A Message to Garcia
Mark 16:15-16
INTRODUCTION:
Setting: Late 1800’s
America is on the brink of war with Spain
Spain is ravaging Cuba
General Garcia leads the freedom fighters of Cuba
Garcia has disappeared into the mountains to save his own life
After the War: Elbert Hubbard, friends and family discuss the heros of the war.
Most said Gen. Garcia - Hubbard’s son said "I think it was Andrew Rowan, the man who carried a message to Garcia."
After hearing the tale of Andrew Rowan, Elbert wrote this filler article for his magazine.
Turned into one of the most popular pieces of American Literature in history.
Over 100 Million copies.
READ EXCERPTS
How much easier would life be if we all had the initiative of Andrew Rowan The man who carried a message to Garcia?
Would we ever get into trouble at work?
Would our spouse ever have to remind us to take out the trash?
Would this building be large enough to contain the church that meets in it?
We have been given a much greater message to deliver by a man with much more power and prestige than even the president of the United States!
MAIN BODY
I. The message to be delivered is the gospel.
A. Mark 16:15-16 Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
1. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to the earth, gave up his life, was buried, and resurrected not for anything he had done but for sins we committed.
2. He did this so that we could be reconciled to God and have eternal life.
B. If that is not a message worth sharing then I don’t know what is!
C. Not one of us deserves to be saved on our own merit.
1. We deserve eternal punishment. Romans 3:10-12 There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.
2. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
D. Only because of the work of Christ can we be declared right before God.
1. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2. Only by submitting to the will of Christ can be IN Christ. Romans 6:3-4 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
E. That’s the message that Christ has commissioned us to carry to all creation.
II. There are many Garcia’s in the world today!
A. Fighters for the Lord’s Army yet to receive the message.
B. It is our DUTY-our MISSION to carry the gospel to everyone we know.
C. We need to be committed to the cause of Christ bringing the message of salvation to others.
1. John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
2. 2 Cor. 4:13-15 It is written: I believed; therefore I have spoken. With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
III. It is our duty to preach the gospel! 2 Cor. 4:5 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
A. Parable of the Talents-Matthew 25:14-30
1. 5-2-1
2. We all have the ability to find Garcia
3. The next person we contact could be yearning for the gospel.
a. If we are not out teaching others about Christ then we are the 3rd servant saying, "Lord, I know you always dealt harshly with those who don’t live up to your expectations, so rather than try and do anything I chose to sit at home . . . And do nothing."
b. "But wait I have what you gave me . . . What your Son died for . . .
c. One day a lady criticized brother D.L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord. Moody’s reply was "I agree with you. I don’t like the way I do it either, but it’s the only way I know how. Tell me, how do you do it?" The lady replied, "I don’t do it." Moody responded, "Then I like my way of doing it better than your way of doing it."
d. If we enter judgement without having caused the spreading of the borders of God’s Kingdom then we will be in the same sad shape as the one’s we didn’t share with.
IV. If we claim to be a people of the book, and we do, then lets turn to the book to find an example of how to get our message to Garcia.
A. Acts 5:42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
1. Day after day they NEVER STOPPED.
2. Can that be said of us today?
3. Day after day¨CHouse to House teaching Jesus is the Christ!
4. They were out trying to get a message to Garcia!
B. We won’t do it today if it makes us miss our favorite TV show or gets us into bed late.
C. Forget the fact that Garcia is out there and he is LOST!
CONCLUSION
Garcia is waiting for you to come to him.
Garcia doesn’t even know he’s lost.
You won’t find him by:
- Placing ads in the newspaper for gospel meetings
- Depending upon Someone else, the preacher, or the elders.
- Filling up all your time with worldly activities.
Garcia doesn’t respond to newspaper ads.
The preacher never comes in contact with Garcia.
The elders don’t know Garcia
Garcia isn’t going to schedule a time with you in between fishing, golfing, hunting, or watching TV.
Garcia is waiting for you to come to him!
You are that "Someone."
How do you want to be remembered upon your death? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that at your funeral the chapel would be filled with people all thinking this verse in their heads about you?
Romans 10:14-15 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!
Message to Garcia
Article Excerpts
In all this Cuban business there is one man who stands out on the horizon of my memory. When war broke out between Spain and the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountains of Cuba, no one knew where. No mail or telegraph could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly. Someone said to the President, "There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan who will find Garcia for you if anybody can." The point I wish to make is this: President McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia, Rowan took the letter and did not ask "Where is he at?" By the eternal! There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college in the land. It is not book learning young men need but a stiffening of the vertebra which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies, DO THE THING-CARRY A MESSAGE TO GARCIA! You put his to the test. You are sitting at your office, six clerks within your call. Summon any one and make this request: "Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memo for me on the life of Correggio." Will the clerk quietly say "Yes sir" and go do the task? On your life he will not! He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:
"Who was He?"
"Which encyclopedia?"
"Where is the encyclopedia?"
"Was I hired for that?"
"Is there any hurry?"
"Shouldn’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?"
"What do you want to know for?"
Now I tell you that after you have answered the questions and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him find Garcia and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Now if you are wise you will smile sweetly and say, "Never Mind" and go look it up yourself. My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the boss is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive, without asking questions, and with no lurking intentions of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it. Anything such a man asks will be granted: his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town, and village-in every office, shop, store, and factory. The world cries out for such, he is needed, and needed badly The Man who can carry a Message to Garcia!
