Date: July 27, 2008
Title: Everyone and Everywhere.
Scripture: Mark 16: 15
This past week at VBS we’ve been talking about the miraculous power God makes available to us in order for us to be and experience all that he created us to be.
You heard it:
-on Monday: The power to be thankful.
-on Tuesday: The power to help others.
-on Wednesday: The power to be brave.
-on Thursday: The power to live forever.
Today’s challenge is “God gives us the power to tell others about Jesus” taken out of Mark chapter 16 (Go everywhere and tell everyone the good news).
Before we touch on that let me tell you about: (-Mo –Dave –Pete)
1.) Mo was adopted as an infant. He grew up not knowing his mother and father, though he was able to stay close to his brother and sister. From early on those around him could tell that Mo was a uniquely gifted child. He grew up in a wealthy man’s house and was educated in the one of the highest institutions of learning available. Mo knew how to walk the talk and live the life. Mo had it all going his way; rich, famous and powerful; tall, dark and handsome. Mo was first in line to take over for his step-father in one of the most powerful corporations in the country. Mo was on the front page of every newspaper for all the right reasons, until he was on the front page for all the wrong reasons. Taking the law in to his own hands, Mo brutally killed a man and fled for his life. Mo was a murderer.
2.) Dave was a very talented, athletic and bright young man. In his teenage years he demonstrated great feats of strength and skill in defeating his opponents in hand-to-hand combat. As he grew so did his reputation. At his place of employment he was noticed for his loyalty and determination even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. In his soldier days he led troops in successful battles and cunningly waged war with the enemy. Dave’s military tactics and strategies are studied to this very day in places like West Point. But that’s not all, Dave was also a very gifted and sought after singer, songwriter and musician. His poetic lyrics were known to soothe even the most disturbed of souls. Dave soon climbed the latter of fortune and fame and rose to great popularity. Through a series of fortunate events Dave rose early in his adult life to high positions of leadership and authority. The world seemed to be at his control until he lost control of himself and violated another man’s wife. Dave was an adulterer.
3.) Pete. Well, many would say there’s really nothing spectacular about him. He was quite ordinary, a very common man, in many ways like many of us guys here; he loved to fish and lie about the big one that got away. Pete was witty and quick to speak when something needed to be said. Unfortunately though, the only one that thought Pete had something important to say was Pete himself. He always seemed to have some expert advice on every topic of discussion. And if he disagreed with you, watch out, he would let you know it loud and clear, in no uncertain terms. Pete seemed to always be at the center of things and if he was reliable in any way, it was in the way he was unreliable. You see, Pete had a foot problem. It was often in his mouth. He was known to make promises he didn’t keep. Did that make him a liar? Yes, it did. Pete thought he was the one you could always count on when the going got tough until he recognized that he had let down his very best friend.
Why did I tell you these stories about Mo, Dave and Pete, stories of murder, adultery and back-stabbing? Not to say, “they’re no different than we are” but to point out that their stories don’t end there.
Maybe you’re here this morning and you feel their story sounds a lot like your story and you too believe God could never use you because you’ve had a bad day or 2, made some poor choices in life and believe you’ve ruined your ability to ever be used by God.
That’s where today’s challenge comes in. There is good news for you. Taken out of the gospel of Mark, chapter 16, verse 15 reads “go everywhere and tell everyone the good news.”
If you’re into baseball the good news is the Mets are leading the NL east division.
If you’re in to stocks there is good news if you have shares in Apple.
But the good news the gospel of Mark is talking about is something entirely different. According to God’s word we have reason to be thankful and it’s because by the grace of God, through faith alone in Christ for salvation, we will not receive what we deserve.
God’s good news is that he makes eternal life available to all of us. Because Jesus went to the cross and bore your sins, paid your penalty you can live forever. The Bible says “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”
To believe means to trust Jesus for salvation. Trusting in myself to get to heaven won’t do it. The Bible says we have all gone astray, there is no one righteous. So, no matter how hard I try, on my own, outside of faith in Christ, I will never make it to heaven.
I can never work hard enough or long enough to earn my way to heaven. I could never pay enough to buy my way to heaven.
Sitting on a church bench week for week does not mean I deserve to go to heaven. Singing in the church choir doesn’t guarantee me a mansion in heaven and streets of gold.
You see, there are many religions in the world and if you asked them what was required of them by there religion to please their god they would give you a list of things that they felt they should do to appease their god.
And so for them religion is spelled “D-O.” Do. Do this and do that.
By the way, did you know that God is not interested in religion? God is interested in relationships, his relationship with you. God who is holy and pure, almighty and everlasting, knows there is nothing we could ever do that would make us worthy of eternal life with him in heaven.
That’s why God spells Christianity “D-O-N-E.” Done. It is about what he has done for you. While you were drowning in your sin Christ died to set you free. What a great message. That is such good news. It’s so good I’ve got to tell someone about it.
Imagine you are on an airplane that cannot lower its landing gear, you know, let the wheels down. It can’t do anything on its own to land safely. It’s destined to crash and burn with all of its occupants because it no longer has the ability to make it safely on to the runway. It’s just a matter of time.
Let’s say that while the stewardess was giving her speech on safety precautions, you were the only one listening, you were the only one who took her serious, you are the only one who knows that a parachute will save you and you know where they are. You’ve now got good news for every passenger.
If they didn’t listen to the stewardess, maybe they will listen to you.
As the plane begins to come to the end of its flight, you begin to urge your fellow passengers to put on the parachute and trust it to save them from an inevitable bitter end.
Some may ignore you and turn the other way. Some may mock you and laugh in your face. Others may say it’s uncomfortable and really not for me. But those who heed your words and take that good news to heart will be saved.
Well, I think you get the point. God’s word is encouraging us today to get out the word. “Go everywhere and tell everyone the good news.” Is it happening? Aren’t you glad someone told you the good news? What then is preventing us from telling others the good news?
This is what I believe is holding the majority of us back; we don’t feel worthy. We think who am I that I should tell others their plane is crashing and if they don’t put on the parachute they’re going to be doomed.
“How could God ever use me to tell others about Jesus? I’m not always a good example, as a matter of fact I’ve have a couple of bad days that have totally ruined my Christian witness.
God, look at me. I get angry at the kids, you saw it. I yell at my wife, I know you heard me, the neighbors even heard me. I cheat on my taxes, I tell dirty jokes, but God, only when my coworkers do.
I know it’s not right. I can do better than that. Help me to do better.” Will God answer a prayer like that? You can count on it.
Remember Mo, the murderer? Forty years later he allowed God to turn his life around and God used him to turn a whole country around. If anyone could have thought that he was unworthy to be used by God it was Mo, but God never gave up on Mo. You can read about him in a book called Exodus where he is also known as Moses. The Bible goes on to say this about him: “Moses was a very humble man.” Numbers 12: 3
Do you remember Dave, the adulterer. Surely God couldn’t use someone with that kind of a history. But what else is history other than “his story”, God’s story of your life. God never gave up on Dave, though Dave may have believed all hope was lost.
Shortly thereafter Dave went on to ink one of the deepest cries of any human heart when he wrote: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalm 51: 1-12)
These words, much of his poetry and many of his songs have been passed down through the centuries for you and I to read. They’ve inspired millions. You can read them in a book called Psalms. It’s in the Bible, a book that refers to Dave as David, or even King David.
Do you remember Pete, the one with the big foot and the even bigger mouth? Pete, the one who would drop a friend like a hot potato. Pete was crushed when his eyes were opened to the truth about himself. God could never use someone who had a reputation for being an unreliable backstabber, could he? Pete too, must have thought that he has no chance anymore of ever making a difference in anyone’s life for God.
But when Pete felt hopeless, God felt confident. Pete confessed his lack of loyalty, turned from his self-centered ways to a Christ-centered life and just weeks later God opened a door for Pete to tell others about the salvation of God through faith in Christ and 3 thousand people gave their lives to God. Oh, and the Bible refers to Pete as the apostle Peter. Peter was an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ and soon became a key leader in the forming of the early NT church.
What is hindering you from telling everyone everywhere the good news? Do you feel worthless like Mo? A lost cause like Dave? Hopeless like Pete, ever to be used by God because of your past?
God can take the broken pieces of our lives and not only make them into something beautiful, but also use them for something eternal.
Don’t give up on yourself. Jesus gives us the power to tell others about God.
-prayer
-song # 361, “I love to tell the Story.”
