Remember the real issue…
His earnestness is intense, his energy untiring, his courage leonine, his tact uncommon, and his love for souls most tender.
_W.R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody
NOTES:
Two weeks ago I challenged you to remember why you got paid – or at least hoped to get paid – and it was not for doing the things you’d do for free anyway.
Last week I reminded you of the importance of systematically reading in order to stay fresh and to keep growing.
Today, I want to remind you why it all matters:
• Why you do what you do for free or for pay
• Why you want to grow – both broadly and deeply
“Mr. Moody preaches,” wrote a friendly critic at the time, “but the conventional use of the word ‘preaching’ does not convey any notion of Mr. Moody’s talk. He is a businessman and he means business; every word he speaks is meant to lead to a definite business; if it does not do that, he regards it as thrown away.” _W.R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, p. 166
James A. Cross – former General Overseer – likens the church to “lifesaving stations” manned by the Coast Guard and then he made this argument, “the chief business for the Church is saving lives.”
On the Day of Pentecost people ask, “What we do to be saved?”
It should be the regular prayer of every ministers (and Christian), “What must I do for people to be saved?”
“What must I do for people to be saved?”
A short list of things to do for people to be saved:
- Spend time with Jesus and listen to Him (his heart)
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Isaiah 53:3
- Spend time with people.
Put your ear down to the Bible and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. _ William Booth
- Stay focused on the main thing | Winning souls and preparing them for eternity.
“To be always relevant, you have to say things which are eternal.” _Simone Weil
Throw away sermons
Throw away events, projects
- Preach and minister with solemnity
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Matthew 23:37
1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, Romans 9:1-4
Give me Scotland, or I die! _John Knox
If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. _ Charles Spurgeon
The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time. _Carl F. H. Henry
“I preached as a dying man to dying men never sure to preach again.” Richard Baxter
The ONE THING: The real issue is whether or not people are prepared for eternity. In all our endeavors as ministers (and Christians) if we are not reminding people of this and assisting them in preparing then it is all throw away activities.
Photo by Dimitri Iakymuk on Unsplash
