The Message God Blesses--No Matter Who Or How Series

It was probably 15 or 20 years ago when our church was meeting on Holman Way when I ran into a youth group leader about 20 minutes before a Bible Study on Wednesday night. Her name was Caroline, and I asked her how she was doing. She said okay, but in such a manner that I knew she definitely was not okay. So I gave her a look and she came over again and told me what was really going on.

It turned out that her brother Jim was in the hospital in Sacramento with a brain tumor. He was scheduled for surgery the next morning. And she had just closed her phone conversation with him with, "I'll see you later." And he replied "If I'm still alive." He was not a Christian. So I asked her what I could do. She took out her cell phone, called her brother, introduced me, and gave me the phone.

Imagine yourself for a moment in my shoes. You're the point man or the point woman. It's now or never. It's 15 minutes to eternity. What would you do? What would you say?

Now I can suggest some alternatives. You could say, "God loves you and everything is going to be okay." But don’t you dare! If he hasn't trusted Christ, that would be a lie, and that would be giving a dying man a false hope. You could say, "I'll call a priest and have him administer last rites." But that would also be a disaster, the presentation of a false Gospel to a man who desperately needs to hear the truth at this crucial and perhaps final moment in his life.

Or you could say, "I'll pray for you." And at least that would be a good start, but honestly it wouldn't be enough at this point. So what is the one message that he most desperately needs to hear? Can anyone here tell me what it is. Yes, it's the Gospel, the good news that Christ died for his sins and rose again and through faith alone in Christ He can have eternal life.

Now I tell that story and ask that question to make a point. Some-day you could be the point man or woman. Some day it could be all on you. Some day you could be the person in my shoes that night. Some day you could be in the spot where it's 15 minutes to eternity, and if the person you're with is going to make it to heaven, you're going to have to be the one to bring the message and be the messenger. So you need to prepare now what you would say to them then!

Now I'm sure you're wanting to know what happened with Caroline's brother, Jim. When she handed me the phone, I took a big gulp and I think I prayed, and then I shared the Gospel with brother Jim. He was happy to hear it. And when I invited him to trust Christ as his Savior and Lord, he gladly followed my lead and prayed the sinner's prayer. By the time I was done with him, this man who had been so morbidly concerned about his pending potential death moments before, was actually giggling as I spoke with him on the phone. And when I told his sister Caroline later that night what had happened, this lady who was definitely not okay earlier in the evening, was skipping across the parking lot as she made her way home, because this brother of hers who was lost had been found, and this brother of hers who was dead, was alive again from the dead!

That's the difference, the eternal difference that anyone of us here can make if we will only determine this morning to know the message and be the messenger in times of need like this.

And that's the kind of difference that the Apostle Paul made for thousands of people in Corinth, Greece, when he showed up in the synagogue there in 50 A.D. Thousands of people believed and were saved because he knew the message and determined he would proclaim it to anyone who would hear.

And that's the story that the Apostle Paul is recounting for the Corinthians as he writes chapter two of his first letter to them, which we have read this morning. What he's telling the Corinthians and us as he recounts the story of his coming to Corinth is this: The message that God blesses is Christ crucified shared in the Spirit's power.

So what is God's message? It's Christ Crucified, in essence, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And Paul's example tells us that we should share God's Messages, Christ Crucified, and know God will bless it. Share God's Message—Christ Crucified, and know God will bless it.