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In our previous message, we talked about keeping the main thing the main thing.
What is the main thing? Winning souls.
Just to emphasise again how important this is, let's try to look at this with an eternal perspective.
The average life span in Australia is now around 80.
Eternity is forever, so it's billions of times as long - that's a long time.
But in this life, we have to make many decisions.
And your decisions can be right or wrong.
Some decisions are more important than others.
If you buy the wrong house, can you still get to heaven?
If you buy the wrong car, can you still get to heaven? If you buy a bad car, you might get there a bit faster.
If you choose the wrong career, can you still get to heaven?
If you choose the wrong course of study, can you still get to heaven?
If you don't have a big bank balance, can you still get to heaven?
If you marry the wrong spouse, can you still get to heaven?
If you never give your life to Jesus, can you still get to heaven?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
Acts 4:12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
All of those decision can be wrong, and you'll still get to heaven.
Except for one - giving your life to Jesus.
Which makes this the single most important decision you'll ever make.
I'm not suggesting that you should go out and flag down every passing car, and ask the driver to marry you - because it doesn't matter who you marry.
Or that you shouldn't exercise wisdom in making these decisions, or that they are unimportant.
But as important as they may be, there's one decision in life, that easily outweighs all others - the decision to follow Jesus and receive eternal life.
That's why it's main thing.
Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
It's so easy to fall into the world's mould and do the same as everyone else - pursuing business, careers, money, property.
That doesn't mean that we shouldn't have any of those things, but they won't count for anything in the next life.
So what does God want us to do?
After we have come to Christ, what is our mission in life now?
Mark 16:15-16 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."
I want to discuss some important things about our new mission.
So do I have to give up my house, my car, my money, etc., and live on a street corner, and stand there yelling out, "Repent, for the end is near!"?
They might take one whiff and say, "Whoa! Whatever you're sharing, I don't want it."
But let's ask ourselves some questions: Why do I have a house? Obviously, I need somewhere to live.
Why do I need a job? Because I need to pay for the house.
Why do I need to go to college, or uni, or school? So I can get the job to pay for the house.
And that's all very well, but that's looking at it from a purely human viewpoint.
Let's see if we can look at it from God's point of view.
God has called us all to a mission.
We saw this in the last message, but here it is again as a reminder.
2 Cor 5:17-19 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (18) Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, (19) that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Mark 16:15-16 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."
You and I have a mission from God - to win the lost.
This mission is known as The Great Commission.
That's where our word missionary comes from - to have a mission.
In fact, I've entitled my message today How To Be A Missionary Without Going To Africa.
So now that we understand our purpose - our mission - let's ask those same questions again that we asked earlier.
Why do I have a house? Because God needs someone in my street as a missionary - a person who is looking for opportunities to preach the gospel.
And in the process of being a missionary for God, I get the benefit of the shelter and security of a house.
And why do we need jobs? Because God needs someone in that workplace as a missionary - a person who is looking for opportunities to preach the gospel.
And in the process of being a missionary for God, I also get money so I can eat and pay for my house.
And why do we need to go to college, or uni, or school? Because God needs someone there as a missionary - a person who is looking for opportunities to preach the gospel.
And in the process of being a missionary for God, I get the benefit of an education.
If merely getting a house, an education, a job are the primary goals, then I have the same goals as those who don't know the Lord.
But I am a new creation all things have become new.
So what does it mean to preach the gospel?
Often, people think in terms of getting behind a pulpit, or on a street corner.
ILLUS - What if I'm in a coffee shop with someone, and the conversation comes round to spiritual things - aided and abetted by me, of course. What should I do? Stand up on my chair: "Hearken unto me, you sinners. Yea, the Lord is displeased with you all, you lawbreakers. Repent now, and turn from your wicked ways."
Of course not! We let the Holy Spirit lead us.
But it is essential that we all understand this: Every Christian is a missionary.
ILLUS - I was in a coffee shop and got talking to the owners. We found out that the husband - let's call him John - used to be a policeman, and in the course of his duty in a country town, a criminal had driven his vehicle into him and pushed him through the wall of a house. He broke his neck and his back and he became a paraplegic and was told he'd never walk again. In fact, the criminal had also driven backwards and forwards over John's partner several times, and he is still a paraplegic. When John went to hospital, they discovered he also had bowel cancer which they were able to remove. If he'd left it any longer, it would have been too late. Today, John is not only free of cancer, but also up and walking.
When I heard this story, it would have been so easy to say, "That's an amazing story. Gotta go. See you later."
But it was an opportunity for the Lord.
I said, "Wow! The Lord must want you alive for reason."
I asked him if he prayed, if he had a Bible, if he read it, and invited him along to church.
I wonder how many opportunities people miss just because they don't notice them.
In fact, all I was doing was trying to imitate what Jesus did.
ILLUS - In John 4, it tells us that Jesus was sitting near a well in Samaria when a woman came along. So He asked her for a drink. She says, "Hey, You're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan. How come you're talking to me?" Jesus said, "If you knew who I was, you'd ask Me for living water."
And that was the beginning of a conversion that saw many of the people believing in Him.
Jesus spotted an opportunity to turn the conversation around.
ILLUS - In Acts 17:16-24, Paul saw an opportunity and took it.
What was the key here?
Jesus and Paul were looking for opportunities.
They weren't just waiting for them to fall out of the sky.
Opportunities come to those who look for them.
ILLUS - I'm not saying that when someone says, "Looks like rain," you get a glazed look in your eyes, and say, "Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord has made His promise. Yea, if My people pray..."
Give me a break - just because you sound spiritual doesn't mean you are.
We must be aware of some cultural realities - back then they lived in a much more spiritually aware environment - and so Jesus could take an ordinary thing like water and turn the conversation around.
But we can still be on the alert and look for opportunities.
ILLUS - It was atrocious weather. Preacher Bob Harrington was on his way somewhere, when a man appeared running along the bridge, shouting and waving his shirt in the air. Bob's first thought was to swerve and avoid him as there was a nearby mental prison. He stopped and locked his door. The man said, "The bridge is down!" One of the supports for the bridge had collapsed. Others ignored the man and plunged to their deaths.
You cannot make a person believe - but you are responsible to tell them the bridge is down and they're on the path of destruction.
Lost people are going to hell, and their situation is urgent.
As long as you're not acting like a fruit-loop, that is.
But we can't afford to be second guessing what people are thinking, and how they'll respond, and what if...
ILLUS - If you were walking past your neighbours' house, and you looked in and saw that they were watching TV, but you also saw that their house on fire, you'd rush up and bang on the door: "Your house is on fire!" You wouldn't stand there thinking, "Well, I don't know. They look so happy and they're having such a nice time. They're right in the middle of a movie. Maybe they'll be upset if I interrupt them."
If you told them that their house was on fire, would you be considered a lunatic? No! A hero. But not till after they realise what you're saying is true.
But if they don't believe you because they're at the front of the house, and fire is at the back, they mightn't think too well of you.
But there's something far more important than a house fire - there's the eternal fires of hell.
And we've got to warn people, and not just be concerned with our own popularity.
King David wrote Ps 103, and three times he says to himself, "Bless the Lord, O my soul!" (vs. 1-2,22)
What sort of person talks to themselves like that?
A person who recognises that sometimes we need to give ourselves a talking to, that sometimes we need to stir ourselves up.
Paul said to Timothy, "... stir up the gift of God which is in you..." (2 Tim 1:6)
We need to continually stir up our passion for lost souls, because it's one of the easiest things to lose.
It may be risky, but we can't keep it to ourselves.
2 Kings 7:1-10 - There was a great famine in Samaria, and they are besieged by the Syrian army. The people were desperate. And Elisha prophesies that the very next day, God would intervene. And He does. He causes the Syrian army to hear the sound of a great army, and they flee so rapidly, they leave everything behind.
Then four lepers decide that they've got nothing to lose. They don't want to stay where they are and die of starvation. They don't know the Syrian army is gone. So they decide to go to the Syrians and hope for mercy.
2 Kings 7:8-10 And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it. (9) Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news (gospel means good news), and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king's household." (10) So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them..."
My point here is this: We can't keep the gospel message a secret.
Those lepers could have hoarded everything for themselves.
But they realised that wouldn't be right."
So they made a simple invitation.
And as a result of that simple invitation, the whole city was blessed.
ILLUS - I saw an ad in a catalogue for a motorised green frog. The caption read: "Hours of entertainment for the whole family."
Really? When the world is palming off rubbish like that, why should we be embarrassed about the gospel?
Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." (Rom 1:16)
If a person wants their life to change from the inside out, they need God's power - and the gospel is God's power.
Jesus said, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)
Jesus is offering abundant life, eternal life.
Isn't that worth telling people about?
God has entrusted you with a ministry and a message - reconciliation.
Are you willing today to see that you are a missionary, and that everything in your life - where you live, your job, your place of study - has a purpose that goes far beyond just those material benefits that they provide?
God is calling you to keep the main thing the main thing.
To be where God has placed you, but as a missionary - to bring the greatest message on earth to a dying world.