Sermon Central
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The Burdened Watchman
Contributed by Dan Stires on Nov 6, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: How do we become burdened for those who are lost in their sin and need a Savior? The text here deals with the burdened watchman of Dumah.
The Burdened Watchman
Intr:
Illus.
1. Hattie Wiatt, a little girl, came to a very small Sunday School and asked them inside the church if she would come in.
2. But it was explained to her there was not enough room for her to come.
3. In less than two years she fell ill, and slipped away on her own little pilgrimage.
4. No one guess her strange little secret until they found under her pillow on her bed a torn pocketbook with 57 pennies in it.
5. These pennies were wrapped up in a scrap of paper on which was written,
6. ¡§To Help build the little temple bigger, so that more children can go to Sunday School.¡¨
7. For two years little Hattie had saved and scrimped to gather her pennies for the cause which was nearest to her heart.
8. The pastor told the story to his congregation, and the people began to make donations for the enlargement of their church.
9. The papers told this story far and wide, and within five years those fifty-seven pennies had grown to be $250,000.00 and today in Philadelphia, you can see the Great Baptist Temple, which seats 3,000 people.
10. Besides the church, you can see The Temple College which accommodates more than 1,400 students.
11. A Temple for worship.
12. A Hospital.
13. And a Sunday School so large that all who want to attend can come and there would be room.
14. I don¡¦t know what that story does to you, but it grips my heart to know that any church would be so small that someone couldn¡¦t go to Sunday School.
15. And tonight for our Sunday School time, we have all these empty seats and plenty of room for people to come and attend.
16. It grips my heart this evening that the church building that we sit in Sunday after Sunday could be so much more full than it is.
17. My heart is sensitive to little children that need Jesus.
Illus.
1. I remember when I was on staff at the Lancaster Faith Memorial Church.
2. Every Sunday 16 buses would warm up and a slew of people would come and man those buses and pray and then take off on Sunday morning to go out into the neighborhood to pick up children and youth who wanted to come to Sunday School and Church.
3. There were times when those buses would bring in as many as 500 to 600 children on the average.
4. Those old buses would break down and men would come and work on them, giving their time and effort to make sure the buses would go out on Sunday morning.
18. I don¡¦t know what it¡¦s going to take to get a burden to see more children and teens come to know Jesus Christ.
19. They are now telling us because of the society that we live in that children are most likely to get saved before the age of 12.
20. It used to be age 18.
21. My heart is burdened for Pataskala and our surrounding communities.
22. I want to win this community for Jesus!
23. I want to share with you tonight that my burden is to get people saved.
24. Get them in the church and see them discipled.
25. I want to do something that will make an impact on the Kingdom of God.
26. I ask you tonight: What is your burden?
ƒÞ What moves you?
ƒÞ What makes your heart cry?
ƒÞ Are you sensitive?
ƒÞ Where are your priorities?
27. Do you have a burden tonight for people who are lost without Jesus and headed for a Devil¡¦s hell?
28. The burden that I have read to you tonight comes from Isaiah chapter 21 and verses 11 and 12.
29. In verse 11 it is called THE BURDEN OF DUMAH.
ƒÞ Dumah is better known as Edom ¡V an old enemy of Israel.
ƒÞ First, she is seen as anxiously enquiring for a ray of light.
ƒÞ Second, she is seen as doomed to destruction for the guilt of her crimes.
ƒÞ Thirdly, She is seen as paying an awful penalty for her past.
ƒÞ (People ¡V who anxiously enquiring for a ray of light ¡V doomed to destruction ¡V guilty of sins ¡V paying an awful price for sins unless they come and meet Jesus Christ.)
Lay Out of the Vision:
- In this vision Edom is seen as in Great Anxiety.
- She is sending a message to Zion¡¦s watchman.
- She is enquiring how far the night has gone.
- Have you ever been up all night and wonder how much farther the night has to go before it gets daylight?
- She is enquiring how much longer will the darkness last?
