The Fields Are Ripe For The Harvest

The Fields are ripe for The Harvest.

Read John 4:35

Opening Statement…. This morning, I started of by asking the question, why are we not in Hell today…

This evening, I want to start by asking… why do we want others to go to Hell?

Of course, our response would be, “Well, we don’t want anyone to go to Hell”

But we just cant get past that age old saying of, “actions speak louder than words”

Friends, let me start this evening by giving you some very troubling and startling statistics…

The Children’s Defense Fund has reported that every single day in America….

Every day…

1 young person under the age of 25 dies from HIV infection.

5 Children or youth under the age of 20… commit suicide

9 Children or youth under age 20 are homicide victims

34 children or youth under 20 die in accidents…..

Listen now friends….

Every day in America, 180 CHILDREN are arrested for violent crimes…

Every day in America, 367 Children, are arrested for drug abuse….

Every day in America, 437 CHILDREN are arrested for drinking or drunken driving.

Every day in America 2,861 high school students… drop out.

Every day in America, 3,288 children run away from home.

Every day in America, 4,248 Children are arrested….

Every day in America, 7,883 children are reported abused or neglected.. that is each and every day in our country my friends….

Each and every day in America, 17,297 public school students are suspended…

According to the centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. children under age 15 are:

12 times more likely to die from gunfire than children in 25 other industrialized countries COMBINED……

U.S. Children under age 15…

Are, 16 times more likely to be murdered by a gun,

11 times more likely to commit suicide by a gun,

and 9 times more likely to die in a firearm accident, than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined…..

No, I am not slamming firearms tonight.

According to the American Family Association Journal Nov/Dec 2002… 55% of Christian students from Christian homes are DENYING their faith before they graduate college…..

Please bear with me tonight friends as I give you these statistics…. Because they have really weighed heavy on my heart… and I believe we should know what state the souls of the young people in our country are in today…

SBC life Magazine, Dec 2002, has an article about Dr. Freddie Gage- a very well known Southern Baptist Evangelist. This article stated that there was an article in Newsweek Magazine that had the following quote;

“Church goers take comfort: Hell has all but disappeared from modern Christian Theology.”

Hell has all but disappeared from modern Christian Theology……

Now, I take that as a slap in the face from a secular writer…..

But I have to ask myself the question…

Is it a slap of distain for Christians… or is it a slap of reality that should jolt me awake enough to see the realities of the lost souls all around us today…..

Even more statistics were given in the article that Gage pointed out….

He said that “Evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention is failing to keep pace with the nations population increase, particularly among teenagers. ..

He pointed out that since 1979 there has been a steady decline in youth baptisms among Southern Baptists. Last year, out of 40 Million Teenagers in our nation, we baptized only 82,000, the majority of whom were children who have grown up in the Church, Re-Baptisms, or those coming from other denominations..”

Now listen closely friends…. He said,

“We had more teenagers killed on our Highways as a result of alcohol related deaths, than southern Baptist baptized last year…. Last year, 116,000 teenagers went to prison compared to the 82,000 that we baptized, this is appalling….”

And Gage went on to note that it is not just our youth that we are not reaching.

He said, “out of 285 million people in America, the greatest harvest field on planet earth, we Southern Baptist reach less than 90,000 out of a pagan culture”.

So my friends, Southern Baptist are failing in the task to carry our the great commission, a commandment given to us by Christ himself in Matthew 28:18-20 when he said,

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Well, maybe the other mainline denominations are picking up where we are falling behind…

I have another statistic,… Adherents .com states that since the 1960’s the United Methodist church has lost 23% of its membership.