Reaching out to the Lost
Revival Central Christian Church
February 27 2002
Jb : Introduce Mark Pippin-Testimony
Prayer: Ask them to pray for me
Joke(s)- I told Stan I was going to preach on suffering tonight, he said why if you preach as long as you usually do- they will experience it- firsthand.
I am reminded of the preacher who had preached for quite a long time, when he paused and said, “ I could continue with this, I am really on a roll here, but Jesus has spoken to me and said end it right here.” At that point the congregation rose in unison and began to sing these words: “What a friend we have in Jesus.”
Rich: (show pictures of WTC burning, firefighters, policemen as I start this part)
None of us will ever forget September 11th 2001, what happened that day will go down in infamy; it will be etched in our minds as long as we live.
We will not forget the images of the first tower on fire or the film footage of the second airplane flying into the second tower.
Who could ever forget the image of those two towers collapsing?
We will always remember the firemen, policemen and other heroes who reached out that day to rescue whoever they could, and however they could.
We cried together as a nation as we counted the cost to so many families in the loss of their loved ones. Children who had parents in the morning were motherless, fatherless or complete orphans by the afternoon.
Where was God, if God is so good, how could He let such a terrible tragedy happen to people in a nation, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all? How could He turn his back on a country whose founding Fathers were Christian men and wrote the Constitution of this great land based upon His principles and the Holy Scriptures?
Today every other car has an American flag on its window or a sticker that reads “God Bless America.”
It reminds me of the first Palm Sunday. It was the day Jesus entered Jerusalem when people were angry and frustrated under the oppression of their Roman Rulers and when Jesus the Messiah, the Savior of the world entered the city they cried “Hosanna, Hosanna” which means save us and save us now. They were saying we want out from this terrible time we are living in, we are under the control of evil men, God bless us! And Bless us NOW!
They had bumper stickers on their camels- God Bless Jerusalem-
Rich: Show video of Gasparilla while I speak.
In 2000 years things have not changed very much, people still want to live their lives, the way they want to live them and they want God to protect them, watch over them and bless them.
I am still waiting to see a bumper sticker that says: America Bless God!
We need to reach out to lost people!
We need to tell them that God already has blessed us:
1. if we lose family in the world trade center
2. or to cancer,
3. if we are killed by a terrorist
4. or a drunk driver,
God has blessed us.
5.If we suffer with the results of a stroke
6.or die instantly with a heart attack,
God has blessed us.
None of these things that happen to us come as a surprise to God and they should not come as a surprise to us either.
They are simply the result of living in a fallen world- a world that sin entered into as the result of the sin of one man. Adam brought sin to us all, when he and Eve sinned, sin entered the world and now the Devil is the prince of this world and he has done a great job of deceiving lost people, who believe they can live their lives anyway they want to and call on God and He will bless them!
God knew we would have a problem with sin long before he set the foundations of the world. Before Adam and Eve, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit had a plan.
The plan was that they would bless not just America, but the whole world, Jesus the Son of God would come to earth, born through a virgin, live among us, suffer at the hands of evil wicked men, shed his blood and die that you and I could be saved.
THE Truth IS
God has blessed us with eternal life through the death of His Son Jesus Christ. All people will die, not if but when.
You will die and I will die, but if we receive the greatest blessing of all, if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, even though we die, yet so shall we live.
We need to reach out to lost people with this good news, even though you die, with Christ so shall you live!
Rich: power point of people who jumped
On September 11th we were all effected, my mother called me, she said “Joseph, have you heard from Aaron?” Aaron is our oldest son he works for Dow Jones and every Tuesday he rides the train from Princeton where he lives to the WTC, where he gets out and goes across the street to the Wall Street Journal. I said, “no, I have not heard from him, but I have been praying.”
My mother said, “Son, what would you do if you were trapped on the 90th floor, it is on fire and there is no way out, would you jump to your death as I see people doing on the TV?”
“No mom, I would not jump, for whatever breath was left in me, I would tell others about my Jesus, I would pray and I would comfort them with His truth in whatever way I could.” I would reach out to save other people, in whatever way I could. “So you would burn up,” she said. I smiled on my end of the phone, as I answered “no”.
I answered no because I have been blessed, because someone who loved lost people enough, stepped out of their comfort zone, reached out to me and invited me to a bible study and kept after me until I got there.
I was marching along in the world thinking I was just fine!
Do you know that of all the Christians in the world no one loved me enough to tell me God’s plan of salvation? Until I was 41 years old I was just marching along!
How many people in the video clip that you just watched of Gasparilla or those at Mardi Gras are marching along on their way to Hell, because we just have not gone to tell them the truth about Jesus Christ.
Is it that we just don’t love them? Or are we afraid they might tell us to get lost? Do we not tell them they are being deceived and without Christ they are going to tell because we are afraid of what they might think of us?
Is that what Jesus meant when He commanded us to love our neighbor?
We need to reach out to lost people walking in the parade so their bloodguilt will not be on our hands. Be very afraid of God, He has the power to cast us into Hell, do not be afraid of men, all they can do is kill you.
And praise God if you are “in Christ” and they do you will be more alive than you have ever been in your life!
I know what you are thinking I am a fool. I am a fanatic- YES! I am a fanatic for Jesus Christ and we want you to be one too!
We need to reach out to lost people, because when they die they go to Hell and they are eternally separated from God and from each other.
I hear people say well Hell is where my friends will be, maybe, you may hear their groans, while they are tortured as they hear yours, but you will never see them.
Do not let the Devil fool you into believing that HELL is the Mardi Gras or the Gasparilla, there will be NO PARTY in Hell, only suffering, torture, pain and fire.
Hell is a place of loneliness and despair!
God has blessed America, 2000 years ago!
DO you want to be blessed?
I have been blessed because I joined Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection through baptism.
I have been blessed, because as a result of that bible study I repented agreeing with God that I was a sinner and in need of salvation.
I have been blessed because now by the grace of God, I get to work with the only two things in the whole world that will last, the souls of people and the word of God.
Some of you have been blessed too and we are all ministers, we are all ambassadors of Christ and you too need to carry the gospel message to people marching in the parade. Lost aimless, people without understanding.
We need to reach out to lost people.
I said to my mom “No, I would not jump and Mom, my body might burn up in that fire, but Jesus promises to never leave me or forsake me and I believe as the bible says that death to the believer has no victory, it has no sting.” I said, “Mom, within a twinkling of an eye my Jesus and his angels would be there and I and the other believers, would not have to jump. Jesus and us would walk out of that fire together.” You see Mom Jesus knows His way around a fiery furnace; He’s been there before.
We need to Reach- out to lost people by sacrificing our time, our resources and concerns about what they will think about us.
God knows about men who have been thrown into fires by the hands of wicked men.
God knows about towers falling down, he knows about terrorists, he knows about people perishing, as a matter of fact, God’s people were killed by terrorists in Jesus day, Jesus himself was killed by an angry mob and a tower fell down in Jesus day, located close to the pool of Siloam (si low um) inside the city gates of Jerusalem.
In Luke 13 we see that Jesus knew about both terrorists and tower collapses.
Open your bibles to Luke 13
Luke 13:1 Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luke 13:2 And He answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate?
Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
These were people who were worshipping God, sacrificing animals to atone for their sins as they were called to do, but Pilate killed them, and spilled their blood on the ground right along with the blood of the animals they were sacrificing and the world wanted to know, where was God? Who sinned?
Why, had God not blessed these Galileans, but He had, they had the written word of God they were following and by their faith they had God>
But Jesus is saying you are no better or no worse than anybody else, all of us have sinned, all of us deserve Hell, all of us will die, but repent or you too will perish.
Rich: video of Gasparilla may still be running and that is ok, while I speak.
People paraded by Noah too as he faithfully built the ark and he preached to them for 120 years, but only 8 were saved. Today, people continue to eat, drink and be merry. They get engaged, they get married, they get divorced. We let them crave the things of this world.
How much longer will we let them walk by as they are being deceived? How much longer will we know the truth, listen to the truth but we keep quiet as they parade by and then die, as we sit by and they perish.
They go to Hell and they are forever destroyed without being totally destroyed.
What I tell my lost friends! (JB’s testimony)
We need to reach out to lost people.
The world trade center no surprise to God.
Luke 13:4 "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
Luke 13:5 "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Jesus is saying repent yourself or you to will die, it may be by natural causes, you may fall asleep and not wake up, you might die of cancer, suffer through chemotherapy and radiation. Terrorists might kill you; you might die worshipping God when a tornado hits your church on Sunday morning. It will be no surprise to God!
But unless you have repented you too will perish and go to Hell!
If you already know what Jesus says is true, than I hope this revival has brought us to the point that we begin to reach out to lost people.
Rich: Show clip of Jesus feeding the 5000
Jesus healed people, Jesus made the lame to walk, the blind to see, Jesus fed people, not so they would elect Him King, He already was King. Not to protect us from Cancer, terrorists, or collapsing buildings. Jesus healed so men would know He had the key to eternal life. Jesus healed to show us like so many at the parade that we are sick and we need a cure. We are all going to die and if we die without Christ, we die a second time forever.
Jesus fed us, yes to meet our hunger needs, but to show us, He was the bread of life. Show us that we could not live by bread alone, but we need Jesus. Because if we just eat, get engaged, get married and die, we perish.
Jesus, has the living water, the Holy Spirit to fill you and help you live a new life in Him, you can’t get what he has anyplace else. He is the only way, He is the only truth, and in Him is the only true life.
Tonight I want to invite some of you, to come to Christ for the very first time; to give up your fear of the world and the fear of your own death.
Tonight I want to some of you, who regardless of how long you have been a Christian to make a commitment to reach out to lost people. You see if you are a Believer in Jesus Christ all authority under heaven has been given to you, to go make disciples, teach them to obey and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Before you all stand up and begin to sing What a Friend We have in Jesus.
I want to share with you the 91st psalm, if you have a decision to make, think about it now as you listen to some promises from God.
Before we sing our song of invitation follow along with me on the screen behind me as I read the 91st Psalm
Psa 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psa 91:2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Psa 91:3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
Psa 91:4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psa 91:5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
Psa 91:6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
Psa 91:7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
Psa 91:8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
Psa 91:9 If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the LORD, who is my refuge--
Psa 91:10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
Psa 91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
Psa 91:12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Psa 91:13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
Psa 91:14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
Psa 91:15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
Psa 91:16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."
As we stand and sing this song of invitation: Jesus is the Answer if you have a decision to make, if you need Jesus, if you have been going the way of the parade, repent and come, if you want to be a better witness in reaching out to lost people, won’t you come.
My brother Stan Percival our senior minister will greet you, just walk right down this aisle, walk to Jesus now and at the moment of your death, He will walk with you.
If death comes in a burning building or you are on your deathbed suffering with cancer in a twinkling of an eye, Christ will be there- Jesus is the answer, I promise!
Stand and sing together!
