The Big Rocks
Scripture: (1 Tim 1:15 KJV)
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
I know that
you may have heard it before. But we need to keep the main thing the main thing.
We need to focus our ministry on growth. I want to instill into you the idea of
redeeming the time. In order to truly make the most out of every opportunity we
need to see the goal. Our goal as Christians is to build up the body of Christ.
I am going to give you a few scriptures to look at this morning and then I just
want us to make ourselves available for God to use us to fulfill His work. If
Jesus Christ lives within our hearts then we will find joy in doing His work for
to the glory of God our Father.
1. (Rom 1:16 KJV) For I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
2. (Mat 10:32 KJV)
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before
my Father which is in heaven.
3. (Rom 10:9 KJV) That if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
I heard a
story about a death row convict speaking to a minister on the night before his
execution. The pastor explained to the man how Jesus came and died upon the
cross to forgive us all of our sins and to give us an eternal home in heaven.
The pastor asked the man if he would like to accept this forgiveness and eternal
life. The told the minister that he did not believe a word he was saying. He
told him that if what he said was true, if by accepting Jesus Christ as your
savior you could have a fresh start on life then someone would have told him
years earlier. He told the pastor that no one had ever told him about the
abundant life available to him through Christ Jesus. He said if he really
believed this then he would be going throughout the entire world letting
everyone know that there is this great hope. Even if he had to crawl on his
hands and knees. And yet no one had ever told him about it.
So I ask you,
do you really believe? If you do you will put forth the effort to make sure
everyone has the opportunity to know Jesus and His glory for themselves. You
know I spent many years wasting my life when all it might have taken was someone
from that church across the street to give me an invitation. Have you invited
anyone to church lately? You need to focus your ministry on the heart of Christ
and Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
We need to
arrange out youth ministry around the heart of Christ. If we do not have a plan
for growth we will not grow. Jesus spent His three-year ministry training His
disciples how to grow build the church. He called them to become fishers of men.
I looked for
some statistics on youth from the Barna Research Organization for this week end.
I’ve been out of youth ministry for a little while and it has been a long time
since I’ve been a youth. There was a lot of interesting findings that I could
share with you but the one that really hit home with me was the fact that only
4% of teenagers attend a full gospel church of any kind. There were a large
percentage of Catholics and then Baptists then the large Protestant religions
like Lutheran and Methodist. Coming in last place was the charismatic or
Pentecostals. Why do you think that is? I believe it is because it has not been
our focus. We have not been fulfilling the call of the five-fold ministry:
(Eph 4:11 NIV) It was he
who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and
some to be pastors and teachers,
(Eph 4:12 NIV) to prepare
God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
When it comes to God the
big rocks are people. The eternal destiny of the soul. It is God’s will that not
one should parish. It is time to stop with the cumbiyah religion and get
radically involved in the work that God has prepared. 50% of the 6 billion
people on this planet are under the age of 25. In our country only 12% of those
attend any church services on a regular basis and only 3% are on fire born again
Christians. I believe you want what all that God has for you. I believe your
youth pastors and senior pastors want all that God has for you. The Church today
needs to regain the faith to reach out with their hearts to the young people of
today. You need to be trained how to bring others to the saving grace of Jesus
Christ. Put pressure on your youth leaders. Tell them you want, no you need, to
be better trained how to lead someone to Christ. I am telling you from first
hand knowledge there is nothing better. Pressure you senior Pastor and church
board for more funding to hold community events that will draw the youth in the
community. Form cell groups amongst your youth group and role-play leading
someone to the Lord. There should be nothing as important to you as the
salvation of your fellow man.
I know that it is scary, I
remember how long I waited to ask the kids at Rachel’s bus stop to join us in
prayer. Of ourselves we can not do it. But it is like the message I heard Pastor
Joyner give this Wednesday night, when the disciples were in the boat with Jesus
and the wind and the waves were rocking the boat. Pastor Joyner said he would
have woke Jesus up and said “Hay can you give me a hand with this storm. I know
with you and me working on it together we can handle it.” Jesus knows that you
are afraid that’s why He has given us His Holy Spirit read with me in the book
of Acts.
(Acts 1:8 NIV) But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth."
Pastors, Youth leaders, youth, listen to what the Lord has been saying to you. The end is coming and right now in our country MTV has been winning the cultural war. What is it going it going to take to win back our nation? It is going to take faith. It is going to take you standing up in the middle of the boat during the raging sea and know that Jesus is with you and nothing is going to keep you from fulfilling your calling. It is going to take faith enough for you to sacrifice your pride to tell someone you know who is not a Christian why they should be and how they can become one then lead them to Jesus in prayer. It is going to take faith enough for you to go back to the youth that have fallen away in the past and invite them back into the fold. It is going to take faith to start new programs and learn a new way of ministry. It is going to take faith. If you are ready to take on the call to win back your generation for Christ then stand with me and I am going to pray to God in the Name of Jesus that He give you a double portion of the gift of faith and you go from here with a new zeal to reach the lost in your homes, in your schools and in your communities. Pastors I want to pray for you that God give you the faith to come up with the training to better equip these you people to do the work that God has called them to do and they have committed to do. In Jesus name father God bless this message that should may be won for the kingdom of God and lives changed by your almighty power and love in Jesus name; Amen