Speak Clearly Series

You may not have been gifted with the gift of prophecy or the ability to speak in spiritual tongues, but you have been gifted to speak with a physical tongue. When you use that physical gift of God to declare God’s truth in clear, simple, understandable language, then God can use you to strengthen, encourage and comfort the other parts of the body of Christ. God can use you to change lives.

INVITATION

This morning in my prayer time, I prayed for all the churches and pastors in our association as well some other churches in the area. And then I prayed for our president. As I was combining those two things together, I began to wonder what it would be like to have the President in the congregation. Would it be tempting to soften the message a little bit and call sin something other than it was? A pastor of the past faced this very dilemna.

A famous Methodist evangelist named Peter Cartwright was known for his uncompromising preaching. However, one day when the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, came to Cartwright’s church, the elders warned the Pastor not to offend the President. When Cartwright got up to speak, the first words out of his mouth were, "I understand that President Andrew Jackson is here this morning. I have been requested to be very guarded in my remarks. Let me say this: "Andrew Jackson will go to hell if doesn’t repent of his sin!" The entire congregation gasped with shock at Cartwright’s boldness. How could this young preacher dare to offend the tough old general in public, they wondered. After the service, everyone wondered how the President would respond to Cartwright. When Andrew Jackson met the preacher at the door he looked at him in the eye and said, "Sir, If I had a regiment of men like you, I could conquer the world!"

Can I be equally direct with you? If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, then when you die, you will go to hell where you will suffer an eternity in torment. If you are living with known sin in your life, then you are weak, discouraged and in discomfort, and the only way for you to change is for you to confess your sin to God, repent of it and seek His forgiveness. If you are not using your gifts to clearly communicate God’s message to people, then you are sinning and preventing people from coming into a relationship with God. But let me just as direct to tell you that God loves you, and all of your sin can be washed away today if you will simply come to God and ask for His forgiveness.