Going Out To Bring Them In

to the icing on the cake - going out to bring them in.

There is nothing in my life that brings me more joy and satisfaction than

seeing people come to know Jesus as Lord of their life and begin to grow up

in their salvation. There is no trip that I could ever take that would

bring such satisfaction. There is no award that I could ever receive that

could bring me such fulfillment. Once we accept Christ as our Lord and

Savior then we need to go through the equipping process so that we can begin

"fishing." Jesus told Simon and Andrew that He would make them fishers of

people - Jesus desired for His followers has not changed.

So, have you been on any fishing expeditions lately? You say, "Mike I'm

just not catching any fish." If that is the case then you might rethink

where you've been fishing. Where is the best place to go fishing? Wherever

there are fish of course! Find where the fish are hanging out and go there.

Just because you aren't catching any fish don't assume that there are no

fish. Jesus told His followers in Luke 10,

1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two

ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2He told

them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of

the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3Go! I

am sending you out like lambs among wolves... (Luke 10:1-4; 17-24)

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. There are more fish

than you can shake a stick at my friends, but we must go where they are or

we will end up shrugging our shoulders and say, "There just aren't any

fish." We must go out in order to bring them in!

I want to challenge you this morning to do two things. First, I want to

challenge you to go fishing. Sometime between now and Easter Sunday, the

first Sunday of April, I want to challenge you to bring a friend to church.

Don't go down and invite someone who always has a church home to join you.

Find someone you work with, live next door to, play on the team with, or

know from some activity you are involved with and invite them to come to

church. Do you know the number one reason why unchurched folks don't attend

worship? Because they are not asked.

Secondly, I want to challenge you to pray about being a leader for one of

the new home cell groups. We are not talking about rock science my friend.

You don't have to go to seminary or have a degree in theology, but you do

have to possess a willing heart. If you will make the commitment to being a

home cell leader then I will give you all the tools you need to hit a home

run and God will give you His Spirit of leadership to enable you to do His

work. If you don't feel that God is calling you to be a leader, then will

you open your home one day or night a week? Will you commit to being on the

leadership team in some capacity?

As we head to the year 2000 I am praying that God will sweep us up in a

spirit of revival and that we will become gripped by a burning desire to

draw close to God so that He can send us out to bring them in. I pray that

you will join me in prayer and action.

Mike Hays

Britton Christian Church

922 NW 91st

Oklahoma City, OK. 73114