A Reluctant Witness

September 15, 2013

A Reluctant Witness

Acts 9:10-25                                  NOTES NOT EDITED

SIS—We can and must overcome our reluctance to sharing the gospel with a lost and dying world.

1.  God has a mission with your name on it. (10-11)

¹⁰ There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord!” he said.

Let me clear up a misconception many people have about Christianity. I’ve heard people discourage the open sharing of one’s faith by saying, “salvation is a personal matter.”  That statement is absolutely true, depending upon how one defines “personal.”  The problem is that many use the word, ‘personal’, in an equivocal, or ambiguous way.  Yes, Christianity is “personal,” but it is NOT “private.”

My love for my wife is a very ‘personal’ matter, but it is far from private.  Anybody who knows anything about me knows that my love for my wife is the second-most important matter in my life—second only to my love and devotion to God.  Now, I may not always demonstrate my love for my wife in ways that I should, but I have never made it a “private” matter.

Our relationship with Jesus Christ works the same way:  it is intensely personal and individual, but it is NOT private.  Just like Ananias (and everyone else every called by God in the Bible to have a relationship with Him, God has a mission and purpose in life with our name on it.

God called Ananias by name.  Ananias responded positively and with great faith, “Here I am, Lord.”  There was zero hesitation or reluctance at first.  Notice Ananias addresses God as, “Lord.”  The word, “lord,” referred to a person who exercised absolute control over another person.  It was used of Caesar, or any other powerful ruler who expected absolute obedience.  When used of God, it refers to Yahweh Who has eternal and absolute authority over all of creation.  In fact, Jews would substitute the word, adonai, which is the Hebrew equivalent for Lord, anytime the Holy Name of God, Yahweh, appeared in the sacred text.  As our Lord, God deserves and demands absolute obedience to His commands.

Now, Ananias will become a bit more reluctant as the details unfold for the mission that God has planned for Ananias, but Ananias will end up on the right side of things because Ananias understands Who it is that is giving him the mission.

God had a mission with Ananias’ name on it.  He has a mission with your name on it also, if you have accepted the gift of salvation and have been filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Do you remember the old WWI poster with Uncle Sam pointing his finger out and saying, “Uncle Sam Wants You?”  Uncle Sam of course is derived from the abbreviation of United States, or U.S.  Uncle Sam (initials U.S.) is a common national personification of the American government that, according to legend, came into use during the War of 1812 and was supposedly named for Samuel Wilson.^[2] The first use of Uncle Sam in literature was in the 1816 allegorical book "The Adventures of Uncle Sam in Search After His Lost Honor" by Frederick Augustus Fidfaddy, Esq. An Uncle Sam is mentioned as early as 1775, in the original "Yankee Doodle" lyrics of the Revolutionary War, though there is debate as to if it is the same Uncle Sam.  (Wikipedia).

This poster inspired millions of young men over the years to accept the personal responsibility of defending our nation. The idea of doing it for “Uncle Sam” made the call to arms a very personal matter.

God has a mission with your name on it.

2.  Fear is Normal—Even Expected (13-14)

¹³ “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.  ¹⁴ And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”

Now, after Ananias had a moment to think about it, his unwavering faith began to waver a bit.  Verse 1 describes the man, Saul, to whom the Jew, Ananias, was being sent to authorize as a spokesman for Christianity:

9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples  of the Lord. He went to the high priest  ² and requested letters  from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way,  he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

What God was asking Ananias to do is a bit like God asking you or I to go to Saudi Arabia and preach on the street corner.  They would snatch you up, put you in jail, beat you mercilessly, and then cut off your head!  Muslim nations don’t take kindly to Christian street preachers. Sharia law declares that making converts to Christianity is a capital offense.

I’m not suggesting in any way that if God calls you to go preach on the street corner in Saudi Arabia, that you refuse to go.  I’m just suggesting that it would be normal for you to experience a little fear.

Now, our situation of sharing with our neighbors is nothing like that of what Ananias was being asked to do—to go to someone “breathing out threats and murder,” but for most of us the call to the mission of sharing the gospel with our family and friends does conjure up feelings of fear and anxiety.  That is only normal.  Jesus said, “I send you as sheep out among wolves.”  Of course a sheep is going to feel fear among wolves. 

There are three sources for our fear that cause us to be reluctant to share the gospel.

a.  There’s an Infernal Source.  Simply stated, “The Devil hates God.”  The word, ‘hate,’ falls far short of how the Devil feels about God, but it’s the best word I have. Everytime a follower of Christ shares the gospel and a person gets saved, the Devil loses a soul he once had.  This infuriates him.  He will unleash all the minions of hell to discourage a follower of Christ from seeking to be a soul-winner.  The Devil hates when you go to church.  The Devil hates when you pray and read your Bible.  The Devil hates when you lose yourself in worship to God.  But, more than anything else, the Devil hates when you tell others about the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

b.  There’s an External Source for our fear.  Most people with whom we speak will reject the message of the gospel.  Now, they may reject the gospel with varying degrees of animosity, or perhaps reject it with no animosity at all.  But, the spirit of this world is the spirit of the Infernal Enemy of God, the Devil, and the deck is stacked against any believer who dares to “boldly go where no man has gone before.”  The cultural animosity to the gospel in the United States increasingly marginalizes anyone who believes Jesus is the “only Way, the only Truth, and the Only Life.”  This external pressure to silence the witnesses of God will only increase as we approach the end times.  We never know where a witnessing encounter will lead.  We know that many people can ask many questions for which we are not always confident we have a good answer.  This causes us fear and anxiety.  Part of our reluctance to share the gospel comes from anticipating such external factors.

c.  There’s an Internal Source for our fear.  Pride in our own heart makes us reluctant to share the gospel.  All of us naturally want to be liked. No one—at least no one who is normal—likes rejection.  And, many more people will reject our witness than will accept it.  This hurts our ego.  We want to “fit in” to the world around us and this makes us reluctant to share the sometimes hard-hitting message of God’s Truth.

So, many factors contribute to our reluctance, or fear, in regard to sharing our faith with others.  Fear is normal, and even expected.  We can, however, overcome these fears even as Ananias overcame his fears by simply trusting that God is greater than any force or circumstance we may encounter.

This leads me to another lesson in our text showing us how we can overcome any and every reluctance to sharing the gospel:

3.  God has already worked out all the details (15-19)

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go! For this man is My chosen instrument  to take My name to Gentiles,  kings, and the Israelites. ¹⁶ I will show him how much he must suffer for My name!” ¹⁷ So Ananias left and entered the house. Then he placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you can regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

Uncertainty naturally breeds fear and or reluctance.  Take the start of school in first grade for example.  Back in the day when I started school, only a few rich people sent their kids to kindergarten.  Few children ever attended “preschool.”  So, it was a really big deal when Mom and Dad dropped you off in front of the “Big Brick” building.  Nearly every child felt some measure of fear.  For some, the fear built up inside until it started “leaking from the eyes.”  Others, had to be chased down the street as they bolted for the safety of – well, any place but the “Big Brick Building.”  None of us knew what they did to children in the “Big Brick Building.”  For most first-timers, it was a “house of horrors” populated by things only a six-year old’s mind could conjure up.

That was the first day of school and so it has been for first-timers down through the ages.  But, the second day of school was a whole different matter for most kids.  The routine of the first day erased any uncertainty, and with it the fears evaporated.

Uncertainty breeds fear.  But, with God, nothing is uncertain. One of my favorite Bible verses, actually it is my life verse, comes from Jer. 29:11.  Israel was facing great uncertainty in their future.  The pagan nations were circling Israel like buzzards circling a dying antelope.  Great fear gripped the nation of Israel.  Jeremiah answered with this:

For I know the plans I have for you” —this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

The same God that spoke to Ananias had already spoken to Saul.  There would be no surprises.  God had a plan and God’s plans always work out—not some of the time, not most of the time, but all of the time.  Job, even as his life was one tangled mess of trouble cried out:

^{Job 42:2} I  know that You can do anything

and no plan of Yours can be thwarted.

There are no “accidental encounters” for God’s children.  Everyone you meet is a “divine appointment.”  The sovereignty of God does not cover “most” things in our lives, but it covers everything in our lives.  Look again at verse 17:

“Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me.”

God works both sides of the aisle.  God prepares those whom He sends and He also prepares those to whom we are sent.  But, wait, “I object,” you might say.  If God prepares every encounter then why do most people reject Him?  This is a very good question and one with a very good answer:  every divine appointment is not an appointment with grace.  Sometimes God sends us to give the Law and the warning of judgment to come.  In several places God declares that He has a different plan for each encounter.  James and Peter both declare:

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble
(Jam. 4:6; 1Pet. 5:5)

Every divine encounter fulfills God’s divine plan, even though the outcomes vary. Ananias was not responsible for what Saul did or did not do.  Ananias was simply responsible to go and do as God directed.  God works out all the details and His plan always succeeds.

Never place our confidence in your ability to speak, or some clever “plan of salvation,” or anything else in this world.  Place all your confidence in God’s Holy Spirit directing and planning the divine encounters of your life. 

When you realize God has already worked out all the details, then your reluctance to share the gospel will melt like a snowball in the desert.

4.  Incredible things happen when we witness (20-25)

Of all the lessons we can glean from the life and witness of Ananias, I think this one is most important in regard to overcoming the reluctance we have when witnessing.  Look what the Bible says happened as a result of Ananias’ faithfulness:

⁰ Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.”²¹ But all who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man who, in Jerusalem, was destroying those who called on this name and then came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?”²² But Saul grew more capable and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this One is the Messiah. ²³ After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him, ²⁴ but their plot became known to Saul. So they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him,  ²⁵ but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall.

The transforming power of the gospel is astonishing.  Here we have the testimony of Saul, first “breathing out threats and murders,” against the Christians and now he himself is the target of hatred and murder because of his “astounding and effective” preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  What a glorious transformation!  The gospel can transform lives like nothing else in the world.

There is no power in the “Higher Power” of AA, or the “Positive Thinking” of Oprah Winfrey’s New Age religion.  But, the testimony of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is without question.

The Book of Acts begins with 120 disciples in the Upper Room praying. Pentecost came and the population grew to 3000 in one day.  But, the center of Christianity revolved around the city of Jerusalem primarily among Jews.  Then, in a few short years Paul was converted and would become the Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul, along with Peter, would become the driving forces that would catapult the gospel from its humble beginnings in Jerusalem to a world-wide movement.  In only about 300 years, the gospel would become so pervasive and so powerful that the Roman Emperor, Constantine, would have to cease fighting this movement of God, and in fact embrace it, just so the Roman Empire could continue.

And now, these many centuries later, Christianity is found in every corner of the club embraced by nearly every nationality known to man.  There are now over 2 billion Christians world-wide.  That means roughly 1 out of every three people living has heard and responded to the gospel. Now, that also means that 2 out of every three people have either not heard the gospel or have rejected it.

Incredible things happen when we share the gospel enthusiastically, winsomely, and boldly.  Lives are radically changed in ways that cannot even be calculated this side of heaven.  The light of hope blasts away the darkness of despair.  The gospel breaks the shackles of addiction that hold souls in bondage. The gospel heals bodies and mends broken spirits.  The gospel message literally changes eternity!

We must never underestimate the power of the gospel message.  Most of you know that I spent my military career on a nuclear ballistic submarine.  We would submerge on the edge of the Marianas Trench and we would not break the surface—for any reason—for the next three months.  We would be totally cut off from the outside except for the constant connection through top secret equipment that would allow us to receive the message:  “Fire missiles.”  After about a month and a half, this same secret communication device would receive special notes for the crew called, “Family Grams.”  These “Family Grams” were like precious gold to the crew.  Families would write these messages (about 20 words) and send them to our Command.  On a specified day, our submarine would retrieve these prewritten messages.  Hope from home.  Love notes from young wives.  Well-wishes from children. These messages sustained the crew through arduous and difficult times.

The message of the gospel is God’s “Family Gram.”  It is God’s message of hope to mankind.  Yet, so many of God’s children are reluctant to share this message. 

As we have seen from the life of Ananias, we can overcome any and all reluctance to share the gospel if we are simply obedient and put all our trust in God Almighty.

God has a mission with your name on it.  Fear is normal—even to be expected.  God has already worked out all the details of our encounters.  And, incredible things happen when we overcome our reluctance and share the gospel.

Pray and ask God to give you the courage to boldly and enthusiastically share the gospel every chance you get.

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Taking It To The Streets

September 8, 2013

Taking It To the Streets

Luke 14:15-35                             NOTES NOT EDITED

SIS—If filling up God’s church with new believers who are loving and serving God is not your “top priority,” you are living in disobedience.

VIDEO:  Unanswered Calls from God

When I was growing up one of the most painful memories I have is learning that one of my friends had a party and I was not invited.  This nearly crushed my spirit each time it happened.  Receiving an invitation to someone’s party or gathering signifies that you are really important to that person.  Today, we are going to look at the Greatest Invitation every given by the Greatest One Who Has Ever Lived to the Greatest Party that will ever be held. 

God has invited everyone in the world to attend a Great Banquet.  That Great Banquet is an eternal party that will take place for all eternity in heaven.  Our text reveals a shocking truth about this invitation:  many people simply did not respond.  This both breaks God’s heart and sparks His wrath.  Let’s read about this invitation:

LUKE 14:15-24

Now, many sermons have been preached regarding the broadness of God’s invitation to salvation, and rightfully so.  In this parable God is represented as a man giving a great banquet.  That invitation represents an invitation to eternal life.  It is almost unfathomable to me that anyone could reject an absolutely free invitation to eternal life—but many, in fact most, have and will continue to reject that offer.

Rather than focus on the great invitation to salvation I want to focus on the passion for souls that characterizes God’s character, as evidenced by the fact that in verse 23 God, represented by the master of the house, declares in what seems to be forceful language:

²³ “Then the master told the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

This gives mankind insight into the very heart of God Almighty.  What really drives passion of God?  What so moves the heart of God that “He sent His only begotten Son” to die on a cross to provide the means by which all mankind could be offered an invitation to eternal life?  We are told what drives the heart of God to do such a thing:

“For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son.”

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter declared boldly:

^{2Peter 3     9} The Lord does not delay His promise,  as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any  to perish  but all to come to repentance.

From Genesis to Revelation the Bible unfolds the passion that God has for saving souls.  At the Cross—on the cross—the passion of God for reaching His lost children reaches its zenith. 

Nothing drives the heart of God more than His love for His lost children.  This is the message woven throughout this Parable of the Great Banquet.  Last week we spoke of the Five Crowns Christians can win.  We learned that these “crowns” expressed five virtues or activities that God highly valued.  If you remember the Fifth Crown was the Crown of Boasting.  It reminds us that God highly—and I stress, “highly”—values soul-winning.  1Thessalonians 2:19:

⁹ For who is our hope or joy  or crown  of boasting  in the presence of our Lord  Jesus at His coming?  Is it not you?

What caused Paul to rejoice and gain the Crown of Boasting?  It was the Thessalonian Christians that had been won to the Lord as a direct result of Paul’s ministry of soul-winning. 

God values the souls of mankind so much that He watched

Knowing this, a church with more pew than people is an affront to God, Himself.  If filling up God’s church with new believers who are loving and serving God is not your “top priority,” you are living in disobedience. Now, I realize that is a very, very strong statement and one that “stings” a little like salt on an open wound.  But, the truth is the truth and the sooner we as a church align ourselves with the truth of God’s Word in sacrificial obedience, then the sooner we will begin to see unimaginable blessings fall upon our church, our families, and our community—indeed, our world.  I think I should say that again: 

The truth is the truth and the sooner we as a church align ourselves with the truth of God’s Word in sacrificial obedience, then the sooner we will begin to see unimaginable blessings fall upon our church, our families, and our community—indeed, our world.

This is the foundation for our new church vision beginning this Sunday:  TAKING IT TO THE STREETS!  This is what our text commands us to do and we simply must “get it done.”  God has given me three components from our text that are essential if we are going to see God’s blessing fall like rain from heaven.

1.  There is a SPIRITUAL Component (v 15)

¹⁵ When  one of those who reclined at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “The one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God  is blessed!”

The background for the Parable of the Great Banquet is an actual meal at the at “the house of one of the leading Pharisees” (14:1).  They were reclining around a low table as was the custom of the day.  When Jesus spoke about a “person being blessed who eats bread in the Kingdom of God,” the Pharisees would have naturally assumed that “they were those who would be so blessed.”

There were no people on earth at that time that were more “religious” and “righteous” than the Pharisees.  Now, everywhere in the N.T. Jesus interacts with the Pharisees, for the most part, it is not a pleasant interaction.  In fact, some of the harshest condemnations Jesus ever spoke, He spoke to and about the Pharisees.

But, and this is important, Jesus did recognize that the Pharisees highly valued righteousness and were fastidious about religious details.  In one text Jesus remarks:

^{Mat5:  20} For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Let me outline just how “righteous” the Pharisees were.  They were:

1.  evangelistic:  You travel over land and sea to make one proselyte,  and when he becomes one, you make him twice as fit for hell  as you are! (Mat 23:15).

2.  tithers:  You pay a tenth of  mint, dill, and cumin (23:23).  The Law of God required everyone to give a “tenth,” or a tithe, to the work of God.  Even if a wild herb, like mint, dill, or cumin sprouted up along the walkway of a Pharisees home, he would pick one out of ten and take it to the temple for an offering.

3.  ritualistic:  You clean the outside of the cup and dish. (23:25). The Pharisees followed every ritualistic requirement of their faith—and there were many.  There was even a debate as to whether it was more important to clean the inside or the outside of a cup—and we are talking about “religious” practice, not a hygienic one.  The Pharisees were rigid in their pursuit of religion, and their practice far exceeded all others.

In the first century, if one turned to the Webster’s Dictionary under the heading, “righteous,” there would be a picture of a Pharisee.

Now, Jesus declared that one’s righteousness had to “exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees” in order to get into heaven.  I want to suggest strongly to you that there is “no way” you are going to compete with the Pharisees when it comes to “ritualistic righteousness.”  But, let me go back to our text in verse 15:

Jesus said, “The one who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God is blessed.”  Jesus said this to a Pharisee and it was a rhetorical question of sorts.  Jesus was using irony and sarcasm to suggest that “none of the Pharisees” would be “eating bread in the Kingdom of God.”

You see, blessing, or being in the Kingdom of God is not something we “earn” or “gain” through our religious activities.  Entrance into the Kingdom of God is a “spiritual” matter, not a religious one.  True righteousness is a “spiritual righteousness,” not a “self-righteousness.”

Remember last week I showed you that “true righteousness” is imputed, or placed in us from the outside.  It is a “spiritual transaction.”  The Bible says in 2Corinthians 5:21,

He made the One who did not know sin  to be sin  for us,  so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

So, obedience to God—righteousness—is a spiritual matter.  Therefore, “Taking It To The Streets,” has a spiritual component. It is a matter of complete and total surrender to God and obedience to His Holy Spirit on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis.  If we do not “get Spiritual”—and I capitalize Spiritual to refer to the Holy Spirit—then we are NEVER going to fill this sanctuary up with new believers who are loving and serving God. 

The “spiritual component” involves prayer, Bible study (including a daily quiet time and Scripture memory), participation in the fellowship of God’s church as spiritual servants, and a Holy Spirit inspired compassion for lost people that motivates us to evangelize.

Without the spiritual component, God’s house will never be full of believers who love Him and are serving Him. 

2.  There is, then, a HUMAN component (vv 17, 21, 23) 

Three times in this passage, the Master commands the servant to go.

1.  ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet, he sent his slave to tell

2.  ²¹ Then in anger, the master of the house told his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame!’

3.  ²³ “Then the master told the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

God has limited Himself to work through—and only through—human instruments to accomplish His will.  This Self-limitation is difficult for us to grasp because we comprehend that Yahweh is Absolutely Sovereign and can do anything He pleases—but that sovereignty includes NOT doing something if it pleases Him.  The Word of God has made it clear:  the winning of those whom God has elected to save is the responsibility of those that have been saved.  In a sentence:

we must realize that the gospel came to us on its way to someone else. 

Nobody can be saved unless they hear the Word of God.  Look at Romans 10:14-17:

¹⁴ But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him?  And how can they hear without a preacher?  ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful  are the feet of those  who announce the gospel of good things!

Then the matter is summarized in verse 17: So faith comes from what is heard,  and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Let’s cut to the bottom-line:  You did not have to accept the invitation to God’s eternal salvation, but once you do, you have accepted the responsibility to “share the message of Christ.”  God will not hold you guiltless for your silence.  Here is one of the most frightening passages of Scripture in the Bible.  Pay very close attention:

33 The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land select a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows his trumpet  to warn the people. ⁴ Then, if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet but ignores the warning,  and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵ Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but ignored the warning, his blood is on his own hands.  If he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. ⁶ However, if the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn’t blow the trumpet, so that the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives, then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.

“Accountable for THEIR blood.”  Chilling.  Terrifying.  For some of you this is paralyzing.  But, it is the Word of Almighty God.

You say, “But I can’t.”  I say, “But we must!”  We simply “must” do everything within our power to see that our church is filling up with new believers who are loving God and serving Him, or we are “just flat out living in disobedience.” 

Folks—if that statement did not fill you with Holy terror, then you probably are not saved!  To be quite honest, I wish God would have never given me this message.  But, now that He has, I need to get on my knees and stay on my knees until “filling up His church matters as much to me as it does to My Lord!”

We are going to struggle together with this issue of the next year, and I pray to God that we come out on the right side of the issue.

“Taking It To The Streets” has a spiritual component and a human component.  It also has

3.  a FINANCIAL component (vv 25-27)

²⁵ Now  great crowds were traveling with Him. So He turned and said to them: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me  and does not hate  his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross  and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Then it is summarized in verse 33: Therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to  all his possessions  cannot be My disciple.

I don’t know how to say it any clearer:  if anything else, including your possessions, is more important than “filling up the House of God with new believers that are loving Him and serving Him,” then you are not headed for heaven—you have rejected God’s Great Invitation just like the three examples we read about earlier.

Verse 18:  The first rejection came by someone who “had to take care of his own field.”  Verse 19:  The second excuse came from a man who “had to take care of his own livestock.”  Verse 20:  the third one doesn’t really say why, but for some reason “he could not come to God’s banquet because of his family responsibilities.”

When it comes to life you can either choose to be someone who makes excuses, or you can be someone who makes a difference.

Jesus had a lot to say about riches and to rich people and it was always a sobering discussion.  Here Jesus states the matter as plainly as it can be stated:  obedience to God involves one’s “finances.”

“Taking It To the Streets” has a financial component.  Ministry takes money.  It’s that simple.  It is true, “God owns the cattle on a thousand hills,” but it is also true that many of His followers are “cattle rustlers.”  Many of you have God’s cattle locked up in your barn! 

I know these are hard times, but hasn’t every time been a hard time?  You see, wealth is not a matter of how much you make, it’s more a matter of how much, and how wisely you spend it.

The wisest payment, or investment, you can make is to give regularly and generously to the Kingdom of God through the Church—the local church—that is, this local church—your local church.

I am going to be asking for every church family to be involved in what I am calling:  30 for 30!  I’m asking every church family to increase your monthly giving by $30 in order that we can invest it in outreach to win and baptize 30 souls.  $30 for 30 Souls.  Now, for some of you, that would be a great sacrifice, but for many of us, that would be an insult to God.  Let me say that again.  For some of you that would be a great sacrifice, but for many of us, that would be an insult to God.

So, for those of you who can sacrifice more, I’m asking you to give an additional “zero.”  That’s right—if God has blessed you with abundance and you have learned that no man can out-give God, I want you to add “zero” to your 30 for 30 gift!

But, I want you to add that “zero” right after the first zero to make it $300.  God has richly blessed Shari and I so we are committing to giving $300 for 30!  starting this week as the Lord enables us.

There is a saying in the English vernacular that describes a person of great generosity.  We say, “He’d give you the shirt of his back.”  Well, a chiropractor in Tampa, Florida in 1994 did exactly that for his ex-wife.  He had been paying alimony for many years, but finally the last alimony payment came due.  It would be for $182, not a staggering amount in itself but it represented years of grudgingly paying his ex-wife.  He decided to not only make the payment, but make a statement as well.  He made an arrangement with his local bank. He purchased a brand new, pinstriped shirt.  On the back of the shirt he drew a large scale check, complete with account number and routing number.  In the memo line of the check for $182 he wrote this message:  Here it is—the shirt off my back!  His ex-wife took the shirt to the bank and cashed it.

Well, we should never give to God’s work grudgingly.  I wonder, however, how many of us would be willing to give God, “the shirt off our back.” 

“Taking It To The Streets” has three essential components:  a spiritual component, a human component, and a financial component. God has clearly told us what He expects:  “go out into the highways and by-ways and compel them to come in, so that my house may be full.”  If we are not involved passionately in doing that, we are living in disobedience and can expect no blessing from God.

Let’s join together to “fill up God’s house!”

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Word Power: The word, “make,” in verse 23 in the HCSB comes from the Greek word, “anagkazō (ἀναγκάζω). According to a major Greek dictionary it means, “to cause or compel someone in all the varying degrees from friendly pressure to forceful compulsion” (TDNT).  It is a compound word formed from “agKalē” which means “arm as in bended.”  The prefix, “an(a)” refers to repeated action or intensity.  Our common expression in English, “twisting someone’s arm,” is a colloquial equivalent of anagkazō.  The KJV has a better translation using the word, “compel.”  Fulfilling God’s will to fill up His church with new believers is a serious mission that requires making others “uncomfortable” at times.