I Once Was Lost Series

2. That God ISN’T going to force you or I to become Christians. We have to make that choice ourselves. We’re not sheep, and we’re not coins… we’re men and women created in the image of God.

But what we’re focusing on this morning is the part God plays in seeking and saving people.

Let’s revisit our text for this morning: read with me – John 16:7-11

“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I’m going to the Father, where you can see me no longer and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

According to Jesus, one of the purposes of the Spirit’s was to seek and save the lost by convicting (convincing) them of certain things.

· First the Spirit makes people UNCOMFORTABLE with their sins

· Second, He makes them feel the NEED of God’s righteousness in their lives

· Lastly the Spirit makes them sense the URGENCY to make a decision there’s a judgment day coming.

ILLUS: I just read the most amazing story about a homosexual activist named Michael Glatze. Until he left the homosexual movement 1½ years ago he was a rising star in their ranks.

At the age of 22, he was the editor of the “Young Gay America”.

He received numerous awards and recognition, including the National Role Model Award from the major homosexual-rights organization “Equality Forum”.

At this point, the media gravitated toward him, leading to appearances on PBS television and MSNBC and being quoted in a cover story in Time magazine called "The Battle Over Gay Teens."

And in 2005, he was featured in a panel with Judy Shepard, the mother of slain homosexual Matthew Shepard, at the prestigious JFK Jr. Forum at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

"It was after viewing my words on a videotape of that ’performance,’" he writes, "that I began to seriously doubt what I was doing with my life and influence." Knowing there was no one who he could approach with his questions and doubts, he began to turn to God.

The radical change in his life, he recalls, began with inner "promptings" he now attributes to God

"I hope I can share my story," he said. "I feel strongly God has put me here for a reason. Even in the darkest days of late-night parties, substance abuse and all kinds of things – when I felt like, ’Why am I here, what am I doing?’ – there was always a voice there.”

Toward the end of his time with Young Gay America, Glatze said, colleagues began to notice he was going through some kind of religious experience. And just before leaving that magazine - not fully realizing why he did it - he wrote his thoughts on his office computer, ending with the declaration: "Homosexuality is death, and I choose life."

Commenting about later, he said “I was so nervous, it was like I wasn’t even writing it myself". And even then he didn’t know why he simply left the words on the screen for others to see. "People who looked at it were stunned; they thought it was crazy," he said.