Dealing With The Lost (4 Of 5)

God has called THE CHURCH TO REACH THE LOST.

• There is no shortage of Church buildings today

• There is a tremendous shortage of CHRISTIANS WHO ARE TRYING TO REACH THE LOST

The Word of God says, in Matthew 9:37, “… The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.”

Illus: Several years ago (1985), a celebration took place at a municipal pool in New Orleans. The party around the pool was held to celebrate the first summer in memory without a drowning at the New Orleans City pool. In honor of the occasion, 200 people gathered, including 100 certified lifeguards.

As the party was breaking up and the four lifeguards on duty began to clear the pool, they found a fully dressed body in the deep end. They tried to revive Jerome Moody, 31, but it was too late. He had drowned surrounded by lifeguards celebrating their successful season.

What a tragedy! But, it’s just as tragic when lost people are surrounded by Christians and still die and go to Hell, not knowing Jesus.

The early Church was THE CHURCH THAT REACHED THE LOST. We need to raise the bar in our commitment in doing the same thing! To anyone reading about the New Testament Church and today’s church, it is obvious that the church today does not do things the way the New Testament church did things.

Many of us older folks talk about how things have changed for the worse since we were teenagers.

Illus: The church today reminds me of the grandpa who went to the mall. He said, “I just spent several hours observing teenagers hanging out at our local mall. I came to the conclusion that many teenagers in America today are living in poverty.” He said that -

• Most young men he observed didn't even own a belt; there was not one among the whole group, not one that wore a belt!

• That wasn't the saddest part. Many were wearing their daddy's jeans. Some jeans were so big and baggy that they hung low on their hips, exposing their underwear!

• He knew some must have been ashamed their daddy was short, because his jeans hardly went below their knees.

• They weren't even their good jeans, for most had holes ripped in the knees and a dirty look to them.

• It grieved him, in a modern, affluent society like America, that there are people who can't afford a decent pair of jeans.

He said that the saddest part was the girls that were hanging out. He said, “I've never, in all of my life, seen such poverty stricken girls. “

• These girls had the opposite problem of the guys. They all had to wear their little sisters clothes. Their jeans were about five sizes too small! He didn’t know how they could put them on, let alone button them up.

• Their jeans barely went over their hipbones. Most also had on their little sister's tops that didn't even cover their mid-sections. Oh, they were trying to hold their heads up with pride, but it was a sad sight to see these almost grown women wearing children's clothes.

• However, it was their underwear that bothered me most. They, like the boys, because of the improper fitting of their clothes, had their underwear exposed. I never saw anything like it. It looked like their underwear was only held together by a single piece of string.

He said, “I know it saddens your heart to receive this report on condition of our American teenagers. While we go to bed every night with a closet full of clothes, nearby, there are millions of ‘mall girls’ who barely have enough material to keep it together.”

“I think their poverty is why these two groups gather at the mall, boys with their short daddies' ripped jeans and girls wearing their younger sisters' clothes. The mall is one place where they can find acceptance.”

“So, next time you are at the mall doing your shopping, and you pass by some of these poor teenagers, would you say a prayer for them? And one more thing ... Will you pray the guys' pants won't fall down?

I thank you all,” -- A Concerned Grandparent

Things certainly have changed in our age. And so has today’s church. Today’s churches think they are in great shape, but it would surprise them to find out the Lord does not think so!

Today’s church remind me of the church in Revelation 3:14-17, we read, “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”