A Time Of Gathering

Recently, while I was on a prayer walk around Lake Coffenberry, the Lord spoke something to me that I knew immediately needed to be shared with our church family here today. The Lord quite literally spoke to me of the season that we are in right now.

Everyone that hears the sound of my voice knows that it is time to GATHER

Our church family is in trouble. We have been spiritually weak and not as fruitful as the Lord would have us to be. I am not here this morning to assign blame to anyone. If there is blame to be had, it would be mine for not effectively shepherding the flock of God.

We MUST have a move of God, but no move of God is coming unless we are faithful as a whole body/family moving together for the furtherance of the Gospel. We can’t be continually wondering about one another, is this one going to stay, is that one going to leave...

Life has a way of trying to overtake the commitments you have made to the Lord. Yet, there is still time to change outcomes. Every week, we come to worship the Lord, hoping that this might be the time, this will be the service that revival breaks out and our church will be overflowing with new believers ready to be discipled. I am here to tell you this morning that day is not coming. The Lord is a rewarder of those that are faithful to Him.

Acts 26:19 ESV

“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

Acts 16:9 ESV

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Hebrews 12:1 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Luke 16:28 ESV

for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’

I. INTRODUCTION—JACK HYLES ON HIS ARRIVAL TO HAMMOND

A preacher told a story almost 40 years ago about his arrival to the church in the Midwest. As soon as he got there, he begin to place great emphasis on evangelism and the church reaching those who were lost.

After he had been there about two months, a man called him aside one night and asked him if he could talk with him a few minutes to discuss the direction in the church. The man’s conversation was basically something like:

. . . I am one of the most influential members of this church and have been here for a long time. Ever since you have been here, I have been very nervous about all of this emphasis on evangelism, soul-winning, and reaching the lost.

. . . Before you got here we would have revivals about once or twice a year and we would hire someone to come and take care of the music and people would come to the meeting and they would join the church.

. . . But since you have arrived, you’ve preached evangelism, evangelism, and more evangelism. Now there are some people here who are not very happy with this direction you have chosen to take. We have become nervous wrecks. Things were calm and tranquil before you came but now everything is stirred up!

. . . Why can’t we be like all of the other churches in town? Why the pressure every single time we come to church?

-Most of us, if we are deeply honest with ourselves would probably say that we would feel the same way if we were placed in that situation. We don’t like the pressure being put on us for evangelism.

I. STATS ON EVANGELISM

-Here are some statistics that deal with evangelism.

· 9 out 10 American adults cannot accurately define the meaning of the Great Commission.

· Barely 1/3 of all adults (31%) know the meaning of the expression “the gospel.”

· 58% of born-again Christians claim they have shared their faith with a non-Christian in the last year.

· Young Adults (aged 28-43) are more likely than any other generation to share their faith with others.

· Barna’s data shows that 66% of Young Adults shared their faith in the last year compared to 58% of Mid Aged, 52% of Older Adults, and 41% of Seniors.

· Americans living in the South feel more of responsibility to share their faith with others than do adults in other regions of the country, with 40% of Southerners feeling a sense of responsibility to share their faith with others, compared to 25% of those living in the West or Midwest, and 23% of those living in the Northeast.

· Nearly half of all Christians do not think it is a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others.

-How people were introduced to the Church:

· Recent Barna research (2004) finds that among Christians who embraced Christ before their teen years, half were led to Christ by their parents, with another 20% by some other friend or relative.

· 7% came in response to a minister’s personal prompting and 12% cited a special event as the turning point in their journey.

· Among those who mentioned events, about 50% identified a church service while 1% mentioned media evangelism or other special situations.

· Among people aged 13 through 21, the process was much more diverse; 20% credited a friend with, and a similar proportion said their parents were responsible.

· Another 20% recalled an event as the trigger for their commitment.

· 16% listed a relative other than their parent as the primary influencer.

· Ministers were cited by 10%, while media and special personal situations were listed by only 1%.

· 19% of adult converts credited a friend, 14% by mass media experiences, 14% a live event and 13% a relative.

· Ministers were responsible for 10% of adult converts while parents of adults were around 8%.

-What the prevailing fact that comes out again and again in all of these statistics is that “big events” are not what bring people to the church or to the Lord. It is personal evangelism. One on one work!

II. FOUR TEXTS THAT HAVE FOUR CALLS FOR SOUL-WINNERS

-The passages of Scripture that I read to you all have a call for soul-winners.

1. A Call From Within—Acts 26:19

Acts 26:19 ESV

“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

-There has to be a call from within. Something inside of me will have to say that this is the way that it has to be! Something will have to tell you, “I cannot be disobedient to the heavenly vision!”

· John 4—The woman at the well—Come see a man who told me all the things I ever did!

· Acts 4—Sir, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard!

The Apostles of Jesus responded to the Sanhedrin after being told to speak no more in the name of Jesus that they had NO CHOICE but to speak of what they had seen and heard.

-That is the kind of relationship that we have to develop with the Lord. Not “what kind of church will I have?” but “what kind of church I must have?”

-There has to be a burning that settles into every one of our hearts to see the lost come to experience the power of the Holy Ghost. There is not a single one of us that cannot bring someone to the Lord. It has to happen!

-If there can ever be a vision that gets into your heart, you will make a difference in your world. . . until that happens most will find themselves being disobedient to the heavenly vision.

2. The Call from Without—Acts 16:9

Acts 16:9 ESV

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

-Come over to Macedonia and help us! How can we drive the streets of this city without hearing people call out to us to be soul-winners?

Have you ever had an encounter that made you want to help a complete stranger? Perhaps someone like Sister Faye testified about a couple of weeks ago.

There are many times where the Lord will absolutely arrest you in your spirit to minister to the needs of others.

-That is what Paul heard when the man from Macedonia called out to him. There is a call that comes from without and we are compelled to respond to it.

· I believe this Book.

· I believe that those who die without the Lord are lost.

· I believe that those who are lost will burn in Hell forever and ever in the fires of torment.

-Because of those facts, there is a pressure from without that I cannot get away from.

Church, it is time to GATHER

3. A Call From Above—Hebrews 12:1

Hebrews 12:1 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

-Soul-winners have a call from within, from without, and they also have a call from above.

-There is a great host of people who have gone on before us and they want us to go after souls! You may not be for evangelism and soul-winning, but all of heaven is for soul-winners. The Bible says that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents, than of ninety-and-nine just persons who have no need of repentance.

-In a day where increasingly, it is less than cool for a preacher to get up and preach with fervor and passion, we still have to do it. It can’t be watered down and adjusted to fit the culture. There is a call from the Word to preach the Word!

-I have some who are calling from above to remind me to be a soul-winner this morning.

· Rev. R.O. Denton, Sr.- The church has yet to see what will happen if preachers will preach and the people will hear the TRUTH! Always preach the truth, even if they don’t want it.

· Ma- The world will never want to hear the truth as long as they love their sin; but if you reach even one person with the Gospel then it is worth it all.

O God, I pray that as long as I have breath to breathe, Help me to keep preaching it!!!!

-Pastor, why all the emphasis on evangelism? Why do we need to be soul-winners? Can’t we just be a relaxed and comfortable church?

4. The Call from Beneath—Luke 16:28

Luke 16:28 ESV

for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’

-Soul-winners have a call from within, one from without, one from above and lastly, they have one from below.

-The story the rich man who died and went to Hell is very troubling. He lifted up his eyes and said, “Father Abraham, send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

-Abraham told him sadly that it would be impossible because there was a great gulf that had been fixed between them. When he heard that news, he told him to send Lazarus back to his five brothers and to tell them to not come to the place where he was.

-You may not be interested in soul-winning but those in Hell are interested in soul-winning! There is a call from beneath that is pleading with me to do my best to get this church in gear when it comes to evangelism and soul-winning!

-There are multitudes of people that would love to swap places with you this very minute!

· The greatest prayer meetings are going on in Hell.

· The greatest commitments are made in Hell.

· The greatest plans are made in Hell.

· The greatest preachers are in Hell.

-The problem is that they all waited too late. It is over for them but it is not over for their families who have been left behind.

III. CONCLUSION

We have all HEARD that we should share our faith.

Some have accepted soul winning as a personal responsibility.

My question to you this morning is this:

When will we join together and get a burden for the lost? How many more have to walk away before we learn that we are all responsible for winning souls?

Some of the greatest growth you will ever experience as a Christian is when you are actively sharing your faith.

I want us to take the prayer cards in the pews and every person write down the names of three people that need Jesus this morning.