When The Church Stops Going

The answer to false religion isn’t hatred, panic, or political outrage — it’s a church so convinced Jesus is Lord that it actually obeys His command to go and make disciples.

I. What Is Islam?

Root goes back to Abraham’s two sons — Ishmael (born of impatience, Hagar) vs. Isaac (the promised son). Islam traces lineage through Ishmael; the covenant line runs through Isaac to Christ. Birthright dispute becomes the Jesus dispute — John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 John 2:22–23.

II. Why Islam Is More Visible

Demographic and cultural factors, but also American Christian passivity. Matthew 5:14–16 — the light only has to stop shining.

III. Ask What Christians Have Been Doing

Matthew 28:19–20 — Go, make disciples, teach, baptize. Why haven’t we gone?

IV. How Would Jesus Treat a Muslim?

John 4, the woman at the well — truth without disposal. Correct error, love the person.

V. What Does Jesus Do With Hatred?

Opens with personal confession — fear from watching Muslim devotion vs. American church passivity, and the memes/posts circulating this week — 2 Timothy 1:7. Then Ephesians 6:12, Matthew 5:44 — hate the lie, not the person. Neighbor to evangelize, not an enemy to destroy.

VI. Bigger Than Islam

Same principle applies to any belief system or church practice that contradicts Scripture — tested against the Word by the practice itself (human authority alongside Scripture, added requirements for salvation, misplaced honor, experience treated as proof of the Spirit), not by naming denominations.

VII. Truth Without Love Is Not the Mission

Ephesians 4:15. “I love you. Follow Me.”

VIII. Can’t Evangelize Who You Despise

Jonah 4:11 — God’s compassion for Nineveh. Revival vs. removal.

IX. The Dormant Church

Romans 10:14 — how are they to hear without someone preaching?

X. Fear vs. Mission

Acts 17:26–27 — God determined the nations’ dwelling places so they’d seek Him. The mission field came to us.

XI. Truth and Religious Liberty

Participate in government and defend liberty — but legislation cannot accomplish the Great Commission.

XII. Final Challenge

Go and make disciples — not hate, not hide, not panic, not compromise.

Thesis: The greatest threat to Christianity in America may not be the growth of another religion — it may be a church that has forgotten why Jesus left it here.