Why Care About People, We Can Choose To Do It
Genesis 18:16-23 Mark 1:14-21 Glenville-11-2012
Today we are continuing our series entitled “Why Care About People.” Last week Pastor Toby spoke on We Can Choose To Do It, next week Pastor Kellie will speak on There’s a Limited Time To Do It, and today I’m speaking on, “We Can Choose To Do It.”
How many of you have discovered that people can cause you a lot of headaches? How many of you have been tempted at times to just say, “I’m not going to have anything else to do with that person or those people.” Life at times would seem to go easier if we could just get rid of some people. But as Christians we are never given the option to quit caring about people. The option has been taken from us, because God cares about people. God cares about their physical, emotional, and spiritual well being.
We look at the world and think things have gotten pretty bad. We lost one of our former members last week to a stray bullet from guys shooting at each other in the street. The trial of Jimmy Dimmora left some of us wondering just who can you trust in the world of politics. But what we see around us pales in comparison to what God saw in the cities of Sodom and Gommorah. These were two large cities in the bible where sin was totally out of control. The people were so stuck on themselves, that they only wanted to deal with certain kinds of people in their city. It was against the law to help the poor and the needy. Men would form gangs to go out and rape any new men who happened to enter their town.
Their behavior was so bad, that the sin was crying out all the way to heaven demanding that it be destroyed by the righteousness of God. But God cared about the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Rather than destroy it, God went looking for a reason to be merciful to it. God said if I can just find 50 people who are at least trying to do right, I’ll spare the whole city for their sake.
Now God told Abraham, look the behavior of Sodom and Gomorrah has so gone against my nature that I must destroy it, but because I care about people, if I can find just 50 people out of the two cities, trying to do right, I’ll spare them all. Abraham started this bargaining thing with God, knowing that even 50 might be too many. So He got God to agree to 45, 40, thirty, twenty all the way down to 10. God went searching for the 10 and could not find them. It was as though God set off a nuclear explosion and fire and sulphur fell down on the city. From miles away, Abraham could see something like a mushroom cloud over the area Sodom and Gommorah had been.
Just think, if God could have had just 10 people on His side, it would have been enough to reverse the course of the destiny of a city. Have you ever thought how many people God needs to reverse the course of this community? How many people God needs to change things on your job? How many people God needs to change people’s eternal destiny.
Everyday people die in their sins and slip into eternity to be separated from God forever. It breaks the heart of God everyday because God cares for people. God would rather be reconciled to us, than send us away to suffer the consequences of our actions.
God will not make any of us obey Him. God respects us too much to try to force us to worship Him. God loves us to know to warn us of the consequences of the choices we make in our lives, that will lead to our destruction. We may think that because we were not as bad behaving as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, then we are okay with God. But our sin cries out against us just as theirs did.
God loved people enough to send Jesus Christ into this world to restore the broken relationship between us and God. You see everybody has sinned and is therefore out of relationship to God. God sent Jesus Christ to pay for our sin so that we could be brought back in right relationship to God. Jesus was crucified to pay for our sins. He died and was buried because the penalty for sin is death. He rose from the dead to show that death no longer had power over him, and that all who died in him would have life.
Salvation became possible for anyone who believe in Jesus, and receives the work he has done on their behalf. Anyone who does not believe and receive will continue on their path of life which ends in death and destruction in a place call hell and the lake of fire. We have the option of freely believing in Christ, or choosing to pay for our sins ourselves.
Because God cares about you, one day God used someone to give you the message about Jesus and you put your faith and hope in Him and today you are a believer. You know that Jesus does a lot more for you than simply give you a seat in heaven. You know that Jesus has taken some of the things that were destroying your life and set you free from them. You know that Jesus has changed you from whom you used to be to who you are now. You know that Jesus is still working in you, changing you, and giving you a much more rewarding life. But you would not have known this if God had not cared about you, and if someone had not chosen to have told you about Jesus Christ.
In our New Testament reading, Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee. He saw two brothers by the name of Andrew and Simon who were just fisherman casting their nets into the sea. Day in and day out that was their job. But Jesus saw more than just two ordinary fisherman. He saw two men with great potential if they would accept his offer. Have you ever thought about what God sees when He looks at you? Have you ever dreamed that God could use you to set Glenville New Life Community Church on fire.
The world would have seen two uneducated fisherman trying to make a living. Jesus saw a lot more. He made them an offer. He said “Come Follow Me and I will send you out to fish for people.” Jesus is saying if you come and follow me, I’ll give you a greater reward than what you’re getting now.” Jesus was going to move them from fish to people. You know we are all choosing to catch something in this world and we’re spending our lives doing it.
What is it that you are trying to catch today that you give your time and energy to try and get it. No matter what it is, it is going to pass away at some point. There was a time when we as a city thought if we could just catch LeBron James, it would lead to a championship team. We caught him but didn’t get what we expected. He too thought if he could just catch the Miami Heat, it would lead to a championship team, but it didn’t.
What is it that you are trying to catch. It could be success, beauty, fame, money, golf, leisure, sports, or shopping. It could be that feeling that once I obtain such and such, or once I get me one of those, or once I finally do that, then I will feel like my life has been worthwhile and I accomplished something. That’s when Jesus comes and says, “I’ve got something far more rewarding than that, “Come follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.”
What’s so important about fishing for people. People matter to God. People have no hope without God. People are going to live forever. They will either live forever with God or without God. I can tell you this 100 years from today, you will not be thinking about how many games you attended, or how many contests you won, or how much money you made. You will be thinking about the number of people who are in heaven because you chose to help them find Jesus Christ. Or you will be thinking of the number of opportunities you had to know Christ, but chose not to accept him.
Jesus was inviting the disciples to join his team, in bringing people back to God. That’s why they were to come and follow Him. The scriptures said, at once they left their nets and followed him. They chose to leave what they were doing behind. He went up the lake just a little bit and gave the same opportunity to James and John and without delay they also went after Jesus. They chose to go and care about people for God’s sake.
I want you to notice that Jesus called us with a specific intent in mind. He didn’t say come follow me and do as you please. He didn’t say come follow me and get rich. He said come follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people. Jesus’ intent was to shape us, to reach out to people, so that people could know God. It’s important that we keep the order. We are first to come follow Jesus, and then Jesus will send us out to fish for people.
Following Jesus means to choose to allow God to act through you, in the same way that God was acting through Jesus. Philippians 2:5 says “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The first step in becoming fishers of people is letting Jesus Christ shine in your life. This makes you more attractive to the people you hope to reach for God.
Now we can’t make the mistake of going to the extreme of saying, “I’m just going to let my light shine and never speak up for the gospel. First of all none of us can live that holy. Second no one will know the truth of the gospel unless they are told what happened. Jesus Christ coming into this world, being crucified on a cross for our sins, being dead and buried, and rising again from the dead are historical facts. Nobody is going to know this simply from looking at our lives. At some point we are going to have to tell them.
Evangelism is part living and part talking. You do not have to know the four spiritual laws, or 25 scriptures to evangelize. Evangelism is an attempt to move a person closer to God than where the person currently is. Assume that God is at work in a person’s life, because God is at work in everyone’s life because God cares about people.
It could be as simple as talking to a person who says, “I’m really struggling in my life.” Your response could be, “When I was struggling, I found God in a deeper way.” If the person says, “really how was that,” then you share your testimony and invite the person to church. If the person says, “no I don’t want to hear about God right now.” Then you change the subject. Your goal is to nudge the person closer to God. There will be other opportunities in which you will be able to share more of your faith. People are often more open to God when there has been a change in their lives. That may be the best time for you to go and fish.
Notice that Jesus said, “I will send you out to fish.” Jesus is the one that is setting up the opportunity for us. We have to have our eyes open to fish because, we do not know how the opportunity is going to come our way. We all know that Jesus is calling us to fish. We know that people’s lives can be changed if we help them discover Jesus Christ. We know that they will go to heaven if they give their lives to Christ. We know we’re thankful for the person who helped us to discover Christ? Yet we often choose to disregard the call and not actually fish.
What would you think of a fisherman in a boat with his poles, his reels, his bait and his net sitting out on Lake Erie crying out. “Lord send some fish into this boat.” And then the fisherman waited to see how many fish would jump into the boat out of the lake. At the end of the day the fisherman went home saying, these fish are just too hard to catch. We do not pray, “Lord send me out to fish this week for Glenville to grow as a church.” We are much more likely to pray, Lord send some fish into Glenville so that we can grow.”
Did you know that only 3% of people who come to church come on their own without an invitation from someone else at the church. What keeps us from giving out more invitations to people to get to know God? We are afraid. But what are we afraid of. We are afraid of rejection. It’s funny how we are not afraid of rejection in other areas. When we say who our favorite sport team is, others will come back and say, that team is no good and their team is better. We will even come back with an argument that our team is better.
We are afraid they might ask us a question we do not know the answer to? People ask us questions we don’t know the answer to all the time. We simply say, I don’t know the answer to that. We could use humility in our lives and not try to pretend we know everything about God.
We are afraid we might be trying to impose our view on others. People are imposing their views on us and on others all the time. People are afraid to speak because what they feel is not politically correct.
We are afraid they might look down on us for having God as a crutch to get through life. Everybody is using some kind of crutch to get through life. It is far more noble to depend on God than to depend on anything else.
We are afraid somebody might attack us. When was the last time you saw in the newspapers, “two Presbyterian church members were severely beaten up after knocking on doors in the neighborhood, while presenting literature about the church to area residents.” I have never seen this in my life and I doubt if somebody from Glenville is going to be the first two for it to happen to. About the worse you can expect to hear from somebody on the other side is, “I don’t want nothing from the Jehovah Witnesses.” You have the privilege of then saying, “oh no, we’re not Jehovah Witness, we’re from Glenville.
The church exists so that people can have people who are fishing for them. Somebody came fishing for us and today we are here. Jesus is simply asking us to return the favor to someone else along the way. Can we pray for a boldness on our part to share the gospel. A boldness to simply say, “I’m from Glenville, can I leave this information with you.” A boldness to say, “here’s a card from my church, I think you’ll find people who can help you get through this here.” A boldness to simply say, “May I pray for you.”
If you ever go to a football game, before the start of the game all of the players on the team will sometimes gather at around the 50 yard line. They will form a tight circle and do some yelling and screaming. Sometimes those in the back will jump up on the backs of those near the rear. Sometimes they will even kneel and pray. They look charged and energized. But what would you think if after they left the 50, they all ran to the sidelines, and went back into the locker room and then went home. How many of you would think, they missed the most important part of the game which was to play against the other team.
I wonder how often does God see us on Sunday morning, gathering at the 50 yard line for worship singing and praying, and then leaving not realizing we are suppose to play in the game. It’s not what happens on the 50 that changes people’s lives. We need players that play on the field during the week.
Jesus said, come follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people. Who are the people God is calling you to fish for between now and Easter. Who do you know that have no contact with a church. Are you willing to throw your line into the water by giving them an invitation to join you for church. It’s not enough for us to keep praying that fish will jump out of the water and land into our boats. God cares for people. We are called to choose to fish for people to help them come home to God. Jesus said, come follow me and I will send you to fish for people. Are you willing to say, “Here I am God, Use Me.”
Why Care About People, We Can Choose To Do It
Genesis 18:16-23 Mark 1:14-21 Glenville-11-2012
Today we are continuing our series entitled “Why Care About People.” Last week Pastor Toby spoke on We Can Choose To Do It, next week Pastor Kellie will speak on There’s a Limited Time To Do It, and today I’m speaking on, “We Can Choose To Do It.”
How many of you have discovered that people can cause you a lot of headaches? How many of you have been tempted at times to just say, “I’m not going to have anything else to do with that person or those people.” Life at times would seem to go easier if we could just get rid of some people. But as Christians we are never given the option to quit caring about people. The option has been taken from us, because God cares about people. God cares about their physical, emotional, and spiritual well being.
A. We Can Look At How Bad Things Have Gotten
1. Elissa Hereford’s Death—Stray Bullet Passing By
2. Corruption In Politics—Jimmy Dimora
3. Pales To Sodom & Gomorrah
4. Out Of Control---Sin Capital
5. Stuck On Themselves—Illegal To Help The Poor
6. Men Gang Raping Other Men
B. Their Sin Reached To The Highest Heaven
1. Sin Demanded To Be Destroyed By God’s Holiness
2. God Looked For Reason To Be Merciful
3. If I Could Just Find 50 Righteous People
C. God Tells Abraham Of His Plans
1. It Must Be Destroyed Unless I Can Find 50
2. Abraham Bargains 45, 30, 20, 10
3. God Sends What Looks Like Nuclear Explosing
4. Abraham Sees The Mushroom Cloud
5. 10 Would Have Been Enough To Reverse Course
6. How Many Does God Need To Save Us All
7. Everyday People Die In Their Sins
8. It Breaks The Heart Of God
9. God Will Not Make Us Obey Him
10. To Much Respect For Our Freedom To Force
Worship
11. Too Much Love For Us Not To Warn Us Of
Consequences
12. But I’m Not As Bad As Sodom & Gomorrah
D. God Love people Enough To Send Jesus
1. All Broken Relationship To God
2. Jesus Paid To Bring Us Back To God
3. Suffered For Our Sins, Died & Buried- Penalty Death
4. Resurrection—Defeated Death
5. He Lives We Live
6. Salvation For All Who Believe & Receive
7. Anyone Not Believing Will Continue On Destruct Path
E. God Loved You Enough To Send Someone To You
1. You Know Jesus More Than Ticket To Heaven
2. Jesus Set You Free From Destructive Behaviors
3. Who You Use To Be To Who You Are Now
4. Jesus Still Working
5. Your Life More Rewarding
6. Owe It To God Caring, Someone Else Caring Enough To Tell
F. In NT Reading Jesus Walking Along The Sea Of Galilee
1. Saw Andrew & Peter Fishing
2. Saw More Thank Just Two Ordinary Uneducated Fisherman
3. What Potential If They Accepted His Offer
4. What Jesus Sees Looking At You
5. Jesus Made Them An Offer
6. Come Follow Me And I Will Send You Out To Fish For People
7. Come Follow & Get A Greater Reward
8. Upgrade In Life From Fish To People
9. Catch Something Worth Your Life
G. What Are We Spending Our Lives Trying To Catch
1. Le-Bron James & Cleveland--- It’s Going To Pass
Away
2. Success, beauty, fame, money, golf, leisure, sports.
Pleasure Halle Berry—Success-Now What
3. When I Obtain, When I Get, When I Finally Do, Then
4. Jesus-I’ve Got Something More Rewarding
H. What’s So Important About Fishing For People
1. People Matter To God
2. People Have No Hope Without God
3. People Will Live For Forever
4. What You Will Be Thinking 100 Years From Now
5. Games Attended, Contests Won, Money Made
6. How Many With Me In Heaven
7. How Many Opportunities Did I Pass On
I. Jesus Was Invited Disciples To Join The Team To Bring People Back To God.
1. They Were To Come & Follow
2. Left Their Nets At Once
3. Ran Into James & John—No Delay They Came
4. Jesus Calls With Specific Intent
5. Not Come & Do As You Please, Or Do Nothing, Or Get Rich
6. I Will Send You To Fish For People
7. Jesus Intended To Shape Us To Reach People To Know God
8. First Step Is To Follow Jesus
9. Allow God To Act Through You In The Way He Acted In Jesus
10. Philippians 2:5 Let This Mind Be In You That Was Also In Christ
Jesus
11. First Step To Allow Jesus To Shine In You
J. We Are Going To Have To Speak
1. We Can’t Live Holy Enough to Send The Message
2. The Gospel Not Known Through Revelations
3. Jesus Coming, Crucifixion, Death, Burial Resurrection , Historical Events
4. Our Lives Can’t Tell That Story
K. Evangelism Is Part Living & Part Talking
1. No Need To Know 4 Spiritual Laws or 25 Verses
2. Evangelism An Attempt To Move Someone Closer To God
3. Assume God Is Already At Work
4. Simple As Someone Says “I’m struggling In My Life”
5. Response “When I Was Struggling, I Found God In A Deeper Way
6. Follow On Their Response
7. Your Goal Is To Nudge People Closer To God
8. People Open When Changes Come In Their Lives
L. Jesus Is The One Who Said “I Will Send You
1. We Have Plenty Of Opportunities To Fish- Are We Taking Them
2. We Know Jesus Is Calling, Lives Could Be Changed, Go To Heaven
3. We’re Thankful That Someone Told Us, But We’re Not Willing To Fish
4. What Would You Think Fisherman With All The Tools In The Boat
5. Praying God Would Send Fish Into The Boat
6. Are We Praying To Fish, Or That The Fish Will Jump IN
7. Only 3% Of Guests Come Uninvited
M. What Keeps Us From Giving An Invitation
1. Fear Of Rejection---What About Our Sports Team
2. Fear Of A Question—What About Humility I Don’t Know
3. Fear Of Imposing Our Views On Others—We Do It All The Time
Political Commercials, Politically Correct
4. Fear Of Us Using Religion As A Crutch—All Depend On Something
5. Fear Someone Might Attack Us—Last Time Two Witnessing
Presbyterians---Won’t Be First, Might Be Accuse Of Being JW
6. Chance To Say, We’re From Glenville
N. Church Exists To Have People Fishing For Others
1. Somebody Came Fishing For Us
2. Pray For A Boldness, “I’m From GlenvilleCan I Leave This Information”
3. Boldness “here’s A Card from my church. You Can Find Help Here
4. Boldness to Say, May I Pray For You
5. If You Go A Football Game—The 50 yard Huddle Before The Game
6. What If They Left The Huddle & Went Home
7. Are We Like The 50 Yard Huddle On Sunday Morning
8. We Need Players On The Field During The Week
O. Jesus Said Come & Follow Me And I Will Send You Out To Fish
1. Who Are The People God Is Call You To Fish For
2. Are You Willing To Give Than An Invitation To Join You For Church
3. Not Enough To Expect Fish To Jump In The Boat
4. God Cares For People. We Are Called To Care For People to Help
Them Come Home To God
5. Are You Willing To Say, Here I Am God, Use Me.
