SOCIAL MEDIA

PART 4

A SOCIAL MEDIA THAT INVOLVES YOU

Sometimes I wonder how many believers are acting as spectators of the Gospel, when YHVH has called them to be participants. Have you ever wondered what would happen if every member, of every faith-based social media platform, was fully involved in the work of spreading the truth? The results would be phenomenal. A true faith-based social media platform should want to involve every member in the work of ministry. Because when you discover what your purpose is and begin doing what you should do in your local social media platform context, you will find more fulfillment than you have ever known before. Let me give you four basic reasons why each of us needs to be involved:

1. I AM CREATED FOR SPREADING THE GOSPEL:

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why did YHVH put me here on earth?” If so, you are not alone; most people that I meet seem to have a real lack of direction, a need for purpose but no real sense of what it should be. The good news is that YHVH is very clear that each of us have been created or perhaps I should say recreated in Yeshua Moshiach specifically to do works of ministry. “For we are his workmanship, created in Moshiach Yeshua unto good works, which YHVH hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) There are two fundamental truths in this passage that are important for us today: 1.) You are YHVH’s Masterpiece (YHVH has fashioned you) 2.) You are a Moshiach follower (YHVH has empowered you). Once you understand that these two truths apply to your personal situation you begin looking at yourself and your calling a little bit differently. If you run from these two truths, you will find yourself becoming increasingly uncomfortable with your faith, with your Gospel spreading social media platform and with your faith-based relationships. Why? Because you are trying to be a person that YHVH has not created you to be; you are putting a square block in a round hole. This is not something to run away from, but to run to, because it is in the discovery and implementation of these truths that I finally find fulfilment.

2. I AM GIFTED FOR SPREADING THE GOSPEL:

Not only does YHVH create us to spread His Word, He also gives us at least one spiritual gift so that we can function in that context at the highest and best level. “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of YHVH. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of YHVH; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which YHVH giveth: that YHVH in all things may be glorified through Yeshua Moshiach, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:10-11) Now this is not an exhaustive list of the spiritual gifts that YHVH gives, it is given to us as an example of the variety of ways that YHVH gifts His children. The emphasis here is that each of us needs to be fully involved in the area of the Word that YHVH has gifted us for. When we are not each using our spiritual gifts in the work of the faith-based social media platform you are part of, that platform suffers and those that are not using their gifts suffer too. Think about it this way: What happens in your life when one part of your body stops functioning? You get sick and you may die if one part of your body does not function. If you are a true believer, that means you are part of the body of Moshiach. If you are not functioning it makes the rest of us sick. It makes an unhealthy body. What if one day you receive a phone call from your liver? And your liver said, "I do not feel like functioning this year. I just want to be fed." You would say, "What kind of liver are you? Get back to work!" What if your heart called up or your gall bladder or spleen and said, "I don't feel like functioning in the body this year. I just want to be fed." You would say, "You get back to work!" A non-functioning body part is not doing its job, not pulling its weight, not serving its function. The strength of any faith-based social media platform is not the leaders or owners of that platform. It is in the members of that platform that understand the necessity of using their spiritual gifts in ministry.

3. I AM NEEDED FOR SPREADING THE GOSPEL:

In a part of New York City that has been rated the "most likely place to get killed," pastor Bill Wilson has been stabbed twice, shot at and had a member of his team killed: He tells this story of a remarkable person that grew to understand that she was needed in spreading the Gospel on her social media platform. "One Puerto Rican lady, after getting saved on that platform, came to pastor Wilson with an urgent request. She did not speak a word of English, so she told him through an interpreter, 'she want to do something for YHVH.' " He answered that he does not know what she could do,' The lady then asked him. “Please, let me do something”. Pastor Wilson answered: “Okay I will put you on a bus. Ride a different bus every week and just love the kids.” "So, every week she rode a different bus and loved the children. She would find the worst-looking kid on the bus, put him on her lap and whisper over and over the only words she had learned in English: 'I love you. Yeshua loves you.' "After several months, she became attached to one little boy in particular.’I do not want to change buses anymore. I want to stay on this one bus,' she said. "The boy did not speak. He went to Sunday school every week with his sister and sat on the woman's lap, but he never made a sound. Each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday school and all the way home, 'I love you and Yeshua loves you.' "One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and stammered, 'I-I love you too.' Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug. "That was 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon. At 6:30 that night, the boy was found dead in a garbage bag under a fire escape. His mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in the trash. "I love you and Yeshua loves you.' Those were some of the last words he heard in his short life, from the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who could barely speak English. "Who among us is qualified to preach the Gospel? Who among us even knows what to do? Not you; not me. But this woman who could not speak English received some holy fire. And so can you. “Now ye are the body of Moshiach, and members in particular.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) The issue surrounding involvement is not how much Bible training you have or whether you were raised in any faith-based upbringing or what your social standing is in the community. The issue here is a realization that no matter who you are you are needed in the work of the Gospel. There is going to be some little boy or little girl or some confused soul coming across the platform you are part of, that is going to have his/her life changed because you came to the realization that YHVH needs you to have an active role in His work. Do not let anybody ever tell you that you are not needed in following Yeshua Moshiach to spread His Word. You are an integral part of what a truthful fait-based platform do and you are needed.

4. I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR SPREADING THE GOSPEL:

The fact is that nobody is responsible for every work of ministry, but every faith-based platform should be responsible for the area of ministry that YHVH has given to them. “I therefore, the prisoner of Adonai, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1) Imagine that you were the first one to get this letter from Paul and you had slacked off in your responsibility of involvement. He is writing you from a prison cell where he is doing time because of his involvement in ministry and he bids you to be willing to give your life to the cause. -- I have tried, but it is really hard for me to work up a bunch of sympathy for people that tell me they are too busy to get involved in the work of spreading the Gospel. I am not saying that just because I am a believer, I felt the same way when I gave lectures on university and attended social media platform. Here I have Paul going to prison and eventually being executed for His involvement; I see the example of the early churches in Acts laying it all on the line in the same way; I see that men, women and children for thousands of years have given up everything they had to serve Yeshua Moshiach and it is very hard for me, looking at them to say, “Sorry, I just cannot get involved,” or “I worked hard for years, now it’s my turn to sit back and let others spread the Gospel.” “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” (Mark 8:34-35) True faith-based social media platforms are not supposed to apologize for asking people to give their all to the cause of Yeshua Moshiach; if we were to do that, we would cease being true followers of Yeshua. Yeshua says that true life is only experienced when we fulfil our calling to serve. It is only when we give our life as an offering of service that we begin to understand what the Kingdom of YHVH is really all about. You are responsible before YHVH and I am responsible before YHVH, for what we do with the responsibility of spreading the Gospel that He has given to us.

When Rosina Hernandez was in college, she once attended a rock concert at which one young man was brutally beaten by another. No one made an attempt to stop the beating. The next day she was shocked to learn that the young man had died as a result of the pounding. Yet neither she nor anyone else had raised a hand to help him. She could never forget the incident or her responsibility as an inactive bystander. Some years later, Rosina saw another catastrophe. A car driving in the rain ahead of her suddenly skidded and plunged into Biscayne Bay. The car landed head down in the water with only the tail end showing. In a moment a woman appeared on the surface, shouting for help and saying her husband was stuck inside. This time Rosina waited for no one. She plunged into the water, tried unsuccessfully to open the car door, then pounded on the back window as other bystanders stood on the causeway and watched. First, she screamed at them, begging for help and then cursed them, telling them there was a man dying in the car. Then one man, then another, finally came to help. Together they broke the safety glass and dragged the man out. They were just in time; a few minutes later it would have been all over. The woman thanked Rosina for saving her husband and Rosina was elated, riding an emotional high that lasted for weeks. She had promised herself that she would never again fail to do anything she could to save a human live. She had made good on her promise.

Like Rosina, we see people perishing around us with very few people who are able to help willing to get involved enough to save them. They are dying without a relationship with Yeshua Moshiach and they are dropping like flies. It is not that they cannot be saved or that we do not have the means to save them; what determines whether they make it or not is many times dependent on whether we are willing to get involved. If you are involved in the work of a faith-based social media platform today, I want to encourage you and praise YHVH for you because you have answered His call. There is nothing else that you will ever experience that will give you greater satisfaction. If you are a member of truth-based platform today and you are not involved in debates or giving your views or even asking questions, why not? What is holding you back?