Seeking And Saving The Lost

But there comes a time when we should not just sing and preach about it - we need to get down to the nitty gritty of doing it.

To do this we have to have a plan.

For example:

? The Carolina Gamecocks when they get ready to play a football game have to have a game plan to reach that goal line they seek to reach in each ball game.

? A successful business does not just build a building and hire employees. They have to have a product and they have to know how they are going to sell that product to the American people.

But too often the people who make up God’s church operate without a game plan. They seem to think all they have to do is build a church building and lost people will fill the building. Many are using that system for reaching the lost and that could explain why all over this nation we are not having more sinners saved and more in church growing in the Lord.

Illus: Many Sunday school classes are empty each week because it is not enough for a teacher just to show up in a class each Sunday. Teachers also must have a plan to get the lost to show up. If they do not have a plan and execute that plan the classes will not grow.

God would not command the church to reach the lost world without giving us a plan to reach the lost world.

Let’s look at the scriptures and see what we must do to reach the lost.

I. TALK TO GOD.

That is, the lost will not talk to God on their own behalf so we must talk to God on their behalf.

Look at Romans 10:1-4, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

Everything in the church starts with prayer. If it does not, it should. How can we know what to do unless we talk to God and see what His Word says about it?

Many do not pray. They think too highly of themselves. They think they are so smart they do not need to waste their time talking to God.

Illus: These make me think of us fellows when we buy something that has to be assembled, we consider it a waste of time to read the instructions. We just dive into the job and when the job is finished we have all these left over parts. We discover we are not as smart as we thought we were at the beginning of the project.

Yes, we are not as smart as we think we are sometimes.

Illus: During a patient's two-week follow-up appointment with his cardiologist, he informed the doctor that he was having trouble with one of his medications.

? "Which one?" the doctor asked.

? "The patch," answered the patient.

? The doctor then asked what kind of problem he was having with the patch.

? The man then said, "Well, the directions say to put a new one on every six hours and now I'm running out of places to put one!"

? The doctor had the man undress and discovered what he hoped he wouldn't see, but this particular patient had over fifty patches on his body!

He failed to read where the instructions said to remove the old patch before applying a new one.

Following instructions is important.

We can build a building by the strength and wisdom God gives us.

BUT WHEN IT COMES TO REACHING THE LOST - WE ARE LOST!!!

God has to help us build His work by reaching sinners for Him.

He said in Matthew 16:18, “I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH…”

He knows HOW and we need to consult with Him in prayer and ask Him how we are to reach the lost.

You can tell a great deal about people’s prayers by the words they use.

Paul said that his desire and prayer to God was for the Israelites to be saved.

WHAT IS YOUR PRAYER TO GOD?

? Is it for people?

? For your own family members?

? For your friends and neighbors?

Do you care enough to pray for them?

Listen, if you do not care enough to pray for them you certainly are not going to take the time to talk to them.

Reaching the lost starts with PRAYER.

Illus: A liberal preacher one time said to a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching preacher, “Where in the Bible does it say that we are supposed to pray for people to come to Christ?”