Stop Saving the Saved: The Anankazo Call to Fill God's House

Sermon outline

God's heartbeat is souls: He wants His house entirely filled, so every believer must go out with an anankazo spirit and boldly compel people to come in.

1. The excuses: they declined the call of God

   In the parable a man prepares a great supper and the invited guests all make excuses: a piece of ground, five yoke of oxen, a new wife. He explains the master as Jesus and the supper as the great gospel feast; the children of the house refused, so the master sent for the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind, who came. Busyness, careers and family are still the excuses people give, and he warns that a believer can start right and let the things of God slip.

   Illustration: God once spoke through a donkey to save a prophet who would not listen, so God can use anyone, even the people we look down on from our comfortable chairs.

   “Some of you are busy doing the wrong things.”

   • Luke 14:15-24
   • Philippians 2:12
   • Numbers 22:28

2. That my house may be filled: God's heartbeat is souls

   Wealth and healing are God's will, but the one thing on His heart in this parable is that His house be filled with anyone who will say yes: the downcast, the sinner, the addict and the hurting. He works through the Greek words: go means to travel and make an effort; hedges are the fences where people have barricaded themselves against the gospel, so you must find the gap; house means dwelling, temple and family; filled means entirely filled, not half full.

   Illustration: A rich man driving a nice car without the gospel is a poor man, and a poor man who has the Word is a rich man.

   “If you want to know what's on the heart of God, that's what's on the heart of God. That his house may be filled.”

   • Luke 14:23

3. Anankazo: compel them

   He spells the Greek word for compel, anankazo, and explains that it means to necessitate, drive and constrain by every means: persuasion, entreaty, even strong urging. It is a sense of urgency, because there is no time to lose. Church is not a social club but God's hospital, where lives are mended and people on the edge of suicide are shown a way out.

   Illustration: Ask the gardener and the domestic worker whether they are saved, and if not, say, come in the car, let's go to church.

   “Church is not a social club.”

   • Luke 14:23

4. Use every tool for the gospel

   The church runs crusades and goes on television not to be famous but to reach people it cannot reach any other way. Television, radio and money are tools, and the love of money, not money itself, is the root of evil. Prosperity and healing are part of the gospel, but do not camp there: seek first the kingdom, and use your wealth, your car and your money to plant churches and spread the Word.

   Illustration: Some Christians boast that they threw out their television; he tells them to correct their theology and buy a new one, because it can be used for the gospel.

   “We go on TV not because we want to be famous.”

   • Ecclesiastes 10:19
   • 1 Timothy 6:10
   • Matthew 6:33

5. After you pray, go and do

   He challenges believers who spend their time visiting, phoning and prophesying over people who are already saved instead of taking their gifts to the unsaved. He expects every Christian to pray daily as naturally as taking a shower, but after prayer the next step is to share the gospel. Every believer already has a ministry: the ministry of reconciliation.

   Illustration: In war the aeroplanes bomb a city first, and then the ground troops go in for hand-to-hand combat. Prayer is the air strike; sharing the gospel is the ground war.

   “Some saved people are trying to save saved people.”

   • 2 Peter 1:19
   • John 17:21
   • 2 Corinthians 5:18

6. 1. Anankazo is the only evangelism that will work today

   People in the world are no longer shy about how they live, yet Christians are shy about Jesus and nobody can tell outside church that they are believers. He calls the church to refuse to be shy and to be as bold as a lion, even when colleagues mock them at work, because in their hearts those same people are crying out for God.

   Illustration: Go into a shopping mall and say, hi everybody, I'm saved; when someone asks what saved means, you preach the gospel.

   “It will take a person with an anakazo spirit to win them over.”

   • Proverbs 28:1

7. 2. Many who need the gospel will never receive an invitation card

   The people who most need Christ are not in places where a church invitation reaches them, so believers must penetrate those places and compel them to come. Without anankazo the church will not be full. He would rather hear a testimony of five families brought to church than of five dreams.

   Illustration: Picture a Stephen in the church who holds meetings in Mayville, Hillcrest and KwaMashu, sees hundreds saved and the blind and maimed healed, and then goes to clear out the hospital.

   “Without anakazo, our church will not be full.”

8. The anankazo man and woman prepares for the great supper

   He describes the message as preparation for ministry, not a challenge to anyone's doctrine. Jesus raised up twelve men who shook the world, and the church needs the same driving force. Do not wait on God: God is waiting on you, so go, and invite people with excitement about what God is doing in your church.

   Illustration: A minister he calls Reverend Tom gave a devotional booklet to an air steward for the pilot, and the pilot welcomed him over the loudspeaker. He himself now asks bank tellers whether they are saved, offers them a book and invites them to church.

   “God's waiting on you. Don't wait on God. Just go.”