326 Sermon Illustrations on Evangelism

I remember going down stairs in a hotel about midnight, with some

letters in my hand that I wished to mail. The clerk was not in the

office, but a policeman was there, and he said, "I will take your

letters and mail them for you." I thanked him and handed them to him,

and started up the stairs. As I went I heard a voice say, "Why did you

not speak to that policeman about Christ?" I said, "It was because it

would not do any good." The voice said, "How do you know?" I kept

going up all the time. "Why did you not speak to him about his soul?"

I said, "Lord, he did not look as though he had a soul." He was a very

fleshy-looking sort of a man. The voice said, "Are you going to preach

to others and then be cast away yourself?" I said, "No, Lord; I will

go back." I started down the stairs, but I heard the door shut, and

when I came into the office the policeman had gone. I had a sore heart

that night and a sore heart the next day. I said, "If I see that man

again I will preach Christ to him, if it is a possible thing." To my

great surprise and joy, he came into the afternoon meeting and sat

down on a back seat. There was a throng there, and I tried after the

benediction to go back where he sat, but the aisles were filled too

quickly and I could not do it. I thought I had missed another

opportunity. As I stood talking with some people, in a few moments the

aisle was cleared, and as I looked down it I saw the policeman coming

up toward the front. The tears were streaming down his cheeks, and he

said to me, "I have never known what it meant to be a Christian, but

if you will tell me I will commence now. Oh, I believe that all about

us, touching our elbows today, waiting in the store and in the street,

looking into our faces across the table, are people who are waiting

for the touch of a living, earnest Christian in order to be led into

the kingdom of God. -- B. F. M.

By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."

It was four months after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center that a moving postscript was added to the accounts of rescuer's heroism that we'd already heard. Some 343 firefighters lost their lives on September 11, going in to rescue people at a time when everyone else was fleeing. But a subsequent review of the fatalities revealed that 60 of those who died were off-duty when they rushed to the burning towers at the World Trade Center. Some of the firefighters who gave their lives that day had been at home or working second jobs when they heard about the fires at the towers and sped to the scene in taxis or in their own cars. A fire department spokesman said, "Those who were off duty joined those who were already working in a valiant and courageous effort to save as many lives as possible."

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Never Off Duty."

That actually is the mindset of someone who's concerned about saving lives. Now, you're not always rescuing, but you're never "off duty" when it's time for a rescue. That's a powerful picture of a follower of Jesus Christ whose life is truly available for Christ's service. You never go "off-duty." Not when lives are at stake.

Paul, the early Church's greatest rescuer, gave that kind of instruction to an up-and-coming rescuer, Timothy. It's in 2 Timothy 4:2, our word for today from the Word of God. "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season." You never know when the opportunity is going to pop up to talk about having a relationship with Jesus Christ or to reach out and let someone see Christ in the way you love them. Those things can't be scheduled or just what you do when it's your "job" to do it. You never know when the call is going to come from your Lord - "There's a life that needs a rescuer right now - and I'm sending you."

Now this doesn't mean you don't follow God's command to take time off ... or to focus on your primary ministry, your family ... or to take care of your everyday responsibilities. They are part of your life's work, too. But this "never off-duty" mindset is always open to opportunities in the everyday to represent Jesus. You're actually looking for, praying for those kinds of opportunities. And you're flexible enough to drop what you're doing when the summons comes from Headquarters to touch a life with God's redeeming love.

Maybe you've seen those city buses that have a sign on the front - "Out of service." If you understand what it means to belong to Jesus Christ, you should never consider yourself "out of service." Those who have joined Jesus in the spiritual rescue mission for which He came, for which He died, just do not go off duty - not when there are lives at stake.

No matter how uncomfortable they are, no matter how weary they are, no matter how they're feeling, no matter how risky it is, that tragic day at the burning World Trade Center, people showed up to make a difference who didn't have to be there. But they were rescuers - they knew that when there are lives at stake, you drop everything to do what you can to save lives. Can those whose job it is to rescue people for eternity do anything less?

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. 'Practical Answers to Real Life Issues'

*

A newly-hired salesman stunned his superiors with his first report, for it revealed that he was nearly illiterate. He wrote: “I seen this outfit who aint never got a dimes worth of nuthin from us an sole them sum goods.” But before he could be fired, a second letter arrived. It read: “I came to Chicawgo an sole them haff a millyon.”

The sales manager dumped the problem into the president's lap. The next day the staff was amazed to see the salesman's letters on the bulletin board, with this memo: “We ben spendin two much time tryin to spel insted of tryin to sell. I want everybody should read these letters from Gooch, who is doin a grate job, and you should go out and do like he done!”

Sometimes we get so preoccupied with appearances that we lose sight of our primary purpose. We care more about presenting the gospel flawlessly than we do about its real aim. How much better is a stumbling, stammering presentation of the gospel that points sinners to Christ than a cold, formal, precise address that leaves them unmoved!

When looking for opportunities to present the gospel, remember the priorities of that salesman. Then go out and “do like he done”! -- RWD

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

rbc@gospelcom.net C1996 RBC Ministries -- Grand Rapids, MI 49555 World Wide Web address: http:/www.gospelcom.net/rbc/odb/

Call her an unlikely commando. By day, Wendy Lawson is a middle-aged paramedic in Pittsburgh. But looks can be deceiving. Lawson is trained in the use of secret codes and disguises, and she knows how to avoid being followed. Her clothes are lined with secret compartments, and she volunteers for dangerous assignments behind enemy lines.

No, she doesn’t work for the CIA or British Secret Service. Wendy Lawson is a member of the Christian Secret Service’s “tract-bomber squad” — a unit that exists to counter the lack of religious freedom around the world.

Her last trip was in 1998. Wendy and sixty other Christians flew to Beijing, then scattered throughout the countryside. They waited for dark, and then they began to distribute tracts and Bibles in each town and village they came to. As Lawson told TIME magazine, when the locals woke up the next morning “there was Jesus everywhere.”

Well, as you might expect, this kind of activity is risky. Part of Lawson’s group was caught and deported — their material having first been burned. But this deters neither the Christian Secret Service nor other groups like it.

According to TIME, the number of Western Christians working clandestinely has increased over the past two years. These believers are willing to risk arrest and imprisonment to present the gospel to the Chinese, and to assist Chinese Christians.

That’s because they know two things about Christianity in China that it would behoove all American Christians to understand. First, the Chinese are open to the Christian message. They’ve discovered that materialism — whether Marxism or capitalism — cannot satisfy.

The result is a revival that has seen the number of Chinese identifying themselves as Christians mushroom from 2 million just thirty years ago to over 60 million today.

And that brings us to the second thing people like Wendy Lawson know. Those 60 million Christians pose a threat to the totalitarian regime in Beijing. That’s 60 million people whose ultimate allegiance is not to the state — 60 million people who can, with a little freedom and a little help, persuade another 60 million to join them — and so on.

So to minimize this threat, while maintaining a façade of religious freedom, the government would like to make the church a wholly owned subsidiary of the state. But many Chinese Christians want nothing to do with a state-sanctioned church, so they create what are known as “house churches.” It is these churches that groups like the Christian Secret Service come to help.

To be a Christian in China is to know what persecution really means. Beatings, imprisonment, and death are common: That’s how they treat people who take religion seriously.

The irony is that, while people like Lawson are risking their lives to help Chinese Christians, our own government in recent years has ignored them. In granting China Permanent Normal Trade Relations last summer, Congress totally ignored China’s human rights abuses, and now China has little motive to treat Christians better.

But while we’re working to change government indifference, people like Wendy Lawson need to stay on the job. Because, as she knows, the Great Commission doesn’t depend on government approval, and it doesn’t stop at our borders.

For further reference:

Beech, Hannah. “When the Smugglers are Working for Jesus.” TIME, 11 September 2000.

Copyright (c) 2001 Prison Fellowship Ministries

*

[Original illustration at this number was deleted for being obsolete]

My Source: North Marshall Messenger

Volume 5, #21, March 26, 2000

=========================================

Evangelize WHILE You Email

by David Lemmons

The use of Email continues to grow and grow and grow. Many of you now have Email access. Why not use this tremendous communication tool for the spread of the gospel?

I mentioned in one of the sermons about stewardship as a teacher that it is possible to be evangelistic each time you send an Email message. Most Email programs make it possible for you to create a "Signature File," which will place your name and closing greeting at the end of each Email message you send out, EACH TIME you send a message, AUTOMATICALLY. This is a convenience to you, in that you don't have to type in your name with each message you send.

It is very easy to add to your closing greeting and name another line which will direct interested recipients to the website of Truth for the World, where they can find all kinds of Bible study helps. Included at the TFTW site are the Bible Correspondence courses which they can study and fill out ONLINE. Each visitor to the website who fills out one of the studies is assigned a teacher, who receives their lessons by Email, grades them, and answers any questions that they might have.

If YOU would like to participate in sending prospective students to the TFTW website, just add this line to your signature file:

Study the Bible at: \webpage{http://www.tftw.org}

It will have to be typed precisely as it is above. You cannot leave off any part of the URL (there are no spaces between any of the letters). If I can be of help to you in setting up this signature file on your Email program, let me know. It just might happen …

* that a message you send out leads some lost

soul to find the truth at the TFTW website,

* that they obey that truth, and

* that they become a part of God's family,

the church.

THINK ABOUT IT.

I don't believe a day has passed by in the past couple of months that I have not had some lesson to grade from an online student. If you would like to become an ONLINE TEACHER for TFTW, just let them

know at: tftworld@tftw.org

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2).

Knowing the power of the twenty-six-letter alphabet, Benjamin Franklin said: “Give me twenty-six lead soldiers and I will conquer the world.”

Few things are more powerful than the printed page. In the fifteenth century, Richard Gibbs wrote a tract titled “The Bruised Reed” which led to the conversion of Richard Baxter. Baxter became one of England's greatest preachers.

Baxter wrote more than 100 books. One of them, "The Call To The Unconverted," led tens of thousands to Christ, including Philip Doddridge. Doddridge was called to preach and one of his books, "The Rise and Progress of Religion," led William Wilberforce to Christ. Wilberforce probably did more to abolish slavery from the British colonies than any man in England's history. His book, "A Practical View of Christianity," led Leigh Richmond to Jesus. Richmond's booklet, "The Dairyman's Daughter," brought thousands to Jesus.

________

William S. Deal, "Paths of Revival" (no publisher given, 1984), p. 1

[see also #9841]

The following excerpt is from a Quiet Revolution, (Waco, TX: Word,

1977) by John Perkins, a black evangelist and social worker in

Jackson, Mississippi.

Many years ago, before the term "civil rights" was a household

phrase, one Southern state was reforming its penal system. The latest

refinement was the installation of the state's first gas chamber.

The day had come for the chamber to be used for the first time. The

victim, a black man, was brought into the chamber and strapped into

the chair. He became hysterical and began to scream, "Save me, Joe

Louis! Save me, Joe Louis!"

He had been found guilty by the courts. He paid the price. I

don't find any menaing in that . But his words, his last words, could

be the words of a whole generation of black people, few of whom have

heard the real truth about salvation through Jesus Christ. They

represent the majority of black people looking for something to save

them, to make them whole, to give them meaning and peace and

happiness, but who are without access to the central truths of the

gospel.

Evangelist Vance Havner, preaching at the Moody Bible Institute's

Founder's Week in 1974, stated: "Evangelism is to Christianity what

veins are to our bodies. You can cut Christianity anywhere and it'll

bleed evangelism. Evangelism is vascular, it's our business. Talk

about majoring on evangelism, you might as well talk about a doctor

majoring on healing. That's our business."

Evangelism no longer takes place through programs or Sunday

mornings. Most come to Christ through a friend.

- Leith Anderson, {Fact and Trends, }May 1997, p. 4{ }

An aged farmer visited his son, a popular senator in Washington,

DC. The father was a zealous Christian. When introduced to the

ambassador from Belgium, the father earnestly asked, "Sir, are you a

Christian?" The son was greatly embarrassed by the question. Before

the ambassador could reply, the son changed the conversation. Shortly

thereafter, the father became ill. He died. Hearing of his death,

the ambassador sent flowers. A note attached to them brought tears to

the eyes of the senator. The note read, "He was the only man in

America who asked me if I was a Christian."

Submitted by: David Zimmerman

Email - david.zimmerman@iolok.com

An emergency is a situation of extreme need. It is often a matter of life or death, of now or never. Remember the bombed remains of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Trapped within were injured and crippled survivors. Rescuers poured through the rubble searching for the living. Nearby, wives, mothers, husbands, and fathers wept for their loved ones, their hearts crushed in dismay. It was an emergency.

This week we heard of the terrible earthquake that shook Taiwan. Sirens wailed. There was a desperate scramble to find the living among the dead. All over the island, and even from around the world, many waited for word from relatives and friends that all was well. It was an emergency.

We admire those who rush to give aid in the emergencies. Firefighters with smoke-stained, sweat-streaked faces are highlighted in the evening news. Caring citizens who donate food, clothing, and services are treated like heroes. And why not? Who can find fault with their dedication and sacrifice - in an emergency.

But there is a greater emergency in the world - that of rescuing hell-bound sinners from an eternity of torment. It is the work of sending missionaries to fight the forces of paganism, communism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and atheism to shine the light of the Gospel in lands entombed by false religions. It is an emergency because the lost are perishing. It is an emergency because the need is so great. It is an emergency because time is short and the laborers are few.

Open doors may suddenly close. Multitudes die every day without hearing the Gospel. I tell you, it is an emergency, and it must be treated as such. So when you consider what you are going to do for world missions, please, treat it like an emergency - for there is no greater emergency than that of rescuing souls from an eternal Hell

My Source:

GOSPEL GLEANER

Volume 12, Numbers 2, April-June 1996

Author: Richard Kirkland

~~~~~~~~~~

MY HEART’S DESIRE AND PRAYER TO GOD

by Richard Kirkland

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1).

Perhaps no man, other than Jesus Christ, has ever lived and preached with as much fervent desire to see others saved as did the apostle Paul. He began to preach almost from the very moment of his conversion, “Immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20). It did not matter where he was, nor what circumstances surrounded him, as he preached. He preached both in Jerusalem and foreign cities. He preached both in the synagogues and in prison. He preached on the river bank as well as in the midst of the Areopagus. For him, the important thing was to preach the salvation that is Christ Jesus.

He preached to both the rich and the poor. He preached to the mighty as well as to the weak. He preached to women, prisoners, government officials, philosophers and kings. He was busy, “testifying to Jews, and also to the Greeks” (Acts 20:21). He felt a duty to preach the gospel to all men. He said, “I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome also” (Romans 1:14-15).

But Paul’s preaching did not always result in a favorable response from people. His own people (the Jews) often opposed him, causing him to turn to the Gentiles with the gospel of Christ (Acts 13:45-48). They even followed him from city to city instigating trouble and stirring up the people against him. They did not hesitate for a minute to stone Paul and drag him out of the city, leaving him for dead (Acts 14:19). Some forty Jewish men even took a vow not to eat or drink until they had killed him (Acts 23:12). When Paul recorded the things he had suffered for the cause of Christ he included: “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one” (2 Corinthians 11:24).

Yet, Paul records, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1). The depth of his desire for their salvation is discerned by his words in Romans 9:1-5:

“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are the Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”

Paul must have truly loved his people. Nothing else can account for him continuing, in the depths of his heart, to desire their salvation. He knew that they were lost without the gospel of Christ and if it cost him his life at their hands he was going to continue to preach to them, hoping that some would be saved.

Do we have the same heart’s desire that Paul had? Do we really want our families and friends and nation to be saved? Do we even believe that they are truly lost if they do not obey the gospel of Christ? Does our record of service indicate that it is really our heart’s desire to see them saved? May God help us to prove the sincerity of our desire, as Paul did, by preaching the gospel of Christ, without fear or favor, at every opportunity.

— P. O. Box 604, Cabot, AR 72023

VIII. THE CHALLENGE TO

EVANGELIZATION OF A LOST

WORLD

IN A DAY OF SPIRITUAL APATHY

We labor beneath the great commission in which Jesus

says, the "world," "all nations," "all the world,"

and "whosoever" constitutes the field of our

operation (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke

24:46-49; John 20, John 21, 23). Jesus declared that "the

field is the world" (Matthew 13:38). "The regions

beyond" is our field (II Corinthians 10:15, 16). We

must see that "Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria" hear

the gospel (Acts 1:8). As J.M. McCaleb wrote, "Where

sin has gone, must go His grace ..." Accordingly,

"From Greenland's icy mountains to India's coral

shores" we must be busy about the Master's business

in preaching the gospel of Christ.

Concerning this lost world, we must catch a vision!

As the old Indian chief said to his son who showed

the greatest amount of promise, "You have a vision in

your soul!" So it must be with each of us in the

Lord's church, so it be with each individual

congregation; we must have a "vision in our souls!"

This vision must be of a world that is lost, but

reachable. To help us catch this vision, let us

observe the following breakdown as prepared by

someone: if the population of the world could be

compressed into a community of 100 people, 75 of them

would be uneducated, underclothed and underfed; 25

would belong to the Roman or Eastern Catholic

churches; 15 more would be Confucianists or

Buddhists. Only eight would be believers in Christ to

some degree. Only 8 out of 100 would be "Protestant."

Now, how many do you suppose of this number would be

New Testament Christians? The sad fact is we would

not find one out of 100; that is, in proportion, the

membership of the Lord's church is less than one

percent of the world's population.

Now, having seen a world that is lost, let us also

see a lost world that is ripe into harvest (John

4:35). The (1) spirit of ecumenity now existent, (2)

the latitude now being given in Catholicism, along

with the unrest therein, (3) the unrest and alarm

existent in Protestantism which has been brought on

by near complete abandonment of the word of God, with

such an abandonment having a toll on the moral

standards of our nation, and (4) the fact that many

are sin-sick, confused, bewildered (as is evidence by

so many turning to cultism, astrology, witchcraft,

etc.), speaks the indisputable fact that the time is

"now" for us, as never before, to preach the pure,

simple, beautiful and powerful gospel of Christ.

Let us also observe that this lost and ripe world is

indeed reachable with the gospel. Brother Cline Paden

has worked out a chart revealing that if two million

Christians living in the United States would give 17

cents per day for 8 years, that one billion dollars

would be available for mission work. With such, 5,000

missionary families could be adequately supported in

50 "key" cities of the world. Now if these 5,000

missionaries should convert only one person per

month, this could result in ten congregations

strategically being scattered about in each of these

key cities with 960 members in each! With such

obtaining, surely we would have a stronghold from

which to more adequately reach out into the varying

sections of the world. However, as interesting and

helpful as these statistical studies are, we can know

otherwise the fact that we can reach the world with

the gospel of Christ since our Lord has given us His

commission, and He gives no impossible commands.

Now to evangelize the whole world, we must correct

the hindering causes that have stood as obstacles in

our path: (1) our sense of values is warped; (2) we

have dulled our consciences on excuses; (3) we have

allowed our spiritual fervor, urgency and ardor to

die down to barely a spark; (4) we have allowed our

convictions to waver; (5) we are not convinced that

we are lost if we do not; (6) we have left evangelism

to the "professionals;" (7) we are guilty of the sin

of substitution; (8) we have become entangled in

congregational organizational church machinery and

promotion till we never get out to where the people

are; (9) we have ceased to appreciate the

exclusiveness of the cause; (10) we are majoring in

minors; (11) we have closed fists rather than open

hands; (12) we have lost the joy of our salvation;

and (13) we are substituting training for teaching,

worship for work, methods for the message, plans for

performance, and words for works.

--1992 Fort Worth Lectures

From: “John Gaines” PreachersResources, 99-0312

The Work Crew

A fellow stopped at a rural petrol station and, after filling his tank, he paid the bill and bought a soft drink. As he stood by his car, drinking his Pepsi, he noticed a couple of men working along the roadside. One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move on. The other man came along behind and filled in the hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was about 25 feet behind filling in the old.

The men worked right past the fellow with the Pepsi and went on down the road. “I can’t stand this,” said the man, tossing the can in a recycling bin and heading down the road toward the men.

“Hold it, hold it,” he said to the men. “Can you tell me what’s going on here with this digging?”

“Well, we work for the county,” one of the men said. “But one of you is digging a hole and the other fills it up. You’re accomplishing anything. Aren’t you wasting the county’s money?”

“You don’t understand, mister,” one of the men said, leaning on his shovel and wiping his brow. “Normally there’s three of us -- me, Rodney and Mike. I dig the hole, Rodney sticks in the tree and Mike here puts the dirt back. Now just because Rodney’s sick, that don’t mean that Mike and me can’t work.”

All too often our work for the Lord falls into that category. We have good intentions and think we are doing something important for the advancement of the cause of Christ. In reality, we just doing busywork because an essential ingredient is missing from the grand scheme of things.

In the story, Rodney the tree-planter was absolutely necessary for the work of the hole digger and the hole filler-upper to have any significance. Without the tree planting, they were working for no purpose.

In the Lord’s work, evangelism is the essential ingredient. Without work being directed toward winning souls, we’re just staying busy for no purpose. Getting to heaven is why we do what we do. Whenever we lose sight of that all-important objective, the life of a Christian is purposeless.

John Gaines

Leonard Street Church of Christ

2730 W. Leonard Street

Pensacola, FL 32505

(850) 432-3727

My Source:

THE MESSENGER

Volume 26, #45, 6-13-99

Karns church of Christ

Author: Bill Pratt

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

YOU AND CHURCH GROWTH

by Bill Pratt

Charles Spurgeon was one of the most popular preachers of the last century. He preached to over 5,000 people each Sunday in the London Tabernacle Church. When asked how he built such a large congregation he replied, "You asked me how I got this congregation? I never got it at all! my congregation got my congregation. I had 80 when I first preached. In a short time I had 200. Everyone in the congregation was urging a neighbor to come to the service. Soon we had 400 and then 800. This is how our people got our congregation."

The secret to church growth really hasn't changed since Spurgeon's time. The best way to build up the church is for every member to be actively involved in personal evangelism. When friend invites friend, and neighbor brings neighbor, souls are going to be saved and the church will grow.

Friendship evangelism, where we work through the ties of friendship and trust that already exist has always been the most effective method of winning souls. The many studies done in the area of church growth bear this out.

The Fuller Institute of Church Growth conducted a study of why people become members of local congregations and discovered that...

Only 2 to 3% were members because of the

programs of the church.

Only 3 to 5% listed the preacher as the reason

for their membership.

Visitation and door knocking resulted in

winning only 1 to 2% of those

surveyed.

Meetings and campaigns had reached only

.0001%.

What the study revealed was that 70 to 90%

of those who became church members

did so through the invitation and influence

of a friend, relative, or neighbor.

Suddenly, Spurgeon's statement, "My congregation got my congregation," makes sense.

What neighbor, friend, or relative do you know that needs to be a Christian? Why not invite them to church this Lord's day? The chances are in your favor that they will come. All they may be waiting on is an invitation from YOU.

My Source: BEACON

Bellview church of Christ

Volume XXIX, #1, January 3, 2000

Author: Unknown

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

THERE'S A WORLD TO BE WON FOR CHRIST

It is unbelievable, but if all the unsaved people in the world were to line up single file at your front door, the line would reach around the world 30 times. And horror of horrors! This line would grow by 20 miles each day! If you were to drive 50 miles per hour for 10 hours a day, it would take you 4 years and 40 days to get to the end of this line of lost souls. And by then it would have grown by another 30,000 miles!

Look out your front door! See lost souls! Read John 4:35.

Many years ago there was a medical missionary in Africa named George Harley. He built a small clinic and a chapel next to it. Very quickly the natives started coming to the hospital but for some reason they refused to go to the church. For the better part of four years the only people who entered that chapel were Dr. and Mrs. Harley and their young son.

One day, though, Harley's son fell off a ledge and hit his head on a sharp rock. The missionary ran to the youngster's side, but he could not save the boy's life. A casket was made for the lad from old shipping crates and a memorial service planned. Only the two missionaries attended, and not a word was spoken. Dr. Harley recounted, "I could not speak, I could not pray, so finally I just picked up the casket and put it on my shoulder and started to carry it out to the place where he would be buried. As we walked along the road, a man came alongside and asked, 'Great Father, what do you have in that box?' I replied, 'It's my son. He died last night.' Then the man took one end of the casket and I took the other, and we carried it to the graveside where I broke down completely and began to cry, 'Why, God, why?'

Then man looked at me and then ran back to the village with the announcement, shouting it from house to house, 'The Great Father cries, just like us. The Great Father cries just like us.' Then they came running from all directions and put their arms around us, and tried to comfort us. And from that time on, every time we had a service in the chapel, those who were not in the clinic were in the chapel. And that's how we finally got through. But oh, the cost."

-- Paul W. Powell, "How to Start a Church Fire" p. 43-44.

Submitted by: John Walls

Email - jmichaelwalls@juno.com

Sumner Wemp relates an illustration he took from Jerry Thorpe, a pastor in Odessa, TX.

"Ask a congregation, 'How many of you were saved listening to a radio broadcast? Raise your hand.' Usually not more that 1 or 2 out of a thousand. How many were saved listening to a TV preacher. You prayed to receive the Lord Jesus as a direct result of the message?' Again only one out of a thousand say yes. How many were saved when you saw "Jesus Saves" on a big rock or a sign. Usually none. You can add others. 'When you were saved, some person led you to Christ or some preacher, and their face comes to your mind. Raise you hand.' Almost every hand goes up. then I have everyone look around and shout out, "Folks there it is. Here is the key. It is PEOPLE! God uses people to get people saved.

Maybe the worse lie the devil every invented is, 'We cannot all be soul-winners.' Jesus said, 'Follow me and I will MAKE you to be fishers of men.' Then Jesus also said, 'I sent you to reap.' My pet statement is, 'If you want to pick fruit you got to plant seed.' Every farmer knows that all too well. Somehow churches and Christians have forgotten that fact and we just are not planting enough seeds today. But 'while men slept the enemy filled the field with tares' Matthew 13:25. He has done a fantastic job while we have slept.

Please don't let the devil lie to you. You can wins souls if you will just plant enough seed. I want this for you so bad I could scream and I mean that with all of my heart. God said, 'The harvest is plenteous.' Do you believe it? Then pray for souls and plant seeds! WE CAN CHANGE PEOPLE, (2 Corinthians 5:17) AND THROUGH THAT CHANGE THE WORLD! If I did not believe that I would quit preaching and get me an honest job."

We live in a time when Christians receive a lot of attention in the media -- unfortunately, not always favorable. In fact, favorable portrayals of Christians today in film and television are almost nonexistent. And that can keep people from considering the Gospel. Bad impressions don't matter for our sakes, but we should care how they reflect on Christ and the Gospel.

FEARLESS FAITH is John Fischer's new book about the place of Christians in culture. In it he reexamines a believer's role in the world and concludes that some sort of public relations campaign will never change bad impressions. They can only be changed through personal relationships. And that's a problem because so few Christians cultivate ongoing relationships with non-Christian friends.

Sometimes such relationships are discouraged by warnings against the bad influence unbelievers can have on Christians. But whatever the reason, most Christians in this country are as separate as possible from unchurched people.

Statistics show that two years after conversion, most Christians have lost all normal contact with friends outside the church. Many Christians today can't name one non-Christian with whom they do anything on a regular basis -- someone they would call a friend.

Some would say this separation is required in order to live a holy life. Yet no one lived a holier life than Jesus, Who was called a friend of sinners because of the company He kept.

It's easy to be around those who believe what we believe, but it's a different thing being around those who challenge our faith and whose lifestyle and language may offend us. But as Howard Hendricks said years ago, "I can't think of a better place for a non-Christian to sit down and light up a cigarette than in the home of a Christian where he can hear about and experience the love of God." That doesn't mean that we encourage them to continue their practices -- I've been with people who have taken the Lord's name in vain, and I explained to them why it offends me.

Fischer goes on to tell us about a pastor who served as a short-term missionary in France. Part of his job was to knock on 4,000 doors and to leave a card that the person could fill out and mail in for a free Bible and study guide. Out of 4,000 homes, there was not one response. Reflecting on his experience, the pastor said that if he had the opportunity to do it all over again: "I would move into that neighborhood and love my neighbors."

Of course, it sounds so simple when we say it, but it's so fundamental and basic we sometimes overlook it. The fact of the matter, you see, is we're already in the neighborhoods. We don't need to go to France. We don't need to go anywhere. All we need to do is open our front doors and our eyes and notice the people who live around us.

God's plan for reaching the world is quite simple when you come right down to it. It's you and me making friends with people who don't know Him yet.

BreakPoint commentaries are, in part, designed to help you and encourage you to reach out to others and discuss the events of the world with them from the point of view of a Christian worldview. The problem is But we'll never engage the culture if we have no non-Christian friends. John Fischer's book, FEARLESS FAITH, is a challenge for us all to break out of our usual patterns and engage the culture by engaging people, one at a time. That's the way the world is changed.

For further reading:

John Fischer, FEARLESS FAITH: LIVING BEYOND THE WALLS OF "SAFE" CHRISTIANITY (Harvest House, 2002).

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Copyright © 2002 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

The major change in Article 11 of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message is in the final sentence of the article: "It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ."

The words "verbal witness" were added to the 2000 statement. These two words were absolutely needed, and they added a component to the mandate of missions and evangelism that was conspicuously absent in previous statements.

Perhaps a current illustration can illuminate the importance of a verbal witness in the evangelistic mandate. I recently provided a brief consultation with a denominational group outside of the Southern Baptist Convention. My assignment was to offer counsel and provide insight into the reasons the regional denominational group was declining.

In the course of my research, I asked if the group provided any evangelistic training for their churches. The key leaders proudly showed me how they had developed a series of training modules which had been eagerly accepted and utilized by a majority of their churches.

My next step was to examine the evangelism training provided by the denominational group. The material was well done. Teaching units were available to the churches on CD or videocassette. The quality of the audio/video material was excellent.

But one aspect of the training concerned me. I could find no material which provided training on how to present a verbal witness for Christ. Thinking that I must have missed something, I asked the leaders what type of verbal witness training they provided. Their answer was a curt and succinct, "we don't."

Seeing the perplexed look on my face, they explained that it was their role to provide lifestyle evangelism training. But, they insisted that it was not their place to train others to tell about Jesus. Such an approach, they told me, presumed that Christians had a monopoly on truth.

And such a presumption from their point of view reeked of arrogance. They would be happy to train people in a Christian lifestyle. And if others inquired of their members, they could certainly tell them about Christ. But they would never be so narrow-minded as to insist that others hear the gospel message.

Such is the danger of speaking about missions and evangelism without explicitly mentioning the mandate to tell the good news. A Christian lifestyle witness is imperative. It provides the foundation from which a verbal witness can be heard with credibility.

But a lifestyle witness alone is insufficient. The Apostle Paul was clear on this issue when he wrote the church at Rome: "How then will they believe in Him whom they have not heard" (Romans 10:14a). As Paul admonished Timothy, we are to do the work of an evangelist, clearly speaking the good news of Christ.

The key changes in Article 11 of the 2000 BF&M are the additions of "verbal witness" and "the preaching of the gospel to all nations." Both changes rightly correct earlier statements' omissions of any type of explicit verbal proclamation of Christ. And both changes are much more consistent with the biblical teachings which command us to tell the good news to everyone.

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Full text of Article 11: Evangelism and Missions

It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man's spirit by God's Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.

Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-6; Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 9:37-38; 10:5-15; 13:18-30, 37-43; 16:19; 22:9-10; 24:14; 28:18-20; Luke 10:1-18; 24:46-53; John 14:11-12; 15:7-8,16; 17:15; 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2; 8:26-40; 10:42-48; 13:2-3; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 3:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; Hebrews 2:1-3; 11:39-12:2; 1 Peter 2:4-10; Revelation 22:17.

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Rainer is the dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

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"It's unsinkable!" That was the proud boast made by the builders of the Titanic, the magnificent ocean liner that on April 14, 1912, went down during its maiden voyage. Most of the 2,100 passengers were sent to their deaths.

In an article for the Danish magazine Evangelisten, Ingvald Andersen told about one of the passengers, John Harper, who was a fervent witness for Christ. According to a survivor, on the evening of the disaster John had led a young Englishman to faith in the Savior.

Soon afterward, John went for a walk on the deck with his daughter and a niece. As they were admiring the spectacular sunset, Harper said, "It is going to be beautiful in the morning."

For him and any other Christian who died that night, the next morning was beautiful. Theirs was sunrise on their first day in heaven. Andersen, as he related all of this, urged his readers to be certain of their own relationship to Jesus.

No matter how safe and serene your life may be, it can end in shipwreck at any moment. So if you have never done so, you need to do as that young Englishman did–accept Christ as your Savior now. Then, regardless of when or how you die, yours will be sunrise in heaven. –VCG

When life is over and daylight is past,

In heaven's harbor my anchor is cast,

When I see Jesus my Savior at last,

Oh, that will be sunrise for me! –Poole

© 1924 The Rodeheaver Company

Salvation deferred too long becomes the tragedy of too late.

Ve své absolventské práci na téma: Evangelizace jako poslání køesana jsem udìlal prùzkum ve tøiceti sborech ohlednì evangelizace. Položil jsem otázku: „Která metoda evangelizace je podle vás nejúèinnìjší v souèasné dobì v naší zemi? Nabídl jsem 5 forem evangelizace: osobní, autentická, evangelizaèní akce, hromadná a poulièní.

• 71 % dotazovaných dalo na první místo Osobní evangelizaci;

• 55 % dalo Autentickou evangelizaci (dobrý pøíklad køesana)

• na tøetím místì byla evangelizaèní akce 48 %;

Super Bowl Champion Kurt Warner, the St. Louis Rams quarterback, has used his exposure as an opportunity to share his faith. Last Fall at a banquet in St. Louis Warner was introduced as an NFL player who was a Christian. He corrected the introduction by saying, “I'm not a football player who happens to be a Christian, I am a Christian who happens to be a football player.” Warner shares his faith in a number of ways. He has printed his own football trading cards, featuring the story of the day he turned his life over to Christ, so that he'll have something meaningful to give people who ask for his autograph. Warner also saw the Super Bowl as an opportunity to share his faith in Christ with a large audience.

Kurt Warner has simply taken the opportunity in whatever setting to share his faith. None of us are likely to have such a public exposure as Warner, but faith shared from one heart to another heart is how the message of hope found its way to Kurt Warner and it is how it will find its way to our friends and neighbors.

EVANGELISM

A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean.

As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water.

Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said, "Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you are doing."

"I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they'll die up here from lack of oxygen."

"I understand," my friend replied, "but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can't possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don't you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can't you see that you can't possibly make a difference?"

The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied, "Made a difference to that one!"

The world is filled with lost souls; people who need Jesus as their savior. Although we individually cannot get to everyone, we can start spreading the good news of Jesus with one person at a time.

Chicken Soup For the Soul

Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, HCI, pp. 22-23.

I was on the plane, returning from ministry in Belfast, Northern Ireland, when I heard the fascinating story. Danielle, the woman next to me, has deep roots in Northern Ireland. We got to talking about the Titanic, which was built in Belfast. That's when she told me about her great-grandfather. He was a professional seaman - and he had been assigned to sail on the Titanic. But at the last minute, his orders were changed - to sail instead on the Carpathia, the ship that was first on the scene of the Titanic's sinking - actually the ship that rescued the survivors from the icy waters of the Atlantic.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Spared To Be A Rescuer."

That's what this seaman felt had happened to him. He could have died with two-thirds of the Titanic's passengers. But he was spared, he felt, so he could be a rescuer of people who otherwise might have died. So were you. You and I have been saved by Jesus - and then put in a position where we can rescue other people who may die if we don't get to them.

That's the message of our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning with verse 18. "God ... reconciled us to Himself through Christ" - praise God, we were saved from our deadly condition of being cut off from God. But then the Bible goes on to say, "He gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ (now here's some great news), not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation" (in other words, the message that can bring a person together with God).

Here's your assignment from heaven that is literally God's call to spiritual greatness - "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." So, someone cared enough to give us the life-saving message from Jesus ... now it's our turn to deliver that life-or-death information to someone else. Someone you may very well see day after day ... someone who is in that little part of the world to which you are Jesus Christ's primary ambassador!

God is counting on you to establish a caring relationship with the spiritually dying people in your world ... to pray for, to look for natural opportunities to bring up your relationship with Jesus. You may feel inadequate ... unqualified - but you're the rescuer God decided to put in their lives. And what God calls you to do, He qualifies you to do. It isn't up to you to persuade them to say yes to Jesus ... it is up to you to present what Jesus did for them when He died for them on the cross. Without that information, the lost people you know have no chance of Heaven.

So don't be content just to settle in on the rescue ship with others who have already been saved. The orders of our Captain in Jude 23 are to "snatch others from the fire and save them." And, as D. L. Moody said, "There is no greater honor than to be the instrument in God's hands to lead a person out of the kingdom of Satan and into the glorious light of Heaven."

You have been saved from certain spiritual death ... now don't just be content to enjoy a cruise on the rescue ship of Jesus. You've been spared to be a rescuer.

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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