Inserra Shares Second Focus Week Message Feb. 12

OBU had the opportunity to hear from pastor Dean Inserra for a second time in three days, as he preached during the second chapel of Focus Week. The service took place Feb. 12 inside Raley Chapel’s Potter Auditorium. Inserra brought another challenging message to the student body, teaching from Matthew 7:21-23.

He spoke about what he calls “the mission field of unsaved Christians.” He shared an illustration about a wide road and a narrow road. He talked about how many are on the wide road, which represents the unsaved, and how few walk the narrow road, which represents those who are saved by placing their faith in Christ. According to Inserra, the wide road is our greatest mission field.

He shared four barriers with the students, barriers that hold Christians back from reaching the lost. The first barrier is belief, as Inserra explained that many people believe in God and say they are Christians but do not actually know what it means to be a Christian. The second barrier is morals, with Inserra explaining that while many people are morally good, they cannot get to heaven just for being a “good” person. The third barrier is heritage. Inserra shared that one becomes a child of God through adoption, not by heritage, meaning we aren’t automatically Christians simply because our parents or grandparents are Christians. Ignorance was the fourth barrier. He talked about how some people are ignorant to what the gospel actually is.

Inserra is the founding and lead pastor of City Church in Tallahassee. He is a graduate of Liberty University and attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He earned a master’s degree in theological studies from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is pursuing a D.Min. from Southern Seminary. He is an advisory member of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission’s Leadership Council with the Southern Baptist Convention and is also a member of Baptist 21.