We have all heard the song People Need the Lord. We
sing it and it moves us, but does it move us to do something. That something in particular is God’s call
for our lives. There is no greater
reward than knowing that our calling/ministry is a God thing. Sometimes we have to revisit our call and remember
our surrender to follow Jesus. We recall
how lost in sin we were and the joy that comes from knowing that our sins are
washed away. Commit to memory that day
and the burden you had for those around you will rekindle the passion to see
lost people saved.
“Capture the Passion” for lost people. The world is doing as expected. What about God’s people? Today many churches are turning inward. An article from Theodore O. Wedel,
“Evangelism- the Mission
On a dangerous seacoast where
shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little life saving
station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat but a
few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for
themselves, they went out day and night tirelessly searching for the
lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little life saving station,
so it became famous. So some of those who had been saved, and various
others from the surrounding areas wanted to become associated with this
station, and give of their time and their money and their effort for the
support of its work. New boats were bought, new life saving crews were
trained, and the little life saving station grew.
Some of the members of the life
saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly
equipped. They felt a more comfortable place should be provided as the
first refuge of those who were saved from the sea. So they replaced the
emergency cots and beds with better furniture in the enlarged building.
Now the life saving station became a popular gathering place for its members,
and they decorated it, and they beautifully furnished it exquisitely because
they used it as something of a club. Few members were now interested in
going to sea on life saving missions so they hired life boat crews to do the
work. The life saving motif still prevailed in the life saving club's
decorations and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club held
it's initiations, but professionalism had taken over and displaced the original
purpose of lifesaving.
Now about this time a large ship
was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in loads of cold, wet,
half drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black
skin and some of them had yellow skin and the beautiful new club was
considerably messed up - so the property committee immediately had a shower
house built outside the club where the victims of ship wrecks could be cleaned
up before they came inside. At the next meeting there was a split in the
club membership. You see most of the members wanted to stop the clubs
life saving activity as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social
life of the club. Some members insisted upon life saving as their primary
purpose and they pointed out that they were still called the life saving
station. But they were finally voted down and told if they wanted to save
the lives of various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, and
dirty and wet, they could begin their own life saving station down the coast a
little ways, which they did. And as the years went by the new station
experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old one. It evolved
into a club, and yet another life saving station was founded. Well
history continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that coast today, you will
find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore which are very professional in
nature. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but most of the
people drown.
People need the Lord.
Opportunities from God proliferate. Churches stand at the portal of a great opportunity to
share Christ. Be yielded and ready for
opportunities.
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