Lost and Found

Lost and Found
Luke 15

A pastor went over to an elderly church member's house to see how she was
doing. Seated on the sofa and very hungry, he spotted on the coffee
table a bowl of almonds. 

A little timid, he asked, "Do you mind if I
have one?" The woman was quite reluctant but said, "No, go ahead."

An hour later, he was in disbelief that he had finished off the whole bowl!

"Oh I'm so sorry about all the almonds!" he said as he stood to leave.

"Oh, don't worry about it. 

All I can do is suck the chocolate off them since I lost all of my teeth."

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I’d like to say that I have a good way to connect that joke to what we are going to talk about this morning…but I don’t. I’m just going to leave it right there.
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I don’t know about you, but I sure like it when I find something that has been lost. Most of the time it would be my car keys or television remote that I would be looking for when I lose something. These days my 20 year old son is living with me as well as three dogs in our small home. For the most part Barry keeps track of himself, but keeping track of three dogs can certainly be a challenge.

The other day while I had the three out in the yard I looked up to find that my 6 year old lab,Titus had made a break for it and was nowhere to be found. It was about 4:30 in the morning and I was not really in the mood to go searching for my wandering dog. But….I knew that quite honestly if I didn’t go find him I wasn't too sure if he’d return on his own.

I also know that Titus doesn’t pay attention to traffic. He wouldn't hesitate to run directly into the path of an oncoming car if he were to see something on the other side of the road that interested him. Knowing that about him makes it all the more important to find him when he runs off because I live near two rather busy streets.

So I put the other two dogs in the house and jumped into my truck to find Titus. I drove to the places where I had found him after other escape attempts. I didn’t find him. I then turned down one of the busy streets near my house and two houses down the block, there he was, in the yard of a home checking out all the smells of the trees and bushes in the front yard. Since it was 4:30 in the morning I was able to stop, back up and jump out of my truck leaving it in traffic (of which there was none) to get Titus and put him in the back seat before heading home.

I have to admit that I was relieved to locate him so quickly and to get him back where he belongs.

If I feel that way about my pet, how much more must God grieve when we are lost? He looks for us, He calls us and He continues to wait for us to come home. No wonder there is celebrating in heaven when one of God’s lost children comes home.

And if that’s the case, and God loves each of us that much, doesn’t it make sense for us to follow His lead and love His children in a manner likewise? Shouldn’t we also be concerned for those who are lost?

If we truly want to imitate God, then the things that break His heart should break ours right? More often than not, they don’t. But sometimes we actually listen and take action.

Dallas area pastor, Matt Chandler, tells the story of Dave Karnes. When the World Trade Center tumbled to the ground on that dreadfully dark day, more than 3000 people lost their lives. But a few who were buried beneath the rubble miraculously survived. Two of these were Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, a pair of Port Authority employees who responded to the attack and were on the bottom floor as the south tower fell.

Trapped without water and breathing smoke filled air, both men had little hope for survival. Yet as they lay there under a mountain of debris, something was stirring inside an accountant in Connecticut. Dave Karnes who spent 23 years in active duty in the Marines, was watching the scene play out on TV like the rest of us. But more than just allowing it to trouble him, he decided to do something about it. He went to his boss and told him he wouldn’t be back for awhile. He went home and put on his fatigues and then drove 120 MPH to ground zero, arriving by late afternoon.


While rescue workers were being called off the site, Dave was able to stay because of the clout and credential of his uniform. Finding another Marine, the two joined forces and walked the pile of debris together, seeking to save a life. After an hour of searching, they heard the faint tapping on metal pipes. It was Will and John who had been trapped for nine hours. This Marine who had been working a spreadsheet just hours before found them, began to dig and then freed these two men. Of the 20 people pulled out of the rubble to safety, Will and John were numbers 18 and 19. And all because Dave Karnes took off his suit, put on his rescue fatigues, (rolled up his sleeves) and stepped into the despair and darkness of Ground Zero.

And then Matt Chandler writes, “In the same way but to an infinitely greater degree, God took off his royal robes, stepped into our dark and depraved culture, and served us. We were buried in the depths and rubble of our own foolishness with zero chance of pulling ourselves out of our own sin. We were without hope until the Holy One clothed himself in humanity to rescue us, to become sin for us on the cross. Our service (to others) must be grounded in the truth of the Gospel…Christ’s birth, life, death and resurrection for us. It begins and ends with Jesus – begins there because he is our original motivation and ends there because in Him we are empowered to serve (and save) others.”
Can you imagine feeling that kind of calling on your heart? The kind that would cause you to drop what you are doing to go where you need to go, to do what you need to do, and find someone who was lost. I think that Jesus is calling us to do just that.

I believe that those of us who are followers of Jesus have more love than we need and we don’t want to stockpile it, we want to give it away. What better way to dole it out than to use it to strive to find those who are lost and introduce them to the One who saves, Jesus.



In Luke chapter 15 we read…
Luke 15:3-7
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Jesus addressed the importance of the lost to God from three different angles. In the story of the lost sheep He not only explained the joy of finding the lost sheep , but also the shepherd’s willingness to lift the sheep up to his shoulders and carry it home. This would have been a great display of love by a shepherd not only for his flock but for an individual sheep.

The same is true in the way that God sees each of us. Individually we are important enough that he would come and look for each of us. And God is also being very patient as He waits for His children to return.

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Diana knew the rigors of her residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City would take its toll, so to keep her company, she adopted a 30-lb., black and tan Mutt mix named Zoey from an adoption agency in Puerto Rico. The pair bonded quickly, and loved learning about each others’ quirks. One cold Sunday morning in October, Diana’s dad was walking Zoey through Central Park when, spooked by an approaching dog, she pulled out of her collar, and took off. What happened in the next week is a story you won’t believe.

Diana and her family’s hunt for Zoey began immediately, including plastering thousands of “Lost Dog” posters all over Manhattan, several Craigslist ads, false leads, and a potential sighting underneath the George Washington Bridge. And the search crew seemed to grow by the day—volunteers from a local adoption agency distributed posters, even the Chief of the Central Park branch of the NYPD helped in the search.

“One day I was hanging a poster outside of a church when these little old ladies came up, gave me a hug, and told me they would ask Jesus to find my dog,” says Diana.

Exactly one week to the hour since Zoey had gone missing, Diana and her mother were walking around East Harlem looking for her pup, but really just chatting about how they would memorialize her, perhaps a burial in the backyard with her toys, or donating her crate to a shelter, when her phone rang and a mysterious woman said she thought she had their dog. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up, particularly after all the prank calls we got, so I told her to snap a photo and send it to me. It was my Zoey.”

A lovely couple had recovered Zoey limping along in Riverside Park not far from the George Washington Bridge, put a scarf around her neck to guide her along, and, on their way home, stumbled across Diana’s poster. The rest is history. Diana nursed her baby girl back to health (Zoey suffered three pelvic fractures on her journey) and they’ve been together ever since.

“To this day, I call every person’s number when I see a lost dog poster,” says Diana. “I tell them not to give up hope.”

Diana learned a lesson. Never give up hope. Isn’t that what we see in God as he searches for the lost? He doesn’t need anyone to call and tell Him…. He won’t ever give up hope on any one of us. He will continue to pursue each of us because no matter how far away we have wandered He continues to love each of us and patiently await our return to Him.

In the Parable of the Lost Coin God shows the effort that one goes to in order to find that which is lost.

Luke15:8-10 says…. “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

Looking for something that is lost is very important when you have very little to start with. So in this parable Jesus is pointing out the value of the lost. It is so valuable to the woman that she lights a lamp which would cost money, and then she swept the entire house and searched carefully.

But she didn’t search for just a little bit and say, “It will eventually turn up, or it wasn’t that big a deal, I still have the other nine.” No, she searched until she found it. We don’t know how long that was, but it could have been a few minutes or a few days, we just don’t know, either way we do know that she didn’t stop until she found the coin. God is relentless in His search for us too. And then when we are saved God rejoices just as we would if we were to find something of such great value.

In the first two parables we see things from the vantage point of the one who is searching for the lost. We get a view from what it must look like for God as He searches for His lost children and what it would feel like to find that which is lost. But what must it feel like to be the one who is lost and then found?

When I was about four years old, my parents took me to Jones Beach. Jones Beach is actually Jones Beach State Park and it is a barrier Island linked to Long Island New York. The beach itself is 6 and one half miles of white sand beach on the Atlantic Ocean.

The beach was incredibly crowded. We may have been on a beach at the ocean, but the beach itself was a sea of humanity. There were people in every direction who had come to spend time at the beach on a hot summer afternoon in New York. And on this afternoon I decided to go for a walk all by myself. After walking for a few minutes I realized that I could no longer see where our blanket had been laid in the sand. As I looked in all directions there were no familiar faces. I was lost.

It is one thing to lose an object, but it is entirely different when it is you who are lost. A sense of what I would call full-body-panic came over me and since I did not know a single one of the people who were near me, I for some reason decided to just sit down next to the nearest trash can. At four you don’t have many strategies to choose from, at least I didn’t come up with many. So I just sat down next to the trash can, put my head down and cried.

After what seemed like hours and hours but was most likely just 10 or 15 minutes, I felt a tap on my arm and a familiar voice. “There you are.” said my mom. I was never so happy to see anyone…ever. I had been thinking about what life was going to be like out on my own, but now I could abandon those thoughts and return to where I belonged.

I knew that I had been lost. Sadly many people in today’s world don’t even know that they are lost. By that I mean that they don’t understand where it is that they actually belong and that their heavenly father is walking up and down the beach looking for them in the hopes of bringing them home. If only they would be able to grasp what it really means to be found, and saved.

In the third and final parable that Jesus teaches in Luke 15 we are told about a man and his two sons. One of the sons tells his father that we wants his inheritance early. He wants what he would otherwise get after his father died. That request is a huge red flag right off the bat. I mean, who does that?

That could not have been a normal request even during the time of Jesus. I am sure that those listening to Jesus tell the story were already forming an opinion of this son and it wasn’t a good one.

So the son takes his money and heads off to a far land to live a life of selfishness and sin. Not too long after, two things happen that open the eyes of this young man. First off he runs out of money and secondly at the same time there is a famine in the land. Out of food and out of money, he begins to starve and come to the realization that he is in trouble.

So at this point Jesus gives us a view into the circumstances and the mindset of the one who was lost. In the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin we saw things from the perspective of the one doing the searching, now we get to see what it looks like to be on the other end of the situation.

The son knows he has made a mistake and after a failed attempts to try to make it by hiring himself out to a farmer we get a peek into his thoughts as we read in Luke 15:17-19

17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

So he heads home. As he approaches something happens that the listener of the time and even of today may not have expected.

His father had been waiting and watching for the return of his lost son. Instead of doing what most people would have done and writing the child off, the father runs to greet him.

I think that many fathers of that time and of today would have said something to the effect that the wayward son was and is “dead to me”. And no matter what the son did he would not be welcomed back into the family. But you see that isn’t how it works in God’s family. The contrast of the world’s view of this and the way God sees things then becomes clear.

Now the son who had remained faithful to his father was feeling slighted at all the excitement of the return of his brother. He was thinking, “Hey wait a minute here, I was the one to stayed on and kept working. I never demanded my inheritance, I never left. What’s the deal? Where’s my party? Where’s the robe and ring for me like the ones you just gave my brother?

In Luke 15:31-32 we read…

31 “His father said to him (the faithful son), ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

Church, this the lens that we need to see the world through. Not only for lost children in our own families, but also for all those who may cross our path who have strayed away from the love of our heavenly Father.

We have been put here, right here, in Pueblo West on McCulloch Blvd. to point people to Jesus. It is God’s plan. He wants to use us to reflect the love of Jesus onto those we encounter on a daily basis in such a way that they can’t but help to see that they are lost and there is something so much better waiting for them. And it really isn’t a someTHING but a someone.

Jesus has shown us that we need to be diligent in our search for the lost, we need to be willing to put in the extra effort to find the lost and then we need to understand the way that the lost see things. It is the love that God pours into us that we are to share with them as they begin to move toward the Savior.

Each of us are called to reach out to the lost in the name of Jesus that they may be found. Are you ready?

Oh Thank God!

Nov. 19
Giving Thanks


Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they darted toward the nearest fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn't make it.

Terrified, the one shouted to the other, "Put up a prayer, John. We're in for it!" John answered, "I can't. I've never made a public prayer in my life." "But you must!" implored his companion. "The bull is catching up to us." "All right," panted John, "I'll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table;

“O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'"

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Today we are going to talk about being thankful. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and the holiday is not just the kickoff of the Christmas season and lots of great food, but it is a reminder as to how we should be thinking the entire year.

The Apostle Paul wrote two letters to the church in Thessalonica and one of the things that he wrote was to encourage them to give thanks. First Thessalonians 5:16-18 says  “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is telling us in this passage that it is God’s desire that we would rejoice, pray and be thankful always. So no matter what is going on in our lives God wants us to do these things.

If we are rejoicing, praying and expressing our thanks, it can be really hard to be angry, self-absorbed complainer. To behave in one of these ways will rule out the other just by default.

Now, what does it really mean to be thankful? Merriam Webster defines thankful being “conscious of benefit received”.

Another source says that the definition of the word, thankful, is to be pleased and relieved or expressing gratitude and relief. Most of us know exactly what it means to be thankful.

I recently asked people on Facebook to message me what they are thankful for other than their salvation, God and Jesus.

Here are some of their responses.

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I am thankful for…..
and show photo of girl from paper who is thankful
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Quite often we don’t feel much like being thankful do we? Maybe we lost our job. Maybe we are suffering physically or maybe we have even lost a loved one recently. Life can be difficult and each of these things are reasons we may find ourselves less than thankful.  Yet we have much to be thankful for.

Billy Graham shares a story about a man who had every right to be bitter and resentful, but was not. He tells it like this…

The next footsteps in the corridor, he knew, might be those of the guards taking him away to his execution. His only bed was the hard, cold stone floor of the dank, cramped prison cell. Not an hour passed when he was free from the constant irritation of the chains and the pain of the iron manacles cutting into his wrists and legs.

Separated from friends, unjustly accused, brutally treated—if ever a person had a right to complain, it was this man, languishing almost forgotten in a harsh Roman prison. But instead of complaints, his lips rang with words of praise and thanksgiving!

The man was the Apostle Paul—a man who had learned the meaning of true thanksgiving, even in the midst of great adversity. Earlier, when he had been imprisoned in Rome, Paul wrote, “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20, NIV).

Think of it: Always giving thanks for everything—no matter the circumstances! Thanksgiving for the Apostle Paul was not a once-a-year celebration, but a daily reality that changed his life and made him a joyful person in every situation.

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As followers of Jesus Christ, being thankful to God for all He has done, is doing, and will do, should be a daily occurrence shouldn’t it?
If a spirit of ingratitude is allowed to grow in our hearts it will put a barrier between us and the God who loves us so much as to sacrifice His only Son for us while we were yet sinners.

If we have an ungrateful heart we will grow to be bitter, selfish and malcontented. As we nurture a spirit of thankfulness in our hearts we will find that we are more content. We will also discover that even in trials, we have a peace and joy that draws us closer to our God.

Not everyone got the memo on that though.

At one point as Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem he encountered a group of ten lepers. They called out to Jesus from a distance as it was their custom to do.

You see at the time those who suffered from leprosy would be required to call out so as to keep others from coming in contact with them. They would shout “leper, leper, leper” if there were others nearby so as to alert them and keep a seemingly safe distance between them.

When they called out to Jesus, however, it was not to alert Him, but to ask for His healing. In Luke chapter 17: 13-14 we read, that “They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

Jesus responded by saying, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

They were healed, free of sores, the disease was gone, they were, good as new.

Leprosy is some nasty stuff. It is an infectious disease that causes one to have serve pale-colored disfiguring skin sores, that may appear as lumps or bumps, and also nerve damage on the arms and legs. You would think that being healed of leprosy would caused them to celebrate with a great amount of joy.

That just wasn’t the case.

Only one of the ten turned around after being healed and came back to give thanks to Jesus. Starting with verse 17 we read, “Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Have you ever experienced anything like that? I mean not healing someone of leprosy of course, but a situation where you were asked by someone to do something for them and then when you did it, they didn’t even bother with thanking you?

It has been my experience that teenagers can certainly go through stages of just such behavior. I may have even gone through just such a stage myself in my teen years.

Teenagers not withstanding, I suppose that there are other possible reasons that the other nine didn’t turn around to express their gratitude.

Baptist Pastor Charles Brown suggests that the other nine may have had their reasons…
    One waited to see if the cure was real.
    One waited to see if it would last.
    One said he would see Jesus later.
    One decided that he had never had leprosy.
    One said he would have gotten well anyway.
    One gave the glory to the priests.
    One said, “O, well, Jesus didn’t really do anything.”
    One said, “Any rabbi could have done it.”
    One said, “I was already much improved.”

Whatever the reasons were that the remaining nine lepers didn’t join with the one and return to give thanks, I can tell you that it didn’t surprise Jesus. I am sure that before He even granted them the healing He already knew that they wouldn’t be grateful, but you know…He healed them anyway.

That my friends is the kind of Savior we follow. He healed them even when He knew that there would be almost nothing in the way of gratitude shown by those healed. And later, He would die for those same lepers and each of us while we were yet sinners. But that’s just how Jesus rolls.

It sure seems to me that not only were the lepers ungrateful, but it was almost as if they had taken Jesus and His healing for granted.

How often do we take the things in our lives for granted? I can’t begin to tell you the amount of complaining that I hear from people who cross my path or on social media. Originally I was going to tell you that quite honestly much of the complaining is from young people, which is certainly true, but us older folks sure can get on a roll when it comes to ranting about what bothers us.

Not too long ago a campaign to quell complaining began. Rev. Will Bowen of Kansas City preached a sermon in July of 2006 where he encouraged his congregation of 250 to shift their focus from lack to abundance by giving up complaining for 21 days.

Bowen says that is the length of time it takes to break a habit. As part of the effort the church handed out latex bracelets with the word “Spirit” on them. The bracelets were designed to reinforce the idea and at this point more than 5 million of the bracelets have been shipped out worldwide.

At one point I heard an account of a church congregation that had placed an order for the bracelets and when they arrived, for whatever reason, the church leadership complained about the quality of the simple latex bands and returned them. How sad. That church complained about the bracelets that were created to quell complaining.

I have said many times that I would love to take every child I know to Haiti before they turn 18 so that they can see what it really means to be without. I think it would be something that they would never forget. Many of the children in third world countries while they have very little, do have a great deal of joy and happiness in their hearts.

It is really a matter of being happy with the blessings that we have and being thankful for them on a daily basis. Otherwise we will constantly compare our situations to those of others and be miserable when we don’t measure up.

Have a look at this short video.

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SHOES

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That’s a powerful message isn’t it? It says to me, “be careful what you wish for”, but it also says that things will go much better for us if we are content with the blessings that we have instead of desiring the blessings that others have.

Paul writes in Philippians chapter 4 “11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

You see, our level of contentment is directly related to the level of joy and happiness in our lives.  If we are not content with the blessings we already have in our lives whether related to material goods, relationships or our circumstances we will always be comparing our situations to others and looking to get bigger and bigger blessings.

If our focus is constantly on whatever the better thing is, then we will never be happy with what we have and we will always be looking for something else. On the other hand, if we are thankful and grateful on a daily basis for all that we have, we can be content and filled with joy. That joy  however, will never come if we are more into complaining than giving thanks.

Author and breast cancer survivor, Erma Bombeck made the point rather well when she wrote.

An estimated 1.5 million people are living today after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I hear the voice of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, "I don't know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!" The kid is right.

How often do we really have everything, but we don’t see it that way?

Isn’t it interesting that the things that we desire the most, and are the most important to us, most often are the cause of our anxiety, and unhappiness?

Quite often our unhappiness is a result of our attitudes toward our circumstances. As I said before, if we are thankful for all that we have and have been blessed with, each time our circumstances change for the better OR the worse, the happiness and joy will remain.

There are several places in scripture where we are reminded to be thankful for the blessings in our lives and to direct that thankfulness toward God. It is a good habit to get into because it then carries over into our dealings with others.

In Psalm 107 king David writes in verses 8-9, Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

We see that in this passage that we are not just thanking God for what He has done in the past but also the things that He continues to do as He satisfies the thirsty and the hungry.

Sure we should give God praise and thank Him on a daily basis for all that He has done, is doing and is yet to do, but a direct result of giving thanks like that is that we will appreciate the circumstances in our lives. And if we appreciate the circumstances, and each blessing, we will always have more joy and happiness than if we take the things in our lives for granted and are continuing to look for more.

Being thankful is a decision each of us must make. I cannot decide that you will be thankful, it is up to you, but it does make a difference. Things look much better to us when we view our world through the lens of thankfulness and gratitude.

Andre Deutsch tells this story…In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?"

The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you."  The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week."

A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before.  "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi. "The goat is filthy."

The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week."

A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat -- only the nine of us."

The way in which we view the life we live and the circumstances that we encounter will make all the difference as to whether or not we enjoy the time we’ve been given. Things are always better if we are thankful for what we have. The world would have us believe that we should always be looking for something better, we should never be content with our place in life. That attitude can quickly change if we are faced with losing it all.

Dana Keeton told this story in The Democratic Union of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee:

The sun had just risen on a hot August day in 1944 in the small village of Plelo, in German-occupied France. The 15-year-old boy did not know why he and the other citizens of Plelo had been lined up before a firing squad in the middle of the town square. Perhaps they were being punished for harboring a unit of Marquisards, the French underground freedom fighters. Perhaps they were merely to satisfy the blood lust of the German commanding officer who, the evening before, had routed the small group of Marquisard scouts. All the boy knew was that he was about to die.

As he stood before the firing squad, he remembered the carefree days of his early childhood, before the war, spent roaming the green of the French countryside. He thought about all he would miss by never growing up. Most of all he was terrified of dying. How will the bullets feel ripping through my body? he wondered. He hoped no one could hear the whimperings coming from deep in his throat every time he exhaled.

Suddenly, the boy heard the sound of exploding mortar shells beyond the limits of his little village. Quickly rolling tanks could also be heard. The Germans were forced to abandon the firing squad and face a small unit of U.S. tanks with twenty GI's led by Bob Hamsley, a corporal in Patton's Third Army. A Marquisard captain had asked Hamsley for help. After three hours, fifty Nazis were dead, and the other fifty were taken prisoner.

In 1990 the town of Plelo honored Bob Hamsley on the very spot where dozens of the town's citizens would have died if not for him. The man who initiated the search for Hamsley and the ceremony honoring him was the former mayor of Plelo, that same 15-year-old boy. He had determined to find the man who saved his life and honor him.

It's hard to forget your savior.

Neither should we forget ours.

Spiritual First Responders (Aug. 5, 2017)

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Love God, love people.

Where did that come from? Why does it matter? Do we really have to do that?

Let’s take just a second here and briefly give these questions a look. Where did it come from?

It came from Luke chapter 10, Matthew chapter 22 and Mark chapter 12:30-31 where when asked what the greatest commandment was Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this” ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

This was written in the Gospels, the Gospels which are the part of the New Testament that speaks to us about Jesus and His coming, dying, and rising again so that we could have eternal life.

Loving God and loving people matters because Jesus, the one who did come, die and rise for us said it did. Oh it isn’t really that simple. But since He gave everything for us, I’d say that He has the necessary credibility that it would take to at least get me to listen.

As I listen to Him talk about loving our neighbor I come to realize that if I look back at His roughly three years of ministry loving His neighbor is exactly what Jesus did everywhere He went. He was the living example for us. He showed His love everywhere He went because He came for all of us. He died for all of us. He rose again for all of us. That matters.

Do we really have to love God and love our neighbor? Actually, yes, yes we do. And we are to love others as we would want to be loved ourselves. That’s what Jesus was saying when He said, that we need to love our neighbor as ourselves.
You see, it is a command for those of us who follow Jesus. Since God and Jesus love everyone, when we love our neighbors as ourselves we are at the very same time showing our love to God. It is kind of like this…when you love on my kids the way you would want me to love you, you are showing me love too.

But how do we show that love to others especially to those who don’t know or believe in Jesus?

We’ll come back to that…

Bear with me for a minute…

I want you to picture yourself as a first responder.

What is a first responder?

A first responder is someone who is the first to respond right? That seems straight forward enough. Today we look to police, fire and rescue personnel as first responders. They are called to respond to the emergency needs of another, but while we call them first responders, quite often there are others who have the chance to respond before trained personnel can arrive.

STORY ABOUT “EMERGENCY!” TELEVISION SHOW WITH JOHN GAGE AND ROY DESOTO PLAYED BY RANDOLPH MANTOOTH AND KEVIN TIGHE. THEY WERE PARAMEDICS ON A LOS ANGELES RESCUE UNIT. (Emergency Intro…..You Tube). DEFIBULATOR OR AND IV WITH RINGER’S LACTATE FIXED EVERYTHING.

PASS AROUND HELMET-

You know what I mean. When someone begins choking in a restaurant it is a good idea to call 911, but the first person to respond is most likely someone who is already at the location. We give training to as many people as we can so that they can be ready when these kinds of events happen around them. People learn the Heimlich maneuver, CPR or even how to use a tourniquet to stop bleeding. When a seemingly regular person leaps into action to rescue someone in some form of distress, we say that they are a hero.

But you know, I think that if we take a minute to look at it through the lens of scripture, we might find that it is something other than heroic.

Turn with me to Luke chapter 10 verses 25-37.


Luke 10:25-37New Living Translation (NLT)
The Most Important Commandment

25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”

27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”[a]

28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

(We heard this earlier from the passage in the Gospel of Mark.)
But there’s more..

29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Parable of the Good Samaritan

30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant[b] walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,[c] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Isn’t Jesus great? We just read12 verses and there is SO much there. Let’s unpack it just a bit this morning.

First of all we see where another one of those troublemakers is trying to trap Jesus into saying something that they can use against Him. They were always trying to do that kind of thing to Jesus, but seeing as how Jesus is God incarnate there was really no way that they were ever going to pull one over on Jesus was there? So Jesus used them to teach the rest of us.

I have to admit that this is one of my very favorite parts of scripture.

Jesus turned the tables on this guy. Then He used a parable to show not only him what He is trying to say, but also to teach the rest of us what it means to be a follower of Christ.

I realize that there is a pretty good chance that you have heard or read this parable several times. But it really does speak to the heart of what it means to be a Christian. The majority of the people around us who live in the world would cross over to the other side of the street to avoid the messiness of getting involved. They believe that they are either above getting soiled in the process of helping someone who is most likely beneath them socially or they would not want the responsibility of doing whatever it would take in time and money to get involved.

It is sad that both society and the church have lost their compassion for their neighbor.

If we go back to Nehemiah we see what it looks like to care about a community.

In Nehemiah Chaper 1 we read…

In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign,[a] I was at the fortress of Susa. 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.

3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”

4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.

Then in chapter two we read….

2 Early the following spring, in the month of Nisan,[a] during the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was serving the king his wine. I had never before appeared sad in his presence. 2 So the king asked me, “Why are you looking so sad? You don’t look sick to me. You must be deeply troubled.”

Then I was terrified, 3 but I replied, “Long live the king! How can I not be sad? For the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”

4 The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?”

With a prayer to the God of heaven, 5 I replied, “If it please the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.”

Nehemiah had a passion for his home. It was so strong that it showed in his face, he couldn’t help but feel that way as he was connected to that place. It was home. His people still lived there and to be without a wall was to leave the city and those he loved unprotected. He needed to respond. It was the right thing to do. It was second nature.

The same thing was true for the good Samaritan. While the religious leaders who first passed the injured man did their very best to avoid the situation by crossing the street, the Samaritan cared. Where the others most likely talked a good game where God was concerned and could recite scripture, the Samaritan did something about it.

He didn’t stop to evaluate the situation, he didn’t get out his cell phone and take a picture to post on Facebook and he didn’t make any excuses. He jumped right into the situation and did what he could. We don’t know if his stopping was making him late to an important business meeting or for a family gathering, but we do know that he was on his way somewhere. Even so, he took the time, went out of his way and was willing to to have his day interrupted to tend to the injured man.

How many of you have been to paradise? You know…Iowa!

Well each year there is something that happens there that has put Iowa on the map. It is called RAGBRAI. RAGBRAI is the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. This is where more than 2,000 people ride their bicycles from the Missouri River on the Western boarder of the state all the way across the state to the Mississippi River on the Eastern boarder of the state. It is absolutely amazing!

Why am I telling you this? Because I want to tell you about the Air Force Cycling Team. The Air Force Cycling Team is made up of members of the Air Force from all over the country. More than 100 of them attend the ride each year. They all wear matching jerseys and they have some pretty fast riders. One of those fast riders is a 23 year old Airman named Jacob Pinkney who is stationed at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California. You see, the Air Force Cycling Team is not like any cycling team that I have ever come across. They aren’t out to win anything or to be the fastest. While they attend RAGBRAI they do their best to assist any rider who may need help. Airman Pinkney was a great example. He didn’t ride past pretending not to see folks in need, he made it his mission to search them out and help them whenever he could even above and beyond what the team’s overall mission was. He fixed flats, repaired bikes, bandaged a skinned knee or two, was late arriving at the campsite due to helping others and even attached a bike trailer to his bike and pulled it with child inside to a campsite after the woman pulling it needed assistance. That’s the kind of thing that Jesus is talking about.

Jesus asked the expert in religious law which of those in the story of the good Samaritan was the neighbor to the man who had been attacked. His answer? The one who showed mercy. Then Jesus gives the command. “Now go and do the same.” He doesn’t say only do it if it is safe, only do it if you can afford it, or only do it if no one is looking. He says, NOW go and do the same. Jesus calls His church to show mercy no matter what the cost.

Charles Stanley makes the point that it is a sad commentary on the church when he said, “it  (the church) has open arms for a homeless Savior, but arms crossed for a homeless neighbor.”
The truth is that the two actions are connected. Isn’t having open arms for a homeless neighbor part of having open arms for a homeless Savior?
One of the best ways we can show our love for Christ to love those He loves and do it without reservation.

PANDEMIC

The early church is a great example of how Jesus would encourage us to love others. A plague struck Alexandria  and when everyone else ran away, the early Christians risked their lives for one another by simple acts of washing the sick, offering water and food, and consoling the dying. That was pretty incredible by itself since everyone else was fleeing, but the first Christians took it to the next level when they reached out to sick non-Christians. Large numbers of lives were saved by their actions.Their elementary nursing greatly reduced the rate at which the sick were dying. Simple provisions such as food and water allowed those who were sick and too weak to care for themselves to recover instead of succumbing to the sickness.

The pagans couldn’t help but notice that Christians not only had the strength to risk death, but through their care for one another they were much less likely to die themselves. Christian survivors of the plague became immune and were then able to move throughout the afflicted without concern.

So much like first responders, the early Christians ran to the fire instead of away from it. You see, much like the good Samaritan when we come across someone who is hurting we have the opportunity to show the love of Christ. Those who cross to the other side of the road, are missing the opportunity and very well may not be true followers of Jesus to begin with.

James 2:14-17

James the brother of Jesus writes about just that in the New Testament.
James 2:14-17 says, “14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”

So if we go back to the command at the end of the parable we find something interesting. Jesus didn’t say now go and think the same, go and speak the same or go and write the same. What He did say was to go and DO the same.This is a call to action. A call to to put the love we are supposed to be sharing with our neighbors to work.

Today we, the church, have the opportunity to make a difference in amazing ways. Instead of retreating from the epidemic of pain and death we have the chance to demonstrate that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Instead of fear which can cloud our vision followers of Jesus can show that it is in giving our lives away that we find life. The way in which we live and die is our message.

The Bold and The Dutiful!

I have decided to begin posting the text of my Sunday morning sermons here... I will go back and post some from the past couple of months from time to time, but today I will post the one I gave this morning entitled "The Bold and The Dutiful".
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Be BOLD!
November 12
Acts 4:1-31


A new pastor moved into a town, and he went out one day to visit church members. All went well until he came upon this one house. It was obvious that someone was home, but no one came to the door even after he had knocked several times. Finally he took out his card, wrote on the back "Revelation 3:20" and stuck it on the back of the door.

Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me."

Later in the week, as he was counting the offering, he found his card in the collection plate. Below his message was the notation "Genesis 3:10."

Genesis 3:10: "And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked: so I hid myself."

———————————————————
I have titled this morning’s message, The Bold and the Dutiful. If you have your Bibles with you you can open it to Acts chapter 4 and keep your finger there. We’ll be coming back to that.

There is a cost for a lack of boldness.

George Sweeting, in his book The No-Guilt Guide for Witnessing, tells of a man by the name of John Currier who in 1949 was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Later he was transferred and paroled to work on a farm near Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1968, Currier's sentence was terminated, and a letter bearing the good news was sent to him. But John never saw the letter, nor was he told anything about it. Life on that farm was hard and without promise for the future. Yet John kept doing what he was told even after the farmer for whom he worked had died.

Ten years went by. Then a state parole officer learned about Currier's plight, found him, and told him that his sentence had been terminated. He was a free man.

Sweeting concluded that story by asking, "Would it matter to you if someone sent you an important message -- the most important in your life -- and year after year the urgent message was never delivered?"

We who have heard the good news and experienced freedom through Christ are responsible to proclaim it to others still enslaved by sin. Are we doing all we can to make sure that people get the message?

As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to be public about our faith and to witness to others so that they may also have the chance to receive the same gift of eternal life that we have been given. To do this we often have to step out of our comfort zones and share what may be an unpopular narrative with those around us.

But people can’t even consider making a decision to change their lives if we don’t share the good news with them that the heavy lifting has already been done. And what good is the news if we only whisper it to each other?

In today’s world people who strive to change the norm with their new ideas are often the loudest. The more outlandish the idea the bolder the supporter of that idea becomes. Thus the Church of today is in need of bold believers to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.

For example the homosexual lobby and agenda which is now being touted as normal when all through history has been abnormal. Advocates for this lifestyle and homosexual rights are now bolder than ever and are quick to accuse anyone voicing opposition as homophobic.

More and more people are reluctant to tell anyone that their belief may be wrong. Our society has become more tolerant of positions that are in direct conflict with Biblical truth.

This isn’t the first time that this kind of thing has happened. In Judges 21:25 we read that, “ In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” Isn’t that what we see in the world today? There is an ever increasing move toward the idea that whatever you believe is the right thing for you. Have you seen those bumper stickers that say “coexist”? What that is really saying is that everyone should be encouraged to do whatever works for them because, well, all religions have a path to heaven. Right?  WRONG!

And we are commanded to go out and share the good news that Jesus died, was buried and then on the third day rose from the dead. And it is this, the resurrection that has the saving power for each of us.

Jesus says in John 14 “I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” If we know this and believe it, shouldn’t we be sharing it every chance we get to everyone we can?

Paul writes in the letter to the church at Colassi (Col 4:5-6) that they should,  “Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” Col 4:5-6

You see, to be bold does not have to mean to hit someone over the head with a bible and scream that they will go to hell if they don’t follow Jesus. What it does mean is that we should seize every opportunity to share the news and not shrink back from the world.

Magician Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller fame is a staunch atheist and yet even he sees the value in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others.

Jillette tells the story of when a member of the audience approached him after a show. The man complimented Jillette on the show, then said, “I brought this for you.” The man held up a small book. It was a New Testament with the Psalms, something that could fit in a person’s pocket.

“I wrote in the front of it,” the man said, “and I wanted you to have this.” The man explained he was a businessman and not crazy.

Jillette, moved by the man’s gesture, recalled: “He was kind, and nice, and sane, and looked me in the eyes, and talked to me, and then gave me this Bible.”

“I’ve always said,” Jillette explained, “I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward.

“How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

Jillette then offered this example to illustrate his point: “If I believed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, that the truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point that I tackle you, and this is more important than that.”

“This guy was a really good guy. He was polite, honest, and sane, and he cared enough about me to proselytize and give me a Bible.”

Now, Jillette is still an atheist, and he wanted to make that clear: “I know there’s no God, and one polite person living his life right doesn’t change that.

“But I’ll tell you, he was a very, very, very good man. And that’s really important. And with that kind of goodness, it’s okay to have that deep of a disagreement.

“I still think religion does a lot of bad stuff, but, man, that was a good man who gave me that book. That’s all I wanted to say.”

Of course, Jillette is completely right about evangelization. Do we really believe the Gospel? And if we do, do we love those around us enough to share it with them, even if it’s socially difficult?

Jesus’ disciple Peter is known for opening his mouth and putting his foot in it. We remember that when Jesus had been arrested that Peter denied that he was a follower of Jesus or that he was even acquainted with Him. Peter really blew it and Jesus knew that he was going to. It looked as if Peter was going to turn away from Jesus out of fear. I mean after all it didn’t look like things were going all that well for Jesus.

Now if we jump ahead to the book of Acts things have changed in a huge way. Peter seems to have gone from wimp to witness.

After healing a lame beggar at the entrance to the Temple Peter saw an opportunity to preach about the salvation offered through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Healing a lame guy can give you a certain amount of authority Peter and John recognized this and took advantage of it.

Peter and John were preaching in the Temple that there is a resurrection of the dead through Jesus Christ. Some priests, the captain of the Temple guard and some Sadduces took issue with this teaching. 

Now, the Sadduces were a very powerful religious sect who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead (that was why they were sad you see).

So they arrested the two, but by this time many of those who had heard what the two had been preaching believed it. And because of that, the number of those who could be counted as believers now exceeded 5,000.
Part of the reason that they had been detained was also that they had healed the beggar at the Temple entrance by the powerful name of Jesus Christ.

Peter and John spent time in jail and were then brought before the council of rulers. The council was impressed by the boldness of the pair as they continued to speak of Jesus as being the only way that one can be saved. Upon looking at the pair the council recognized that they were just ordinary men who had no special training.

The council then ordered that Peter and John never speak or teach again in the name of Jesus.

Then we read in Acts 4:19-20 “But Peter and John replied. ‘Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.’

Here is where we see the reason for the change in Peter. He had gone from timid to tenacious in his allegiance to Jesus and here’s why…

Before, when he had denied even knowing Jesus he most likely saw that the whole “following Jesus thing” was circling the drain.
Jesus had been arrested, was to be beaten and then eventually crucified.

But God…

So now Peter was preaching from the victory of Jesus over the grave. He himself had witnessed both the crucifixion AND the resurrection of Christ. Just imagine that!!! That would sure fire me up! How about you?

How many of us are more than happy to get all worked up in a conversation when we tell someone about how our football team had just won the Super Bowl.

Isn’t this more important than that?

Isn’t having all of our sins wiped away and the promise of an eternal life with the living God worth more than the number of games won in any give season by a bunch of guys wearing plastic hats trying to hit each other as players on one team attempt to run with an inflated animal skin across a line at the opposite end of the field while members of the opposing team try to stop them?

I think so…

Returning to Peter and John, they were then threatened more by those on the council, but finally they were released because the council was worried that any punishment that they were to dole out may cause a riot.

This was because everyone was so excited about having witnessed or heard about the healing of the lame beggar.

As soon as the two were freed they returned to the other believers and immediately began to pray. They didn’t ask for protection or that the opposition to their preaching would go away. They prayed for additional boldness and even more than that…

Acts 4:29-30 says, “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.

Then they went even a step further… They prayed…

Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Then it happened.

Acts 4:31 says, “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.”

God doesn’t want us to shirk away from opposition to His Word. God wants us to continue to share the good news even when it is difficult. He wants us to step out of our comfort zone and invite those who are lost into a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Hills Church of Christ preacher, Rick Atchley puts it very well when he says, “The bold see the outrageous things of God because they don’t stand still. If the church is stuck and stagnant its not because God doesn’t show up, it’s because we don’t. We want to ask God to do the impossible but we don’t want God to ask us to do the uncomfortable.”

A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men, who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him. So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do.

"Well," said the chaplain, "you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right to the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don't provoke them."

For weeks after, the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and asked --  "By the way, did you take my advice?"

"I did, for two or three nights."

"How did it work?"

"Well," said the young man, "I felt like a whipped hound and the third night I got out of bed, knelt down and prayed."

"Well," asked the chaplain, "How did that work?"

The young soldier answered: "We have a prayer meeting there now every night, and three have been converted, and we are praying for the rest."

Oh, friends, I am so tired of weak Christianity. Let us be out and out for Christ; let us give no uncertain sound. If the world wants to call us fools, let them do it. It is only for a little while; the crowning day is coming. Thank God for the privilege we have of confessing Christ.

Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:6-7   6 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Fear and timidity is exactly what the enemy wants us to be saddled with. He will continue to remind us of what it feels like to be rejected or disliked because of our witness for Jesus.

He want’s us to be ashamed, scared, and fearful at the thought of sharing Jesus with the people in our lives.
Some would say that it isn’t their job, but that sharing Christ should be handled by the professionals.

I can tell you right now that each and everyone of us here today are ministers and called to minister to those around us. This includes those who may consider themselves to be introverts.

You see, it isn’t about getting up and preaching to a crowd, it is about sharing with those who cross our paths.

Baptist preacher and university professor Tony Campolo tells the following story.

Too often we are guilty of “being ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” We’re embarrassed about bearing witness for fear that we might be violating the rules of social propriety.

Our failure to talk about Jesus cheats some of our friends out of the blessings that knowing Him can bring. This became very clear to me when I attended my ten year reunion of my high school class.

It was fun to see so many of my old friends whom I hadn’t seen for years. Then one of my friends pulled me aside. He had been one of my closest buddies in high school. We had played basketball together and always sat together at lunch.

He told me that a year earlier he had had the “most fantastic experience” of his life. He had become a Christian! He explained the change that had come over him and the new joy that he had experienced because of being in a relationship with Christ. He went on and on and on about his life as a new Christian.

After his first pause, I interrupted him and said, “Jerry, I’m so glad to hear this. you know, I’m a Christian too!”

Jerry asked, “When did you become a Christian?” I explained to him that I supposed it was when I was a little boy.

To this he responded with the most intense question. “If you were a Christian when we were in high school together, how come you never introduced me to Christ?”

I didn’t know what to say.

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Let’s be bold church. Let’s get out of our comfort zones and love people to Jesus every chance we get. After all going out to share the gospel with the whole world as we are told to do in the great commission, includes the little patch of ground we are standing on at any given time on any given day.