Brett Barnes Evening rally on December 31st, 2013 at the Campus Outreach Milwaukee New Years Conference
Brett Barnes begins this talk with the question, “What do we do with the Gospel?” In light of all that we have learned, what is the proper application to our lives? The reality is that someday all of us will die, and our lives here on earth will end. Each of our lives will be summed up in one single dash between the day we were born and the day we died. Brett challenges us by asking what will we do with our dash - with our brief life span of time here on earth? Is there any way to use this seemingly insignificant span of time in a significant way?
The good news is that the answer is yes. To explain how that is true, Brett directs us to John 12:24 where Jesus is speaking to the disciples: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” In order for our lives to have significance, if we want there to be spiritual fruit in our lives - we must die.
But what kind of death is Jesus talking about? To answer this we turn to Colossians 3: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you,” and Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23-24: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” To die means to prefer Christ and living as he did - a life of service and sacrifice - over your own life.
2 Timothy 2:2 says, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach other also.” Paul the apostle writes this to demonstrate the method of multiplication. If we die to ourselves and choose to invest in faithful men, the process will continue, and the fruit will multiply. The cost is great, but the reward is glorious. If you die, you will bear much fruit.