91 Sermon Illustrations on Lost

Losing things is a nuisance that seems forever mine. It's the minor things I lose, things I seem to have given myself permission to be less attentive to. I am notorious for misplacing my car keys most of all. Most days I haphazardly place them somewhere near the first thing that was on my mind as I turned off the engine. Which means that sometimes I find them in the laundry room, and other times by the refrigerator.

To me, habitually missing keys is little more than a nuisance because finding them is usually as simple as retracing my steps, and there is always a spare set if they don't turn up right away. To my husband, however, lost keys are a source of great frustration. He has worked patiently on the problem — we now have a special place to put the keys when we walk through the door. Most days this seems to do the trick.

Other days I resemble the woman in Jesus' parable tearing apart the house to find the lost coin, lighting a lamp, sweeping the house, searching carefully until she finds it. And perhaps this is part of my unflustered attitude with lost keys — I know I will eventually find them. In fact, the only time I lose them is when I am comfortably in the confines of my own house.

In two different parables Jesus compares the sentiments that accompany the person who has lost something to the sentiments of the heavens over the one who is lost. When the woman in the parable has found the coin she was searching for, “she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'“ “In the same way,” Jesus concludes, “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (See Luke 15:8-10.)

My lost keys or pens or coins do not evoke in me such sentiments. And I wonder how easy it is to carry a similar lightness about lost souls. How easy is it to give myself permission to be inattentive to unbelievers, to see the plentiful harvest as something minor, to view the lost as a problem that will work itself out like lost keys?

If you believe what you say you believe wouldn't it be worth crawling across broken glass on your hands and knees if just to reach one who hadn't heard? Such was the question of a man condemned to die to a chaplain who dispassionately read to him from the Scriptures. No doubt the heavens grieve over our wandering attention even as they grieve over the wandering prodigal.

I was reacquainted recently with the pain of longing after something lost. Unlike misplaced keys, I was not confident that it would turn up, nor was the thought of a “spare” comforting in the least. Sentimentally, it was irreplaceable and I grieved its loss. I found myself recounting all of the memories associated with it. My mind was haunted by where it might be, whose hands it might be in, whether I would ever see it again. And when I found it, like the woman in Jesus' parable, I rejoiced with anyone who would rejoice with me.

When we lose something dear to us and find ourselves yearning for its return, we are given the slightest illustration of God's longing to gather us unto Himself and his grief that we will not have it. When Jesus spoke of lost sheep, he gave us an image of the personal nature of God's love for each face we pass on the way to work, each child we overlook, each person to which we have given ourselves permission to be inattentive. “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep'" (Luke 15:3-6).

To the shepherd who pursues lives and searches hearts, whose arm is not too short to save, the psalmist confessed, “I have strayed like a lost sheep.” Undoubtedly the heavens rejoice over the heart that recognizes its need to be found. Whether we have strayed from the will of God or strayed in our attention to the lost, He who came for the lost calls us back into the careful arms of the shepherd who won't quit searching.

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Copyright © 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration here was a duplicate in HolwickID 25837-26027]

Doug Baker, 45, of Portland, Oregon, said he met “Fremont” while driving four years ago. The German Shepherd was in the road, cars swerving around him. He was limping. Baker says he believes God steered him to the dog, and he stopped to pick the animal up. “Our eyes met, and we connected,” he says. “My life's never been the same.”

Baker spent $4,000 in vet bills to get the dog well. “People thought I was crazy,” he remembers, “but I'm telling you, God wanted me to save him.”

Baker, who lived on a houseboat, would leave the dog with Lisa Klein, his girlfriend, during the night and bring him to his office during the day. “He was with one of us nearly 24 hours a day, and he really only trusted us,” he says. “He was scared of people.” Indeed the dog had a “reputation” for lunging and snapping at strangers.

When he had to go out, Baker would hire a dog sitter. In September, Baker took Klein to dinner and paid the dog sitter $30 to watch Fremont. When they got home, they found a message from the sitter: Fremont had run away. A truck driving by backfired and scared the skittish dog, and he got out of the yard -- through an open gate, Baker alleges.

Baker went far beyond the usual procedure of looking for the dog and putting “Lost and Found” ads in the newspaper. He bought a display ad so he could include a photo. He offered a $1000 reward. He circulated fliers and put up a web site.

Then it gets drastic. He let his auto repair shop go out of business so he could devote full time to the search. To pay the search expenses, he started taking early disbursements from his retirement fund. He says he had planned to ask Klein to marry him by tying an engagement ring to Fremont's collar so he could “deliver” it to her, but since the dog wasn't there to do that he postponed the engagement.

Then it gets weird. Baker hired an animal tracker to follow the dog's scent. The tracker declared the dog had been abducted, so Baker hired four different “animal psychics” to divine where the dog was. Each session cost $55 to $100, and every one of them said they “communicated” with the animal. But when their leads came to a dead end, Baker hired a witch to cast spells to bring Fremont home.

Then it gets scary. “I went out and put my own urine in the area where Fremont was last seen,” Baker says, reasoning “he might smell my scent and then stay put.”

By day 60, Baker had spent over $20,000 on finding Fremont. Shortly after that, the Portland Oregonian newspaper ran a long story on his search, just as Baker was ready to hire a fifth psychic. The story noted he cries over Fremont every day, and has a hard time going into his dining room because of memories of Fremont being in there. He didn’t shave for the entire period.

But Baker got his happy ending: two days after the newspaper article ran someone who saw the story phoned in a tip. Baker went to the neighborhood the tipster suggested and found Fremont in the street, about two miles from where he had disappeared. Baker's vet says the dog very likely roamed the area for the two months he was gone -- he was apparently not “abducted” at all.

He sued the pet sitter for $160,000, including $100,000 for emotional damage.

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When I say this man is a veteran test pilot, I mean he's easily old enough to be comfortably retired. Instead, he's still blasting through the skies at mind-boggling speeds, testing some of America's most advanced aircraft. He told his amazing life story recently on a national television program. It's a story of a lifelong adventure in the skies and a long spiritual search here on earth that ended, well, with the pilot of the universe piloting his life. As he concluded his story, he told about an incident where he was sent up in a state-of-the-art aircraft to help a pilot in distress.

The fog was thick, the weather was dangerous for flying, and a rookie plot was lost in that fog and unable to get through the weather in a plane that wasn't equipped for it. Well, Mr. Test Pilot flew close to the imperiled aircraft until he was actually positioned at its left wing. And then he radioed the desperate pilot and he simply said, “Look to your left.” Then he said, “Now stick with me. Turn when I turn.” Then in an plane so advanced that the veteran said that it can make a game out of bad weather, he led his frightened fellow pilot to that glorious point where they broke through the fog and they saw the bright lights of that landing strip below. When they had landed safely, the rookie got out of his plane, ran to his rescuer, and hugged him as if he had saved his life. He probably had.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Someone to Lead You Home.”

A pilot lost, in a potentially fatal predicament. His only hope was someone who was equipped with everything needed to bring him safely home. We all need someone like that. Because we're all, in the word the Bible uses to describe our spiritual condition, “lost.” If we're honest, we know that we really don't know how life's supposed to work, no matter how cool and together we look on the outside. When it comes to knowing why we're here, which way to go, and - most importantly - how to land safely after we die, well, we're all lost. Our only hope is someone who's equipped with everything needed to lead us safely home. Someone who will come beside us and take us the rest of the way through this life and into the life to come.

His name is Jesus. He came here for all of us lost pilots. He said so in His personal mission statement, recorded in Luke 19:10, our word for today from the Word of God. Jesus said of Himself, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Notice, He didn't come to start a religion called Christianity or just to give us a nice morality to live by. He came to rescue us from a spiritual predicament that will be eternally fatal unless we let Him lead us home. We're lost because we hijacked our life from Him and we took over the pilot's seat that God was supposed to occupy. That hijacking is called sin.

In the Bible's words, we're “sheep who have gone astray,” and lost sheep don't find their way home. Their only hope is if the Shepherd comes looking for the one who's lost. And Jesus did. He, in His words, came to “lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:15). The only person who's equipped to lead you out of the guilt and death penalty for your sin is the one who took all that guilt and dying on Himself. That's what Jesus did when He died on the cross. And then, He walked out of His grave under His own power, and He's alive right now. And He's pulled up next to you today.

The tug you feel in your heart - that's Jesus seeking you so He can save you. He's your only hope, but you have to admit that and tell Him that and start following where He leads you. Today you could begin your personal relationship with Him.

You don't have to fly in the fog one more day. You don't have to be lost anymore. You don't have to crash at the end. Jesus has come close to you today, and He's saying, “Look to Me. I'll get you safely home.” Follow Him.

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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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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate in KeruxID 25837-26027]

Luke 15:1–32 — The Bible’s Lost & Found Column « Leader information shown in this fashion »

A. The Circumstances, Luke 15:1–2 (NKJV): 1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”

1. the tax collectors (AV: “publicans”) because they aided Rome as well as enriching themselves, were social outcasts; so also were those here called”sinners” … those openly immoral or in occupations considered incompatible with the law

2. why did Jesus attract the some, and repel others? « — the Pharisees in their self-righteousness, etc., felt no need, but those who were obviously sinners knew their lost condition »

3. was this a new criticism by Jesus’ opponents? « — see Luke 7:34 »

4. the key thought for this chapter is actually found in a later chapter in the book, Luke 19:10 … what was the fundamental purpose of Jesus’ ministry? « — the salvation (restoration to peace with God) of sinful men, women, and children — 1 Timothy 1:15 »

B. The Lost & Found Sheep, Luke 15:3–7 (NKJV): 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

1. we have a common illustration in the Old Testament

a. e.g., Psalm 23:1 … the Lord is the S_____________ « hepherd »

b. e.g., Psalm 80:1 … God’s people are the F_______ « lock »

c. e.g., Jeremiah 50:6 … false rulers, prophets and priests, are called S_____________ « hepherds » who lead the people astray

d. e.g., Ezekiel 34:23 … God will appoint a good S_________ « hepherd » over them who is J_______ « esus » (John 10:11ff)

e. this was a very natural illustration for the Jewish people because in their origin they were keepers of S_______ « heep » ; see Genesis 46:32–34, Exodus 12:32, 38 « – a great miracle, as well as the drying of the sea-bed, was that they could take these flocks of silly sheep through the path in the sea! »

2. note that there is no thought here of endangering the 99 in the looking for the one; they are together and safe;

a. does having the 99 in safety compensate for the loss of one? « – no »

b. how do you know? « – because the shepherd must go out to find that lost one; because of the worth of the individual – see Mark 8:36 on the worth of a soul »

3. how would you describe the shepherd’s search? « – steadfast, committed, earnest: it continues until the lost one is found »

4. what is the consequence of finding the sheep? … of repentance of a sinner? « — joy; this is good news, this is the gospel; how Jesus differed from the thought of the day! Edersheim quotes Jewish saying, “there is joy before God when those who provoke Him perish from the world.” (Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Luke, in loc) »

5. the focus in this chapter is on the lost and found one; so it is a mistake to spend too much effort in drawing conclusions about the 99; there are however two pointed thrusts about these who cause less, or even no, rejoicing in heaven

a. they are the S____–R__________ who see no need to repent « – Self-righteous … a thrust at the Pharisees and lawyers »

b. or, an application for us today, whether we be one of those who long ago repented and have forgotten our first love (Revelation 2:4); who give little thought to reaching the lost

C. The Lost & Found Coin, Luke 15:8–10 (NKJV): 8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbours together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

1. This story, even more than the preceding, emphasizes who it is who takes the initiative … who is it in each case? « – it is the woman here and the shepherd in the previous story. »

2. why did that have to be the case? « – it is highly unlikely for a sheep, and impossible for a coin, to “find itself” »

3. who takes the initiative in the matter of salvation? … what is the required response? « – God (Romans 5:8ff); repentance »

4. what is the consequence of finding the coin? … of repentance of a sinner? « – joy that is broadcast; … joy in heaven »

D. The Lost & Found Son, Luke 15:11–32

1. The Son Goes “Missing,” Luke 15:11–16 (NKJV): 11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.”

a. what is in this part of the story ,,,

(A) … that would cause the antipathy of Jesus’ audience?

(1) that the younger son should seek « his inheritance while his father was alive – Sam Levenson, “In One Era & Out the Other,” page 35: “It was possible to ask Papa for a penny if you had lots of time to listen to his questions: ‘You want what? … Who gives me pennies? … You’re a good asker. Maybe you should work for the United Jewish Appeal? … You mean I have to pay you for living with us? … You mean you want your inheritance now? While I’m still alive? You can’t wait for me to die?” »

(2) that the son became « a swineherd; an unworthy occupation in the eyes of the Pharisees; rabbinic saying, “Cursed be the man who would breed swine” (Baba Kamma 82b, Leon Morris, op cit); swine were unclean animals, Leviticus 11:7 – getting his deserts! »

(B) … that would arouse the sympathy of Jesus’ audience?

(1) for those who were “sinners” « that this person had taken a route in life similar to their own »

(2) that the son should have to become « indentured to one who was presumably a Gentile »

(3) the « suffering of hunger with none to provide; even the pigs fared better than he did! »

2. The Son Is Found, Luke 15:17–20a (NKJV): 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father.”

a. these words illustrate what Jesus had just in the first two stories state was necessary — what is that? « – that there be repentance on the part of the one who is lost »

b. how is this illustrated?

(A) recognition of his « own impoverished and helpless state »

(B) admission to himself of his « sin against God and man »

(C) putting these two « into action by going home »

3. The Two Receptions

a. The Father’s, Luke 15:20b–24 (NKJV): “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.”

(A) can you find any indication of the father’s initiative in the restoration of the younger son? « — his looking for him »

(B) how did the father’s reception differ from the son’s expectations

(1) « he didn’t even get to finish his intended statement »

(2) « he was received as a son rather than a servant »

(3) « he had a feast rather than just a servant’s meal »

(C) did he get his just desserts? … no, for this is G______ « race »

b. The Older Son’s, Luke 15:25–30 (NKJV): 25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ 28 But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’”

(A) whom do you think that the older son represents in Jesus’ portrait? « – possibly the self-righteous who were comfortable with their religion and indifferent, and even antagonistic, to those less fortunate than they »

(B) what does the older son concentrate upon?

(1) « his many years of service (was it willing? » )

(2) « his own obedience (did he delight in doing this?) »

(3) « his never having been given a party »

(4) « the sin of his brother rather than his repentance »

c. The Gentle Words of the Father, Luke 15:31–32 (NKJV): 31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

(A) Of what does he remind the older son? « – his continued position and his continued possession »

(B) What does he ask from the younger son? « – that he see the father’s justice and feel the father’s love »

4. with which of the characters in this story do you most identify (the younger son, the father, or the older son)? « … !!! »

5. what do we learn about God from

a. the younger son? « – God allows us to go our own way at times in order that we might learn to know Him better »

b. the Father? « – God is eagerly waiting to receive and bless the one who will turn back to Him »

c. the older son? « – God wants us to obey Him not merely from duty, but by sharing in His own gracious will »

A woman fell on the stone stairway of the police station in Boston and was severely injured. She was taken to the hospital and examined by a doctor who said to the nurse: “She will not live more than a day.” After the nurse had attended to her for a few hours, the woman told her story.

I have traveled from California, stopping at every city of

importance between San Francisco and Boston, visiting two places

always -- the police station and the hospital. My boy went away

from me and did not tell me where he was going, so I have sold

all my property and made this journey to seek him out. Some day

he may come into this hospital and if he does, tell him that

there were two who never gave him up.

Evening came and the doctor told the nurse: “It is now but a question of minutes.” The nurse bent over and said: “Tell me the names of the two and I will tell your son if I see him.” With tears in her eyes she replied: “Tell him that the two were God and his mother.” Moments later, she died.

Human analogies are limited in their usefulness to explain God. If we compare God to a father or a mother, those analogies may not work well for someone who had a bad father or mother. In other cases human analogies are highly useful. Imagine the great seeking love of that mother who traveled the length of the country to try to find her son. Think of the shepherd who goes out in search of the one lost sheep (Lk. 15:4-7). Think of the hen who gathers her brood under her wings (Mt. 23:37). Think of the father who watches daily for the return of a wayward son (Lk. 15:11-32). Think of the husband who takes his unfaithful wife back into his home (Hosea). Truly the seeking, searching love of God is beyond measure: “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39).

Messages in bottles have been around for centuries. In fact, for the thousands of years that man has sailed the oceans of the world, bottles carrying messages have performed a variety of interesting and often unusual services. In their countless journeys across the oceans, these fascinating vessels have been found to solve crimes and mysteries. They have carried tales of joy and sadness, of surprise and disaster. One person was assured a fortune in hidden treasure ... if it was still there! Lovers' quarrels have been resolved, and romance has been brought to people thousands of miles apart. Schools of fish have been tracked, ocean currents mapped, and mined areas cleared for safe passage, just with the use of simple drifting bottles.

In an article printed by Reader's Digest in 1976, experts say it often takes a number of decades for bottles to be found, and that the direction bottles will take is impossible to predict. Of two bottles dropped together off the Brazilian coast, one drifted east for 130 days and was found on a beach in Africa; the other floated northwest for 190 days, reaching Nicaragua. The article also mentioned a bottle launched by a German scientific expedition in 1929 in the southern Indian Ocean. Inside was a message, which could be taken out, read, and then replaced and resealed again. It asked anyone who found the bottle to record where it was found and then throw it back. The bottle covered 16,000 miles in six years, reaching South America, the Atlantic Ocean and returning to the Indian Ocean.

True stories surrounding bottles and the messages found in them are numerous and fascinating.

Here are some examples of those tales:

__________________________

At Grace’s Cove, Block Island, Connecticut, Jeff Smith, a High Street resident, came upon a plastic bottle containing a letter written in Greek. His wife, Block Island school teacher Laurie McTeague-Smith, contacted the Greek Hellenic Society in Providence to have the letter translated.

She was told the letter was a call for a miracle from Saint Michael. The sender’s name was Andreas Rigas. He’d launched the bottle in November from his hometown of Port Jefferson Station, N.Y. Rigas left no return address, but was contacted via the Internet. He was amazed that his note had been found.

He and his wife Joanne explained that miracles are very important to their Greek Orthodox faith. The Rigases had hoped the bottle would drift to the Mediterranean Sea, and thence to Simi, a Greek island near Rhodes. Legend says that if a message makes it to Simi, home of the monastery of the archangel Michael, the wish it contains will be granted.

Rigas asked that his son be cured of epilepsy. He also pledged to take a pilgrimage to the monastery of the Archangel Michael Panormitis. The letter reads:

Saint Michael, Commander of All the Angels,

I am sending you this letter so that you can help me become a

better human being. When I come to Greece, God willing, I will

come as a pilgrim to you. Enable me to come over. Cure my son

Elias. Remove his epilepsy. Perform the big miracle. My god

almighty, keep my wife Joanne well, Nick, Maria, my

grandchildren, my great grandchildren ...

McTeague-Smith pointed out that Simi, in English, means “grace” — and that the bottle ended up in Grace’s Cove on Block Island.

With the help of her third-grade class, she intends to put Rigas’s message back out to sea.

“Miracles do happen, if you believe,” said Joanne Rigas, pleased that school children will put the message back on course. “Eventually it will get there,” she said.

__________________________

In England, during the 16th Century, merely reading a message found in a bottle was a crime punishable by hanging! The Queen of England even appointed an “Official Uncorker of Ocean Bottles”, lest the nation's security be threatened by a spy's attempt to pass secret messages.

__________________________

On May 16th, 1949, a bottle washed up on a beach near San Francisco. It was discovered by local dishwasher, Jack Wurm. In it was the following note:

To avoid all confusion, I leave my entire estate to the lucky

person who finds this bottle.

June 20th, 1937,

Signed, Daisy Alexander.

As it turned out, Daisy Alexander, was something of an eccentric. For years, just to satisfy her curiosity, she dropped bottles carrying messages from a bridge over the River Thames in London. She also happened to be the only child of Isaac Singer, founder of the Singer sewing machine empire. When she died, in 1940, at 80 years of age, she was one of the world's richest women. Her estate was valued at over $12,000,000!

__________________________

In May 1957, while walking along a beach near his home in Sicily, Italy, Sebastiano Puzzo, found a bottle with a note inside. The note was in English and he gave it to his eighteen-year-old daughter, Paolina, to translate. The note invited all girls aged sixteen to twenty to write if they wanted to marry a handsome blond Swede. It was dated December, 1955, and was from Ake Viking, a Swedish sailor. Puzzo suggested that, just for fun, Paolina should write and send a photograph. Just for fun, she did.

A year later, in Sicily, Ake and Paolina were married!

__________________________

A bottle was once washed ashore on a German beach. In it was a note that read:

”Our final hour is at hand”

Signed, Captain Odo Loewe

The year was 1916, during the First World War. Two months earlier, the German airship, Zeppelin 19, was returning from a bombing raid over London, when it mysteriously vanished in the fog over the English Channel. With it went its crew and Captain Odo Loewe!

__________________________

In 1979 John and Dottie Peckham of Los Angeles, California, while enjoying a Christmas cruise from Acapulco to Hawaii, put a message in a wine bottle and tossed it overboard. The note promised a reward to the finder, and gave their names, a postbox number and a dollar bill for return postage

In 1983, more than 9,000 miles away, 10 miles off the coast of Thailand in the South China Seas, Nguyen Van Ho drifted helplessly, without drinking water, in a five-man fishing boat along with 30 other Vietnamese refugees. He spotted a bottle floating by, and on reading and understanding the note inside, his hopes for freedom were renewed.

Soon after, Ho and his companions reached a United Nations refugee camp in Thailand. There he wrote a letter to the Pekhams:

We tried to find freedom according to your letter. Now we send a

letter to the boss and we wish you will answer us sooner.

The letter arrived on March 4th, 1983, and the Peckhams immediately began corresponding with Ho.

Two years later, on April 26th, 1985, with the help of the Peckhams, Ho and his family arrived in Los Angeles to begin a new life, fulfilling the promise carried by the message in the bottle. The reward was freedom!

__________________________

One day in 1956, Martin Douglas kissed his wife, Alice, goodbye and set off in his small cabin cruiser for a day of fishing off the coast of Florida near his home. Not returning on schedule, extensive air and sea searches followed. He was eventually, officially declared “missing at sea”, and never seen again.

About a year later, on an Australian beach, a jar was found with a note tightly sealed inside it ...

Should this note be found, please forward it to my wife, Mrs.

Alice Douglas, at Miami Beach, Florida. No doubt you're

wondering what has became of me. I got blown out into the

waters, due to engine trouble.

With the note was a blank check, on the back of which was the handwritten will of Martin Douglas.

__________________________

Kune 9, 1910: On this day, a passenger aboard the steamship Arawatta placed a message in a bottle and threw it overboard off the coast of Australia. It was found 72 years and 362 days later, on an island just west of Queensland, Australia. This set a world record for the longest time between sending and finding a message in a Bottle. The record was broken in 1996, when a fisherman found a bottle that had been in the North Sea for more than 82 years. It contained a message offering a small reward if returned. He collected one pound sterling from the British government!

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Messages in bottles have been adrift for as long as half a century. They have circumnavigated the earth, surviving the crush of polar ice caps, raging storms and wild tempests. At times it was almost as if fate, itself, had destined their journey. But, whether they deliver a note from some curious oceanographer, or from a ship wrecked castaway, messages in bottles will continue to roam the globe capturing the imaginations of mariners and land-dwellers alike.

[see also ID#29677]

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For a long time, I've been fascinated with the story of the Titanic. The sinking of that seemingly “unsinkable” ship after a collision with an iceberg is filled with human drama that has inspired endless movies, books, and documentaries. Finding the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic fueled greater interest - and greater information - than ever before. Some of the drama of those discoveries has been within our reach as the Titanic artifacts exhibit has been on display in some of America's leading museums. You can see many personal items recovered from the Titanic's debris field along with displays that recreate the feeling of being a passenger on that doomed ship. When I went in, I was given a boarding pass with the name of a real person who had been aboard that awful night. At the end of the exhibit, there's this big wall with the names of everyone aboard - first class, second class, third class, crew. Every person is either on the list that says “saved” or “lost.” I looked hard for my name - and I discovered that I was one of the few crewmen who was “saved.”

A pastor I know, who I had told about my experience there, well, he went to see the exhibit for himself. But he told me about it. He looked me in the eye and said very soberly, “Except I was lost.”

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Shock at the End.”

One of the most sobering truths in the Bible is this: God has two lists. Each of us is on one of those two lists. Everyone we know, everyone we care about, is on one of those two lists. In 1 John 5:10-11, God plainly says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” There it is - the “saved” and the “lost.” And it all depends on one thing - whether or not you have Jesus in your heart. [see also #16218]

It doesn't say, “Whoever has religion has life” or “whoever lives a good life has life.” No, it's all about Jesus and whether or not you've ever begun a personal relationship with Him. That life-saving relationship begins when you realize that Jesus' dying on that cross was the only thing that can pay the death penalty that you deserve for running your own life and when you put all your trust in the only One who can save you.

For my pastor friend, it was a shock to get to the end and find out he was “lost.” hat's the shock so many are going to experience when they meet God. My friend didn't know until the end. But we can know right now which list we're on - depending on whether or not we've ever given ourselves to Jesus. If you know you've done that, you are among God's rescued.

But now it's up to you to rescue those around you who are still “lost.” The “saved” and “lost” list from the Titanic can never be changed. But there's still time for people that you know to be moved from God's “lost” list to His list of those who are “saved.” But you'll have to do something about their lostness. You'll have to step up to tell them about Jesus, to be their rescuer.

The devil - who wants as many lost as possible - is working hard to keep people on both lists preoccupied with something other than eternity. If you're lost, he's trying desperately to keep you from Jesus until time runs out. If you're saved, he's trying desperately to keep you from reaching out to rescue the people around you until time runs out.

If you've never reached out to Jesus to rescue you, and if you want to go to sleep tonight knowing you belong to Jesus, tell Him right now, “Jesus, I'm Yours.”

When you've taken your last breath, lost is forever; but not yet. This very day, you can move from death to life, and from lost to saved.

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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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Do you remember what it’s like to walk in darkness without Christ?

Someone asked that question at a recent spiritual retreat for International Mission Board staff members. It’s been a long time, but I remember darkness -– vividly. Being so filled with hatred there’s no room for love. Feeling so alone you can’t find a friend, even when they’re all around you. Trying to do right and failing miserably. Wanting to die, but being too afraid of what comes after death to find out.

I’ve been down and discouraged as a Christian believer, too, but never that far down. I have a bright hope that lights the dark path, a Friend who sticks closer than a brother, a peace that passes understanding.

But I don’t want to forget what it’s like to be hopeless, because that’s the way most people in this world live. They search for light, but see only darkness. They yearn for hope, but don’t feel it. They sense deep down that God cares, but can’t find Him.

All they know is the struggle to get through today -- and dread about the future.

Bob Dylan wrote about darkness with prophetic power long before his openly Christian songs of the 1970s and ’80s. Dylan is one of those musicians people tend to love or hate. To some, he’s an over-the-hill, whiny-voiced folk singer who wrote protest songs in the ’60s. To others (including me), he’s a poet whose words speak to generations. Various activists have tried hard over the years to co-opt Dylan for their political agendas, butthey've never succeeded in pigeonholing him. He has always sought larger truths.

Dylan’s early song “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” is as chilling a vision of evil and impending judgment as anything out of Dante’s “Inferno”:

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?

Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?

I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it

I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,

I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’,

I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’...

I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,

I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children...

And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall....

If that’s not a picture of a world hurtling toward hell, I don’t know what is.

Dylan wrote the song during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, when the United States and the Soviet Union came within an eyelash of nuclear war. If you were around and aware at the time, you remember those days of terror. Was the world about to end?

“‘Hard Rain’ is a desperate kind of song,” Dylan later said. “Every line in it is actually the start of a whole song. But when I wrote it, I thought I wouldn’t have enough time alive to write all those songs, so I put all I could into this one.”

“Hard Rain” is about more than war, however. It’s about Judgment Day coming -– and no one paying attention:

I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’,

Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,

Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’,

Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’,

Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’ ...

And it's a hard rain’s a-gonna fall....

By God’s grace we survived the Cold War –- and all the other horrors of the last century. We’re into a new century, and the balance of nuclear terror has given way to the age of terrorism. Life goes on. But Judgment Day is 44 years closer than it was when Dylan wrote “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” The world is still lost and careening toward eternal darkness.

Do you remember what it’s like to be lost? Then get out there and tell the world what it’s like to be found by Jesus Christ -– while there’s still time. If you need a missionary call, here’s one from Dylan that’s worthy of any Baptist pulpit:

Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?

Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?

I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’,

I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,

Where the people are many and their hands are all empty ...

Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,

Where black is the color, where none is the number,

And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,

And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it ...

It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Amen, Brother Bob.

*

Two English soccer fans in Cologne, Germany, parked their rented car and carefully noted the street - 'Einbahn Strasse.' After the meet they looked for their car, only to discover that every second street in the town was named Einbahn Strasse. It was only when they found a policeman that they were told the sign was to inform drivers that they were on a one-way street. They finally managed to find their vehicle hours later with the help of the German police.

________

Source: Ananova http://www.ananova.com

A GPS makes it possible to always know where you’ve been, where you are and where you’re headed -- sort of the past, present, and future of your life from a visual and geographic perspective. You never have to be lost again.

While a Global Positioning System may have been around for only 30 years or so, there is another GPS system that has been around for thousands of years: the Globally Positioned Spirituality system.

What’s a Globally Positioned Spirituality system? I’m glad you asked. Think of all the spiritual “systems” -- religions and worldviews -- in this world. Where do you stand in relation to them all? Feeling confused when it comes to discerning spiritual truth from spiritual error?

What about the looming moral and ethical crises of our day? Can you chart a path through the wilderness of amoral, secular values in our culture? What do you believe, and why, about abortion, euthanasia, same-sex relationships, the role of government in society, capital crimes and punishment, war, human rights, tolerance toward other religions, the right to worship and speak freely and other current hot topics?

And what about your personal spiritual “location” in this world? Where are you headed? What have you learned from the path you’ve been on? What course corrections do you need to make? What are your goals and dreams, and how do they mesh with God’s plans and purposes?

God does not want us to be lost. Fortunately, He has provided us with a “Globally Positioned Spirituality” system that allows us to answer all those questions, and more. He always wants us to know what we believe, where we stand and Whom we can trust. When it comes to having a plan, a course, a path to follow, God wants us to be as confident as Jesus Christ was.

Even during the hours of His life when Jesus suffered most, He was never “lost.” He knew what was happening and why, and He knew exactly what to do in the midst of the confusion surrounding Him. Jesus was betrayed by a close friend, falsely arrested, accused, and condemned, beaten until almost dead, crucified on a Roman cross, and died alone and deserted by most of His followers. Yet He was never lost.

What gave Jesus the confidence to stay “globally positioned” spiritually-speaking? Why didn’t He panic, compromise, give in, or run away in the face of such awful circumstances? It’s because He knew who He was and was confident in God’s purpose for His life. And where did He gain the knowledge that gave Him such confidence? Jesus had immersed himself in a knowledge of the Word of God.

Jesus knew He would be betrayed (see Acts 1:20; Psalm 69:25; 109:8), rejected, beaten, and afflicted (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53:3-5), and why (Isaiah 53:6, 10). And He also knew that God would not leave Him in the grave (Psalm 16:8-11; Isaiah 53:11) -- that He would one day return to earth as King over all the earth (Zechariah 12:10).

It was the knowledge of God and His Word that kept Jesus Christ, in His humanity, from becoming confused and lost in the midst of an experience the likes of which we will never know. So if Jesus was able to stay spiritually positioned in life, can we as well? Absolutely!

God said to His people, Israel, during a time when they were desperately, spiritually lost: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). This is an exact parallel to what Jesus told the religious leaders of His day: “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52).

Knowledge of God and His Word is so important because it acts as a benchmark against which to measure all the competing claims that the world makes on your mind and emotions. The Word of God and an intimate, prayerful communion with your heavenly Father are your Globally Positioned Spirituality system. Immerse yourself in them and you, too, will know who you are, what you believe, and where you’re headed.

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David Jeremiah is the founder of TURNING POINT FOR GOD and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California.

”Whatever you are filled with, spills over when you are bumped.” – An old Indian proverb

Many years ago in one of the Southern states, a woman from the city and her country cousin were traveling in a horse-drawn carriage through a dense forest when darkness overtook them. There was no moon, only a bit of starlight. Soon it was impossible to see the road. The city dweller became a bit frightened when she thought they had lost their way, but her country cousin seemed unconcerned. She stopped the horse, stepped to the ground, walked around a bit, and came back, saying she had found the road. She got back into the carriage, and they continued on their way.

As they went along, the city dweller noticed by the dim starlight that her companion, instead of looking down at the ground, was looking up. “Why,” she asked, “are you looking up when the road is below us?”

“Because,” her friend explained, “that is the only way I can tell where the road is. The trees have been cleared to make way for the road. On a night like this it is impossible to see the road, but by looking up I can tell where the road is by the stars in the open sky.”

This is the way it is on the road of life. As we travel along, there are times when trials and perplexities close in around us as black and impenetrable as the darkness in a dense forest on a moonless night. At such times many lose their way – but this need not happen! When the “downlook,” and even the outlook, are dark and forbidding, never forget that the uplook is bright.

Take comfort in the fact that “the darkness and the light are both alike” to God (Psalms 139:12). He can see when we can’t see a thing. Even when the sun is shining and everything seems bright and clear, it is always wise to look to heaven, where God rules, for no road is safe unless He is guiding.

As Christians, we are called to share the Gospel with the world (Matthew 28:18-20). Studies show us, though, that most Christians seldom if ever share their faith with a non-believer.

If evangelism is a struggle for you, think about these ways to deepen your burden over those who are without Christ:

1. Study what the Bible says about lost people.

They’re following the “prince of the air” (Ephesians 2:1-3), living in darkness in Satan’s domain (Acts 26:18, Colossians 1:13), blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) and caught in his trap (2 Timothy 2:25-26). They’re helpless apart from God’s grace, no matter how good they may seem to be.

2. Do a Bible study on eternal judgment.

Meditate on texts like Matthew 25:41-46, Luke 16:19-31 and Revelation 20:11-15. See and sense the separation and the anguish. If you can study the reality of hell and not be more burdened about non-believers, you may want to examine your Christianity.

3. Think about these facts of life and death.

Today, approximately 150,000 people will die around the world, most of whom will not be followers of Christ. Some of us have family members who, if they were to be among that number today, would be destined for hell. These realities ought to bring us to tears.

4. Learn about the spiritual tragedies of the world.

Today, people in some parts of India are praying to ancestral spirits and turning to wild animals for guidance. Some in China are worshiping trees, mountains, dragons and rivers. In Africa, men carry their personal gods with them for protection, as if that which is carried is stronger than the one doing the carrying. In Southeast Asia, people sacrifice to pagan gods to bring healing to the sick. In some parts of Russia, sorcerers who cast spells are the center of spiritual power. Go to www.joshuaproject.net, study more about people groups of the world, and grieve these misguided attempts to find security and life.

5. Be grateful for God’s grace in your life.

Jesus told us that the way to life is narrow, and few people find it (Matthew 7:13-14). Were it not for God’s amazing grace, you and I would also be among the many who never find eternal life. Recognizing God’s favor in your life should compel you to tell others about Him.

6. Consider what it’s like to face life without Christ.

That might be hard if you’re a Christian, but think about tough things people face. Job loss. Natural disaster. Terminal illness. Marital breakup. Incarcerated children. Unexpected death. I honestly don’t know how people get through life without trusting Christ.

7. Ask God to give you His heart for lost people.

Confess your lack of concern to Him, and ask Him to change you. Meanwhile, enlist two believers to pray Ephesians 6:18-20 and Colossians 4:2-4 for you. Ask God to give you His heart while others are praying for you to speak the Gospel boldly and clearly -- and see what God does!

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Chuck Lawless, online at chucklawless.com, is vice president for spiritual formation and ministry centers and professor of evangelism and missions at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

When Anthony Olearchick, 86, and his wife Viola, 85, left their Kenilworth, New Jersey, home on an errand, the couple had no idea it would be over 24 hours before they would return home.

A wrong turn sent them on a journey of perhaps 800 miles through three states. Their excursion did not end until they collided with another car in Newton, New Jersey. Family members reported the couple missing after the usually punctual pair missed a doctor’s appointment. Viola suffers from several illnesses and requires two insulin shots per day and several other medications. Nevertheless, the couple only stopped two times over the 24-hour trip, and only for gas, not for food. “If you eat, you fall asleep,” Anthony noted.

The next part of the story is the most curious. The extended journey could have been avoided, but Anthony refused to ask for directions during the entire trip. Even while stopping for gasoline twice he would not ask for help. In the end, having a collision spared them.

Any resemblance between Mr. Olearchick and your husband is purely accidental.

Seriously, don’t we all know of people - perhaps even churches - that are lost somewhere in a fog and they don’t have a clue? Maybe they have wandered around in circles for years and they refuse to stop and ask for directions - to ask for help?

________

From Rev. Michael Jackson's sermon, "You Can't Just Sit There!" (Kerux sermon #17624) {9FD3F174-88CC-4925-AE64-B62D60C727C6}

I grew up in the age of revivals and evangelistic meetings. My life was deeply touched by those periods when the church refocused on cleansing and “getting right with God” for believers and on repentance and faith for unbelievers.

The most important word noted above about these times of refreshing from the Lord is “refocused.” The church broke from regular routines in order to set hearts and minds on people’s souls.

Tragically, we have lost those times of refocus on souls. I am not bemoaning the loss of a method, but the loss of focus. While I have seen a return of revivals and evangelistic meetings in more rural settings, it is unlikely these will transpire in the cities. Unfortunately, that means there is no longer a season in the normal rhythms of many churches when the people of God refocus on reaching the lost.

Therein lies the greatest loss, the total absence of a time of heightened sensitivity to the unsaved.

When does your church have a time to call you to prayer and to passionate efforts to reach those who are lost in sin, headed for an appointment with the wrath of God and a Christless eternity in hell? Where is there a time when the pulpit is aflame with passionate preaching of the Gospel and calling upon those under the judgment of God to repent and believe the Gospel?

Part of our problem is that we have forgotten and ignored the reality that those who go into eternity lost in sin will pay the penalty for their own sin -- a penalty Jesus has already paid. I am afraid weak theology and political correctness have stripped the reality of lostness from our preaching and praying.

My heart was set afire for the lost at a very young age. My grandfather was a pastor and I remember, like yesterday, being at my grandparents’ home during revival time.

In those days, the evangelist stayed in the home of the pastor. Each night before retiring, my grandparents, the evangelist and I would get on our knees in the living room and pray. And did we pray! I heard prayers of brokenness, but most of all, I heard my grandparents and the evangelist weep over lost souls. Yes, weep. The pathos and passion that poured from their souls were gripping to my young heart.

C.H. Spurgeon, the great 17th-century pastor and evangelist, made a very significant statement: “Winners of souls will be weepers for souls.” Perhaps our lack of new birth in the church lies at this very point. When have you heard people weep over lost individuals? When has your church become so burdened for the lost of your community that they were moved to tears and weeping, crying out to God for their very souls? When have you been so moved?

In earlier days of revivals and evangelistic meetings, there was a sensitivity to the Gospel and a pervading Christian worldview that is not present today. This causes me to think we need to refocus more than ever on praying, witnessing and preaching the Gospel. While many churches will not choose to return to the old evangelistic meetings or revivals of the past, is there not still the need for focused prayer for the lost as well as passionate preaching and witnessing to them of the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ?

One of the old hymns we once sang is titled “Set My Soul Afire.” The words of the refrain still echo through my soul and serve as my prayer:

“Set my soul afire, Lord, set my soul afire;

Make my life a witness of Thy saving pow’r.

“Millions grope in darkness waiting for Thy Word;

Set my soul afire, Lord, set my soul afire.”

It is time we find a season to refocus the church on prayer for the lost and pure Gospel proclamation. It is time for a season when the Spirit of God is called upon to pour on the gasoline and strike a match in our souls for lost souls.

The following is taken from a message by Rev. Albert P. Graves which was delivered in Rock Island, Illinois, Sunday Evening, Feb 25, 1877. The text was from 2 Kings 4:26 -- “Run now I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.”

What could you say if that question was put to you, dear father, to whom God has given a wife and children, and you never prayed with them yet, and never asked a blessing at your table? What if God should send a cohort of angels down from the capital of the universe tonight to press the question to your heart, “Is it well with you?” Would you say, “I am a moralist,” or “I am a Universalist,” or something of that kind?” Would you try to palm off the idea, that because it is some way, as you hope, well with you, that you are not going to be judged? I want every person in this room, as far as the human mind, aided by Divine truth, can do it, to settle this question tonight, right before your God, “Is it well with you?” What say you, my dear friend, in the light of eternity?” If you should be called to go into eternity before twelve o’clock tonight, is it well with you?

I propose, dear friends, to consider the divine welfare for a little while. Let me take a few minutes to consider the process of the divine welfare. I shall show this in two ways. First, I will give you an incident, and then a passage of Scripture.

It is said that Whitefield at one time dined with Lady Huntington: an unconverted brother of his was present. During the dinner hour, Mr. Whitefield and Lady Huntington had a religious conversation. Such was the nature of it that this brother’s attention was arrested, and he was so deeply impressed that all at once he dropped his knife and fork, and threw up his hands and cried, “I am lost! I am lost! I am lost!” “Thank God!” said Lady Huntington. “Why? Why do you exult over my lost condition?” “O, I can not help it,” she says; “I am so glad you are lost -- so glad!” “But why, why, do have such ecstasies over my lost condition?” “Simply because Jesus Christ came into the world to seek and save that which was lost. Now, sir, if you have found out that you are lost, there is some hope of your being saved.”

I want to give that to every person in this room tonight. There is no hope of being saved until one owns himself to be a lost sinner. God has never sent His Son into the world to save the righteous. Jesus says Himself that He “came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Some of you self-righteous men here in Rock Island, I don’t know whether the angels in glory could live with you if you could get into heaven under your self-righteousness.

A Swedish couple in search of the isle of Capri drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt the name in their car’s GPS. Italian officials say the couple asked at Carpi’s tourist office where they could find Capri’s famous Blue Grotto. The car’s satellite navigation system had sent them 650km (400 miles) off course to Carpi.

“Capri is an island. They did not even wonder why they didn’t cross any bridge or take any boat,” said a bemused tourism official in Carpi.

Once they realised their mistake, the couple got back in their car and headed south, the official added.

The following is taken from a message by Rev. Albert P. Graves which was delivered in Rock Island, Illinois, Sunday Evening, Feb 25, 1877. The text was from 2 Kings 4:26 -- “Run now I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.”

What could you say if that question was put to you, dear father, to whom God has given a wife and children, and you never prayed with them yet, and never asked a blessing at your table? What if God should send a cohort of angels down from the capital of the universe tonight to press the question to your heart, “Is it well with you?” Would you say, “I am a moralist,” or “I am a Universalist,” or something of that kind?” Would you try to palm off the idea, that because it is some way, as you hope, well with you, that you are not going to be judged? I want every person in this room, as far as the human mind, aided by Divine truth, can do it, to settle this question tonight, right before your God, “Is it well with you?” What say you, my dear friend, in the light of eternity?” If you should be called to go into eternity before twelve o’clock tonight, is it well with you?

I propose, dear friends, to consider the divine welfare for a little while. Let me take a few minutes to consider the process of the divine welfare. I shall show this in two ways. First, I will give you an incident, and then a passage of Scripture.

It is said that Whitefield at one time dined with Lady Huntington: an unconverted brother of his was present. During the dinner hour, Mr. Whitefield and Lady Huntington had a religious conversation. Such was the nature of it that this brother’s attention was arrested, and he was so deeply impressed that all at once he dropped his knife and fork, and threw up his hands and cried, “I am lost! I am lost! I am lost!” “Thank God!” said Lady Huntington. “Why? Why do you exult over my lost condition?” “O, I can not help it,” she says; “I am so glad you are lost -- so glad!” “But why, why, do have such ecstasies over my lost condition?” “Simply because Jesus Christ came into the world to seek and save that which was lost. Now, sir, if you have found out that you are lost, there is some hope of your being saved.”

I want to give that to every person in this room tonight. There is no hope of being saved until one owns himself to be a lost sinner. God has never sent His Son into the world to save the righteous. Jesus says Himself that He “came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Some of you self-righteous men here in Rock Island, I don’t know whether the angels in glory could live with you if you could get into heaven under your self-righteousness.

Lost in the jungle, a man sought desperately to find his way to safety. His strength was ebbing fast as the insects and stifling heat did their deadly work. Suddenly he heard what he thought to be a bell tolling in the distance. Believing he was nearing civilization, he struggled bravely onward; but he never seemed to draw closer to the sound. Finally he fell to the ground exhausted, never to rise again. The mysterious bellbird had claimed another victim! This story is related in detail by G. B. Robeson. He says that many a traveler in the heart of the rain forest of Central and South America has been led to his death by the uncanny call of this seldom-seen bird. Its enticing, reverberating “toll” produces an almost overpowering temptation to seek its source.

Similarly, Satan employs subtle devices to ensnare the human race. As lost souls seek to disengage themselves from the vines of sin, they are allured by the tempter’s “bell” ringing in the distance. “At last,” they think, “I’ve found a way of escape,” and so, following the call of the evil one deeper and deeper into the jungle of despair, they are eventually lost for eternity.

Many are following the deceptive call of the devil’s “bell-bird” because it “seems right” to them. O that they might realize the truth of these words before it is too late: “The end thereof are the ways of death.” Christ, who declared that “no man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:6), is the only One who can lead poor wanderers to the promised land of salvation and safety!

We have always thought of the Gospel as good news. In fact, the Greek word evangelion, which is translated “Gospel,” literally means “good news.” And certainly the fact that Jesus Christ died and rose again to give us salvation and victory over sin is good news, indeed!

However, for many people in the world, the Gospel will be bad news. They will discover that Jesus Christ is the standard of judgment for whether or not one receives salvation and enters into eternal life in heaven.

Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, ESV). The Apostle Paul testified of that day, “on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (Romans 2:16, ESV).

Many people, even in our own society, have heard the Gospel but have chosen not to believe and accept it. Some think their good works or faithful and perfunctory attendance at church will save them. Many humanistic thinkers in our postmodern society are convinced their own efforts, or whatever they chose to believe, are of equal value to faith in Jesus Christ.

Then there are those around the world who have been exposed to the Gospel but choose to follow other religions. They are going to be terribly disillusioned one day to discover all roads do not lead to God. Only the one through faith in the blood of Jesus can cleanse our sins.

However, the greatest tragedy is not found in the arrogant self-righteous or those who reject a Christian witness. It is found among those who have never heard the Good News that Jesus saves. There are many in our own country, or neighborhood, who have never been confronted with a clear evangelistic witness of Christ.

Multitudes around the world live in pockets of lostness where they have never even heard the name of Jesus. They are likely to live their entire lives without an opportunity to hear, understand and respond to the life-changing message of God’s redemptive love. For many, it is going to be quite disturbing to arrive at the judgment throne of God to find that faith in Jesus Christ is the only hope of salvation. And they didn’t even have a chance to hear and believe!

Do we think they are satisfied to follow religious traditions that give no hope and assurance of eternal life? Are they happy to be in bondage to legalistic rituals that do nothing to give them victory over sin and bring peace to their lives? Is lostness and dwelling in spiritual darkness a preferable choice to experiencing the grace of God and finding forgiveness of sin?

For them, the Gospel is bad news because it describes who joins God in His eternal Kingdom and who spends an eternity in hell.

Whose mission and responsibility is it to proclaim the Gospel to all peoples? Who has our Lord commissioned to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth? Every believer and every church.

What are we doing to make sure the Gospel is good news to the whole world?

Will we pray for those without Christ? Will we give sacrificially that God-called missionaries can go and make disciples of all nations? Will we offer our lives to be used to take the Gospel to the remaining pockets of lostness that all people everywhere might know Jesus?

Nothing in my existence could have prepared me for what I saw on screen last night. There isn't even a sense that one has just watched a movie. It is an experience on a level of primary emotion that is scarcely comprehensible. Those were the raw feelings expressed by a big-city news anchor after watching The Passion of the Christ. She put into words what many of us who witnessed this movie have felt.

After an advance showing, Paul Harvey described the silence and the sobbing of the roomful of movers and shakers at the end of the movie. And speaking for himself, Paul Harvey said, “Frankly, I will never be the same.” [but see below] Mel Gibson said, “Everyone who worked on this movie was changed.”

It is almost impossible to remain unmoved and unchanged when you see before your eyes what Mel Gibson calls the enormity of His sacrifice. The impact we feel is because we finally realize that this cross of Jesus is so much more than just a historical event or a religious event. It's a deeply personal event one that can lead us to the spiritual homecoming that has eluded us for so long. Like a little boy lost.

Scotty was only four years old and lost in Brooklyn. A police officer spotted the little guy standing on a street corner, crying. He tried to help the boy by asking him has address which he didn't know. Then his phone number which couldn't remember.

The officer was about to take him down to the police station when he thought of one final question - Little boy, is there anything near your house that I might recognize? For the first time, the child s eyes brightened. Yeah, he said. Next to my house, there's this big church, and it's got a big cross on the top. And, mister, if you can get me to the cross, I can find my way home.

So can you. Home to the love we look for our whole lives ... to the relationship that will finally fill the hole in your heart. And, one day, home to the heaven we all want to go to but none of us deserves. But finding the way home means first getting to the cross.

Not long ago, two men on an airplane were discussing their spiritual journeys. One said, As a young man, I left the church I'd been raised in to go on my own personal search for God. I've tried many religions, many spiritualities. Nothing ever satisfied my soul.

Then the man brightened as he related the surprising and abrupt way in which his quest found its answer. One day I stepped back into the church I'd grown up in. I was the only one there. Up in front, I saw the cross I'd looked at so many times as a kid. But suddenly something hit me that I had missed all these years. I found myself saying, “For me. That cross was for me.” That's where his long search finally ended.

That's where the spiritual search of millions has ended. Looking at that cross, seeing what Jesus did there, and suddenly saying those two words that change everything for me. What You did there, Jesus, is for me, isn't it? You're loving me there. You're dying there to pay my penalty for all my sin. Mel Gibson put it this way: “The full horror of what Jesus suffered for our redemption didn't really strike me. But when you finally see it, it makes you feel not only compassion, but also a debt.” You want to repay Him. You want to love Him in return.”

One bright light pointing the way to Him is what may be the twenty-six most important words in the Bible words you may have heard a thousand times or possibly never before. What matters is reading them now as if your life depends on them it does.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16

Yes, God loved the world by giving the most heart-rending gift He could possibly give His one and only Son. But the whoever brings His unspeakable sacrifice down to just one person. Facing the horror and the wonder of Jesus death on the cross, one Bible writer bottom lines it this way: “He loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Something amazing happens in your heart when you imagine yourself at the foot of Jesus cross and you say, “For me.”

Those twenty-six life-or-death words of John 3:16 spell out the alternative to a personal response to Jesus sacrifice. Whoever believes in Him shall not perish. The chilling fact is that, according to the Bible, every one of us has hijacked our life from the One who gave it to us and spiritual hijacking carries an eternal death penalty. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way ... your iniquities (all your wrongdoing) have separated you from your God ... for the wages of sin is death (Isaiah 53:6; Isaiah 59:2; Romans 6:23).

Even without reading the Bible, we know deep down inside that we've got trouble with God and that we need to do something about it or face some awful consequences. So we do good things, religious things to try to make things right with the One we will face after we take our last breath. But a death penalty cannot be paid by doing good. So it's possible to have lots of Christianity and to miss Christ. There's only one way a death penalty can be paid somebody has to die.

And Somebody did. On Skull Hill, that dark Friday afternoon. No one could take the life of the Son of God He would have to give it. And He did, in such an unspeakably awful way that the Romans had to invent a new way to describe the horror of crucifixion ex cruces from the cross. Today we describe unbearable pain as excruciating. Ex cruces. The most horrific pain of all. Suffered for you.

But the real hell of that cross was the moment when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” In that most devastating of all human experience, God the Father turned His back on His only Son. So He would never have to turn His back on you. Hell is eternal separation from God. Jesus took that so you don't ever have to. The real passion of Christ is loving you too much to lose you! Three days after Jesus died, history tells us that He walked out of His grave under His own power! Which means you can have a personal relationship with Him. Not a religion about Him, but a relationship with Him.

If you will make personal what He did on that cross by telling Him:

“Jesus, I believe that when You died, You were dying for me. You were paying for every wrong thing I ever did. And right now, with all the faith I've got, I'm putting my total trust in You to be my personal Rescuer from my personal sin. Beginning here and now, I'm Yours.”

At that moment, you trade your sin for His forgiveness, your emptiness for His peace, your hell for His heaven. The search of a lifetime ends at the foot of an old rugged cross. When you get to the cross, you can finally find your way home.

[Holwick: The Paul Harvey quote is actually an urban legend. It was actually written by Keith A. Fournier, founder of the Catholic Way website. See http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_paul_harvey_passion.htm]

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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"

One February, Wallace Powell spotted two horses hemmed in by snowdrifts on a 12,800-foot ridge in the Colorado Rockies, far above timber line. Flying back to his Gunnison base, he told his boss, Mr. Warren. They informed the mayor, who decided to feed the stranded horses.

“If you fly them the hay, I'll pay for it myself,” he said.

When Warren dropped the bale, only one horse was left, and it was in a pitiful condition. Warren and Powell took turns making two trips a week. Sometimes wind and weather were so bad it was difficult to drop the hay close, but often they could fly just twenty feet above the ground. The horse, hearing the motors, was waiting. They called him Elijah since he was fed from the sky like the prophet.

In April a news reporter featured the horse in the Denver Post, starting a fund called “Hay for Elijah.” The response was terrific. Even airline pilots flew over the ridge to point out the horse to their passengers. Once, while flying a TV crew over the site, Warren saw a pack of wolves stalking Elijah. They hurried back to Gunnison for a shotgun, and chased the wolves away.

Bill and Al Turner, who had lost two pack horses in November on a trip into those mountains, thought it might be “Bugs” who had disappeared. Using snowshoes they made the seven-mile climb to Elijah's windswept ridge. They called; he came. Yes, he was their lost horse. It was still impossible to take him across the snowdrifts, and seeing he was in good shape, they left him. Returning later when more snow had melted, they cut through twenty-foot drifts to get him through to the road.

When Elijah's trailer rolled into the town of Buena Vista, more than a thousand people watched the parade of floats and the high school band that welcomed him.

Such rejoicing over a rescued, lost horse reminds us of the joy in heaven when a sinner returns to God. You can know this greatest of all joys when you introduce a friend to Jesus or lead one who has lost his love for God back to real happiness in Jesus.

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Source: Stop, Look and Listen by Eileen E. and Jay H. Lantry, Copyright(c)1976 by Review and Herald Publishing Association

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