“We are not responsible to God for the souls that are saved, but we are responsible for the Gospel that is preached, and for the way in which we preach it.”

~Charles H. Spurgeon 

Speak up for Christ

"The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time." 

— Carl F. H. Henry

Last night at worship, we sang as an invitation hymn "There's a Great Day Coming."  If you are not familiar with the song it progresses along the verses by placing adjectives in front of the word "day" to describe the day of Christ's return.  The day is described as "great" and "bright" and finally as a "sad" day.

Judgment will be a sad day for many who will hear the Lord say, "Depart, I never knew you."  How terrible it would be to hear those words on the Day of Judgment.  The knowledge of what was or what might have been will haunt many people throughout eternity.

Perhaps sadder still will be when those condemned perhaps turn to the Christians they knew in this life and say, "You never mentioned Him to me.  In all the times we went to dinner, at all the ballgames we attended, on all our coffee breaks at work you knew this truth and did not share it."  How will Christians respond?  How would you respond?  We won't be 5 minutes into eternity before every Christian that ever lived will wish they had prayed more for the lost, spoken more about Jesus, given more of their time, money and resources to the cause of Christ.

One day everyone will hear the Gospel, but for the majority of people it will be too late.  Let us make the most of our opportunities to speak up for Christ so that others may enjoy the great day that is soon approaching.  If we fail to speak, it maybe that Christ will have a hard time remembering knowing us as well.

A question we all must face...

Jesus is standing in Pilate’s hall,
Friendless, forsaken, betrayed by all;
Hearken! what meaneth the sudden call?
What will you do with Jesus?

Chorus

What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be;
Some day your heart will be asking,
“What will He do with me?”

Jesus is standing on trial still,
You can be false to Him if you will,
You can be faithful through good or ill:
What will you do with Jesus?

Will you evade him as Pilate tried?
Or will you choose Him, whate’er betide?
Vainly you struggle from Him to hide:
What will you do with Jesus?

Will you, like Peter, your Lord deny?
Or will you scorn from His foes to fly,
Daring for Jesus to live or die?
What will you do with Jesus?

“Jesus, I give Thee my heart today!
Jesus, I’ll follow Thee all the way,
Gladly obeying Thee!” will you say:
“This I will do with Jesus!”

“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out

that God hates all the same people you do.”

-Tom

From or For?

In Deuteronomy 6:23, God tells the children of Israel to remember that He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt to lead them into the land He had sworn to their fathers.

I think for many of us who are "raised in the church" are saved, but we don't really feel saved from anything. We were often received Christ and were baptized as young teens and perhaps felt we had very little sin in our lives, and were baptized to fulfill an intellectual process that we knew we needed to complete because a Bible class teacher, preacher, youth worker, pastor or our parents had taught us the “sinner’s prayer, plan of salvation, how to receive Christ.”

Israel (though they oft forgot) was instructed time and time again to remember that they were saved FROM something FOR something (see Deuteronomy 6).

In the case of the Jewish nation, they were saved from the land of bondage for the land of promise. I think we need to come to a better realization that as Christians we are saved from something for something as well (Eph. 2-10).

From hell for heaven.

From darkness for light.

From death to life.

From addictions to disciplines.

From possessions to principles.

From physical wealth to spiritual health.

From hate for love.

From self for Savior.