Participants: Wes McDonald
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000400
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00:31 Hello friends, my name is Wes McDonald
00:33 and I wanna welcome you to Faith Chapel. 00:35 We're delighted that we can be with you today 00:37 and it's our privilege to be able to come into 00:40 your living room and share God's word. 00:43 Before we begin I'd like to ask you to bow your 00:46 heads with me as we pray. Father in heaven, 00:49 I wanna thank you for every person who is 00:52 watching and listening today. 00:54 I pray that your spirit will touch their hearts 00:57 with truth from your word, I pray that you'll 01:00 anoint my lips with your spirits, 01:02 so that the words that I speak that they would be 01:03 your words from your holy word. 01:07 And these things I praise you and thank 01:08 you for in Jesus name, amen. 01:15 The title of our message today is don't stop to 01:18 say hello, sounds a little strange, doesn't it? 01:22 I want to carry you with me for a moment into 01:24 Luke the 10th chapter. Jesus is giving his 01:28 disciples special instructions on 01:31 how they are to witness for Him. 01:34 In the Bible we have truths that we need to 01:36 share with people. But Jesus not only gave 01:40 us truth to share, He gave us methods for 01:44 how to share it and we're going to look at 01:46 that today for a little bit. 01:48 I'm going to be reading and you can just listen 01:50 along with me. From Luke the 10th chapter and 01:53 beginning with verse 1 and on through verse 12. 01:57 After these things the Lord appointed other 02:00 seventy also and sent them two and two before 02:04 his face into every city and place, 02:07 whether he himself would come. 02:10 Therefore said he unto them, 02:12 the harvest truly is great, 02:15 but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the 02:21 Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth 02:24 laborers into his harvest. Notice He didn't say 02:30 to retain them for ourselves but to 02:32 send them into the harvest. 02:34 And he says, go your ways: behold, 02:36 I send you forth as laborers among the wolves. 02:42 Carry neither purse, nor script, nor shoes: 02:44 and salute no man by the way. 02:48 And then whatsoever house ye enter, first say, 02:51 Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace 02:55 be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, 03:00 it shall turn to you again. 03:04 And in the same house remain eating and drinking 03:07 such things as they give: for the laborer is 03:11 worthy of hire. Go not from house to house. 03:14 And into whatsoever city ye enter, 03:17 and they receive you, eat such things as are set 03:20 before you: And heal the sick that are therein, 03:25 and say unto them, The Kingdom of God is come 03:27 nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, 03:32 and they receive you not, go you ways out into 03:36 the streets of the same, and say, 03:38 Even the very dust of your city, 03:41 which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: 03:45 notwithstanding be ye sure of this, 03:47 that the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 03:51 But I say unto you, that it shall be more 03:53 tolerable in that day for Sodom, 03:56 then for that city. 03:58 Jesus had already sent out the Twelve and they 04:01 had returned. Now he was going to send out 04:03 a larger group and he wanted to prepare the way 04:06 for when he came. So that when he arrived 04:09 in these cities, the maximum impact for 04:13 the cause of Christ and the maximum number 04:15 of souls could be saved, so he gave them very, 04:17 very specific instructions. And now I 04:20 wanna focus in especially on verse 4. 04:23 This is Luke 10:4 and you can follow along with 04:26 me and we'll read it together because we 04:28 wanna especially focus on this verse. 04:31 Luke 10 and verse 4, Carry neither purse, 04:36 nor script, nor shoes: and salute no man 04:42 by the way. What on earth does he mean by salute 04:48 no man by the way, I can understand what is 04:51 meant by carry neither purse nor script 04:53 nor shoes. He doesn't want us to carry the 04:55 U-Haul truck every time we go to witness, 04:58 but to salute no man along the way. 05:02 In one of the translations, 05:03 in the modern language translations in Romania. 05:06 It says don't ask someone about their health. 05:10 In English we would say, don't stop and 05:12 say hello, don't ask how someone is doing like, 05:16 how are you doing? Does this seem strange 05:19 to you that the Savior would instruct his 05:23 disciples not to say hi to people. 05:26 Does that not seem strange to you that he 05:28 would say, don't stop and say hello, 05:29 don't ask anyone how they're doing. 05:31 Just go and if they say something to you to 05:34 ignore them, well that's the normal, 05:36 social way of interacting that we do as people. 05:41 It would almost seem rude for us to not say hi 05:45 to anyone that we knew along the way. 05:48 Why is it that Jesus was so concerned about that, 05:52 that you had to send them out without even 05:53 saying hello? In order to explain 05:56 that I need to tell you what it meant to say hi 05:59 to someone. Now I know some of you, 06:03 when you go into a crowd of people and there's 06:05 someone that you want to avoid. 06:07 You avoid saying hello because you know that 06:09 they're going to take all your time. 06:11 Have you ever run into that? If you say hi, 06:14 they're going to detain you and they're going 06:15 to you don't have 5 minutes and they want an 06:17 hour of your time. In Jesus time, 06:20 in that culture, to say hello meant you 06:24 had to ask about their children, 06:26 their grand children, their grand mother, 06:29 their parents. It was catching up time; 06:31 it might be something like this. 06:33 Oh hi John, how are you doing? 06:36 Oh it's been so long since I've seen you. 06:39 Oh and you've had four children and they're 06:42 how old now? One is 16? 06:43 Yeah, okay yeah and so forth and so on. 06:46 To say hello in Jesus time might actually take 06:50 may be an hour, could take half the day. 06:55 You might have to stop and visit. 06:56 You might have to stop and have lunch. 06:59 It could take a long time. Now we know that 07:03 Jesus said no man, knows the day nor hour 07:08 that he was going to return. 07:11 But we can safely assume that Jesus would have 07:13 known that it would have been a long, 07:15 long time before He was gonna return because 07:18 he gave all these prophecies of 07:20 everything that was gonna have to take place 07:22 before he came back. That stuff couldn't happen 07:24 instantly. Looking down through the span of 07:27 time and with Jesus knowledge of the Bible 07:29 prophecies why I believe that he would have 07:32 known that it would not have come, 07:33 His coming would not have come until at least 07:35 after the mid eighteen hundreds based upon Bible 07:38 prophecy. And so Jesus with almost 2000 years, 07:44 looking into the future. He tells His disciples 07:47 don't waste a single minute. 07:50 When I send you out on a mission, 07:52 don't even stop to say hello. 07:55 Why was Jesus so concerned with time with almost 08:03 two millenia to spare? Well the Bible tells us in 08:07 Isaiah 28:10, it says for precept must be 08:11 upon precept. Precept upon precept, 08:15 line upon line, line up line, 08:18 here a little and there a little. 08:22 The Bible tells us that in order to find our 08:25 answers in the Bible we have to go to the Bible. 08:29 If we have a question about the Bible, 08:31 what it means? We can find the answer 08:32 somewhere else in the Bible because the Bible 08:35 explains itself. We don't have to 08:38 go to human opinion; we don't have to explore 08:41 all these avenues because the Bible will explain 08:44 itself. So what does the Bible mean? 08:45 By don't salute any man along the way, 08:48 what does it mean by that? 08:50 Praise the Lord that God has answers else where 08:52 in the Bible to find the answers to all of our 08:56 questions. In 2nd Kings we find 08:59 that the prophet Elijah and his servant Gehazi. 09:03 Elijah used to go from place to place and his 09:05 work as a prophet and he would stay in different 09:08 places in this city and different places in this 09:10 city and his round as a prophet and there was 09:13 a rich lady who noticed that he came by her 09:16 town all the time and she talked to her husband. 09:19 She says, you know the prophet Elijah. 09:21 He comes by here, why don't we make him 09:23 a special room where he can stay when he comes 09:26 so that we can entertain God's prophet and we'll 09:29 have a little bed for him there, 09:31 we'll have a lamp stand, we'll have a chair. 09:33 So that when he comes, he can have a place 09:35 to stay, we can feed him. 09:36 And so they did that and Elijah was very thankful 09:40 for this. And so Elijah would stay there from 09:44 time to time and this lady had no children. 09:48 And so Elijah has realized and that she has taken 09:51 care him so well that he needs to express 09:55 himself in some way of thankfulness to her and 09:58 he's talking to his servant Gehazi. 10:00 He says, you know what is it that we can do for 10:03 this lady as she is so careful with us. 10:06 She takes care of us, she feeds us, 10:07 she provides a bed and Gehazi says, 10:10 well you know what? She doesn't has a child, 10:12 and so Elijah told the lady. 10:15 He says, you're gonna have a child at an 10:17 appointed time. She says don't lie to me, 10:21 she must have been up in years. 10:22 Don't lie to me I haven't asked for a child. 10:25 But Elijah says no you're gonna have a child 10:28 and sure enough at the appointed time a child was 10:34 born and it was a boy. And so she raised the 10:38 child and the little boy grew and grew. 10:40 And you know, lot's of times little boys 10:42 like to go to work with their daddy. 10:44 They like to come with daddy to work so daddy, 10:47 so the little boy went out with daddy to the 10:49 field one day and he was out there with the 10:52 workers and I don't know if the heat was too 10:54 much form or what but he developed this terrible 10:56 headache. And he's crying says, 10:59 daddy my head hurts, my head hurts and so 11:02 he says take this boy home to his momma. 11:05 So he went home to his momma, 11:06 sat on her lap until noon and then he died. 11:10 And the woman was distraught and she didn't 11:14 really say anything to anybody but she laid the 11:17 child on the prophet's bed and she told her 11:20 servants, saddle the ass and get ready for me 11:24 and go and you don't slow down unless I tell you. 11:28 And so they went to see the prophet and you know 11:31 the Bible never records that she told the prophet 11:34 that the boy died. But Elijah could tell from 11:38 the look on her face that something terrible 11:40 was wrong. She says, I told you not to lie to me. 11:43 I told you not to lie to me about a child and 11:45 he knew something was bad, 11:46 he at least knew that this child was in danger 11:49 and could die. I believe that he 11:51 did know that he had died but nonetheless moments 11:55 were important at this time. 11:58 So let's look at 2nd Kings 4 and verse 29 and 12:03 we can read this together and we're gonna see 12:05 exactly what Elijah told the prophet to say. 12:11 Second Kings 4 and verse 29. 12:13 Then he said to Gehazi, this was his servant. 12:17 Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in 12:21 thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, 12:25 salute him not; and if any salute thee, 12:30 answer him not again: and lay my staff 12:36 upon the face of the child. 12:39 Elijah was telling Gehazi, if you go and meet 12:43 anyone on the way and you happen to know him, 12:45 don't say hi. And if any man happens 12:50 to see you and they know you and they say hi, 12:54 don't take the time to say hi back. 12:57 Ignore them and get going because time is 13:00 important and you just get there and I don't want 13:02 you to waste any time. Why was Elijah so 13:09 concerned with time? I believe Elijah was 13:14 concerned with time because he knew what 13:16 every first responder, what every ambulance 13:19 person, what every fireman knows. 13:22 Minutes, seconds, fractions of seconds are 13:26 important in order to save a life. 13:30 Want to tell you a little story about, 13:33 a personal story of mine. 13:35 I didn't always make my living as a preacher, 13:38 at times I've made my living doing other things 13:40 as Paul in order to support myself to do 13:43 God's work. I am also a registered nurse and I 13:46 was working in a hospital as a supervisor and 13:48 there is a man that worked with us a 13:49 registered nurse. I am gonna just use his name, 13:52 I am gonna call him Jim. 13:53 I am not gonna give you his real name to 13:55 protect his anonymity, but Jim was a nurse that 13:58 everybody liked. He was competent; 14:01 he could do anything there was in the hospital. 14:04 There wasn't anything Jim couldn't do and we 14:06 loved Jim but one night at work Jim was a little 14:10 aggravated. And he was especially aggravated 14:15 that night, something, he was talking to a 14:16 group of people and he said God's name with a 14:21 curse attached, as you know what I'm 14:23 talking about. He took the Lord's name in vain 14:26 and Jim had been the son of a preacher. 14:29 And Jim knew better and Jim knew you didn't do 14:30 that stuff. And I clenched when I heard Jim say 14:34 that, oh I thought, oh Jim, don't do that and 14:37 I was going to say something to him about it. 14:39 I was going to say Jim, you know. 14:41 You need to ask God to forgive you for that, 14:43 you did some wrong but there were other people 14:46 standing there and I didn't want to have an 14:48 embarrassing issue at that moment. 14:50 So I put it off, I said I'm gonna talk to 14:52 Jim later when he's quiet and I can just talk to 14:55 him one on one personally. 14:58 Well, that time never came that night and so 15:01 I thought, well I'll talk to Jim when he comes to 15:03 work next time. But you know Jim never 15:06 returned to work, he went home and he 15:13 stumbled out of his car for whatever reason. 15:17 I don't know why stumbled but he stumbled and 15:19 he fell and his cheek hit a branch and it made 15:23 a little scratch on his cheek. 15:24 That's all it was a little scratch, 15:27 well between that and the next morning. 15:31 Jim developed what is called necrotizing 15:33 fasciitis, that's that flesh eating disease 15:36 you've heard so much about. 15:38 It literally eats the flesh away and his mouth 15:41 and his cheek and his eye lids were turning black 15:45 and the skin was getting dead. 15:47 And his face didn't look the same and he went 15:51 to the hospital, when they realized what 15:53 was going on they flew him by helicopter to 15:56 another large major medica center. 15:59 His head got huge and he was on life support and 16:04 this flesh eating disease they were concerned 16:06 that it might attack and invade his brain and his 16:09 internal organs. It was affecting his chest 16:11 and everything, they had him on life support, 16:13 he was sedated. He was out for the 16:15 count and they were expecting him to die. 16:18 When I went to visit Jim in the hospital, 16:20 there wasn't one thing that looked like Jim 16:24 except his hair color that was the only way, 16:27 even had any clue that it was Jim was 16:29 his hair color and I was I upset. 16:36 I did not want for Jim to die with unconfessed 16:40 sin. And so I pray earnestly for Jim, 16:45 I'd, I asked the Lord, give him a chance. 16:48 Give him one more chance, give me the opportunity 16:51 to work with him to save his soul but I prayed 16:54 for Jim not just for Jim's sake, 16:56 I prayed for Jim for my sake as well. 17:00 And you say Wes, why are you praying for Jim 17:03 for you, well when I, in the back of my mind I 17:09 remembered reading Ezekiel 3 verse 18 and 19 17:14 and let's look at it together, 17:15 let's read this together. 17:17 This is very important verse because it lays upon 17:20 us a specific responsibility that we 17:23 need to be aware of. When we are aware that 17:26 someone is headed for a death with unconfessed 17:30 sin and we do nothing about it. 17:31 Llet's read it together. 17:32 Ezekiel 3 verse 18 and 19. 17:36 When I say unto the wicked, 17:38 Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not 17:42 warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his 17:45 wicked way, to save his life; 17:48 the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; 17:51 but his blood will I require at thine hand. 17:57 Yet if thou warned the wicked, 18:00 and he turn not from his wickedness, 18:01 nor from his wicked way, 18:03 he shall die in his iniquity; 18:05 but thou hast delivered thy soul. 18:11 So you see, I prayed for Jim 18:13 and I'm very pleased and I was very relieved that 18:16 Jim did live and some time later when he was 18:19 able to think and able to listen and his pitiful 18:25 state I was able to talk to him and let him know 18:28 that he needed to make this right with God. 18:31 And I was relieved for Jim's sake and I was 18:35 relived for my own sake as well because now I 18:38 realized when a situation like that presents 18:41 itself to you, time is important. 18:45 We must not waste time, someone can literally die 18:50 with unconfessed sin and be lost forever. 18:56 When we could have had something to do with 18:59 changing the situation. Why was Jesus so 19:04 concerned with time? Why was it Jesus was 19:09 concerned with time? He was sending his 19:11 disciples out to do a job and every second 19:14 counted even 2000 years ago, 19:17 every second counted because every moment, 19:19 every day, someone is dying with unconfessed 19:23 sin. They're being lost forever and people like 19:25 you and me can change that situation and we can 19:28 put people in heaven when Jesus comes and we can 19:31 change this and we don't have to sit there and 19:34 accept it. Amen, it is time for God's people 19:37 to change and act like we're serious about the 19:39 salvation of lost souls. Did you know that there 19:43 are more than 330 million people in the 19:47 United States and if we each live about 70 years, 19:51 that means that almost 5 million are dying 19:54 every year. This means that there 19:57 are almost 400 thousand that die every month; 20:02 it's about 90,000 a week and 13,000 every day. 20:08 That's 500, more than 500 per hour, 20:10 that's about 9 each minute and every 6.6 seconds 20:15 someone dies in North America only not to 20:18 mention the rest of the world. 20:20 During the time of our program today I cannot 20:23 even begin to tell you how many people have 20:24 died in my country alone and the majority of 20:27 those people, the majority are not living lives 20:34 in such a way where they're relying upon Jesus 20:37 and faith for the forgiveness of their sins. 20:41 The majority of those people are dying with 20:42 unconfessed sins, many of them are nominal 20:46 Christians but you only see them twice a year in 20:48 church. We know the time; 20:51 some of us maybe the type. 20:53 Why was Jesus so concerned about with time? 21:01 How is it with you today friends, 21:03 are you concerned with time? 21:06 Do you have that burden in your heart that 21:08 Jesus had, do you have the burden 21:11 that Elijah had? Do you care about souls 21:16 like Jesus cares about souls? 21:19 You know it's difficult to consider yourself a 21:21 converted Christian unless you're converted. 21:23 Converted means changed, changed means you even 21:26 begin to think like Jesus. 21:29 You begin to have a passion for lost souls, 21:31 if you have no passion for lost souls; 21:33 you really need to pray for yourself because 21:34 you're probably not converted. Amen. 21:39 Why was Jesus concerned about time? 21:42 Are you concerned about time? 21:45 Let's turn to Ephesians the 5th chapter and 21:50 verse 15 to 17. I praise the Lord 21:53 that God is a God of second chances. 21:58 You know, Jesus was loving enough 22:00 to Wes McDonald as well as to Jim, 22:04 in order to give Wes McDonald the second 22:06 chance to redeem myself to warn Jim so could have 22:10 the second chance as well. And I was so relieved 22:15 and I praise God everyday and I 22:18 pray that I will be more prompt in my response 22:21 and more faithful in my attentive to the lost 22:25 people of this earth. And Ephesians 4 and excuse 22:29 me Ephesians 5 and verse 15 to 17, 22:32 let's read together. Jesus gives us an 22:34 opportunity to redeem the time, 22:36 beginning with verse 15. 22:38 See then that ye walk circumspectly, 22:43 not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, 22:48 because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not 22:53 unwise, but understanding what the 22:56 will of the Lord is. 23:00 Friends, do you understand what God's will is for 23:02 you today. Do you have a husband or a daughter 23:09 or a wife or a son or a friend or someone that 23:12 you work for? And you know 23:14 their life is not right, could tonight be their 23:18 last night on earth, in earth, could it be. 23:22 Could that be their last time, 23:25 could it be your last time to warn them. 23:28 We each have a responsibility, 23:30 we must not be fools, we must walk circumspectly, 23:34 we must redeem the time God is giving you and 23:37 me an opportunity to do that. 23:40 Do you need courage to do what is right, 23:45 I know myself. I was a little embarrassed 23:48 to speak to Jim in front of others. 23:49 I hate to admit it, I've been a pastor, 23:51 I've been all these things and yet I was 23:53 embarrassed. And if I am embarrassed, 23:55 I know that many of you are embarrassed as well. 23:57 Isn't it a shame that we as Christians can be 24:00 embarrassed and yet Jesus still loves us. 24:04 Friends, Jesus loves you today; 24:07 He wants to give you courage, 24:09 courage to go forward for Him and boldness. 24:13 Friends, do you need boldness for Jesus 24:15 as well? I believe each of us needs boldness 24:19 to be strong soldiers for Christ and if we're 24:22 going to be soldiers for Christ, 24:24 we're going to get shot at from time to time 24:26 and we're going to be embarrassed and we're 24:28 going to have to take a stand and do things that 24:31 we're not comfortable with. 24:33 Have you ever been ashamed or embarrassed or 24:36 felt like staying in bed rather than going door 24:39 to door to seek lost souls for the savior. 24:43 I have, how's that, the preacher admits it. 24:47 But I have to reform my ways and I hope you will 24:49 yours too. So the Bible tells us, 24:53 it says see then that you walk circumspectly, 24:55 not as fools, but as wise. 24:58 I ask now that Jesus would give us wisdom, 25:02 I ask now that Jesus would help us to redeem 25:05 the time, the days of evil. 25:08 We're living in the last days of ours history. 25:11 Prophecy is being unfolded all around us; 25:14 it is being unfolded all around us. 25:17 Every day we see things happening, 25:19 we see major catastrophes, we see the Tsunamis, 25:23 we see the earthquakes, we see the fires, 25:25 we see the hurricanes where thousands 25:28 of people are wiped out at one stroke and the 25:31 devil would like nothing more then for all of 25:33 them to go to graves with unconfessed sin. 25:40 Friends, Jesus is calling us to do something to 25:44 save these souls for eternity. 25:46 Every soul that you can save for eternity is a 25:49 star in your crown, friends I want a star 25:51 with a lot of thread jewels. You know, 25:53 here on this earth we as Christians don't adorn 25:56 ourselves with jewels, we can't handle it 25:59 here as Christians but in heaven Jesus is gonna 26:01 give us jewels and our crown, amen. 26:04 I want that because I want to wear that crown but 26:06 when I do, I will lay to Jesus faith because only 26:10 He is worthy. Only He is worthy to 26:14 receive the adoration, only He is really worthy 26:18 because He is the one who died to save us. 26:21 He is the one that died to save you. 26:23 He is the one that died to save every soul that 26:26 you meet, that you need to warn. 26:31 Friends, don't allow an opportunity to pass by, 26:36 would you like to say with me Wes pray for me, 26:40 I need courage to do something today. 26:43 I have a child that needs to be brought to 26:45 the Savior. Would you like to say yes Wes, 26:48 pray for me? I'll pray for you, 26:51 friends let's just pray now together and ask God 26:54 to give us power and courage to face 26:58 what we need to do for Him. 27:02 Our Father in heaven, we ask now that you would 27:06 grant us each the courage and the wisdom and the 27:08 power to be able to boldly go forward for you and 27:13 to touch bases with people that we know that are 27:16 not living right. We need to touch close 27:19 to them and move into their lives in such a way 27:22 and to speak words of love and wisdom and 27:25 forgiveness and the passion of Jesus for 27:27 their souls. Give us the courage and the wisdom 27:31 to redeem the time because the days are evil, 27:34 grant us this we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. 27:42 Friends, I am so glad that Jesus answers prayers, 27:47 I am so glad that He has given us the opportunity 27:50 to labor for Him. Let's be faithful 27:53 until the end. Thank you. |
Revised 2014-12-17