He realized his indebtedness to those countries and therefore began to evangelize those people in his early years of ministry.
The second reason we need to evangelize is because our knowledge makes us responsible. Thirdly, we must evangelize because our blessings make us responsible. Fourthly, we must evangelize because the command of Jesus makes us responsible, referring to Mark 16:15, the Great Commission to illustrate this point. Finally, we must evangelize because of our position in Christ, making reference here to 2 Corinthians 5:20, about Christians as ambassadors.
In closing, Dr. Sweeting listed several additional reasons why we are responsible to evangelize. He completed his message with a final reason for evangelization, saying, "Jesus said so, and that is all I need."
Student Response
Dr. Sweeting's message encouraged me to take up my responsibility to actively evangelize, as Christ has called us to. He mentioned that Christians can not escape being ambassadors of Christ. The moment we are saved, we become ambassadors by virtue of our salvation three-fourths good or bad. This reminder of my position in Christ challenges me to obey Jesus' words in Mark 16:15, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation," so that I will serve as a good ambassador.
—Becky Scott, Sophomore, Communications major