Monday, August 2, 2010
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I used to tell our kids, "You don't have to go to a party. Carry the party inside you, everywhere you go!" Our five-year-old grandson never heard that, but I think he's got the idea. He can find a way to enjoy himself in just about any situation, with friends or alone, or with his toys or, better yet as far as he's concerned, with just the everyday stuff he finds. A few days ago, he and I were in my study, which is a few rooms away from the living room where his three-year-old brother and his Mommy were. Little brother decided to check out what big brother and I were doing. And big brother had an idea. His brother could be a messenger. So our five-year-old started writing little messages to his mother - which he then rolled up and dispatched his little brother to deliver. Mommy got the idea, and she would write back an answer to every message. The shuttle went back and forth three times, I think. Big brother then wrote another message. But this time the messenger didn't show up. He had clocked out. So the message never got delivered.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Missing Messenger."
Jesus has a message He wants delivered to some people you know - some people you see all the time. The price of His message not getting through to them could be an awful eternity. He's counting on you to be the messenger.
He makes that clear in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5:19-20. The Bible says: "We are Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." If you belong to Jesus Christ, you are His ambassador to the place you live, the place you work, the place you go to school, the place you "recreate," the place you shop.
When the President appoints an ambassador to a particular country, he is counting on his ambassador to deliver his messages that he wants communicated. Whether you realize it or not, you have been assigned by Jesus where you are to deliver His message to the folks there. And the message is life-or-death information. But as our grandson found out with his little brother, when the messenger dies, the message dies. And in the case of Jesus' message about His death for our sins, people you know may die if you don't deliver it.
That's the awful picture of messenger failure in Ezekiel 33:7, "I have made you a watchman...give them warning from Me...When I say to the wicked" - today that's anyone who has not had their sin forgiven by giving themselves to Jesus. You know people like that. "'You will surely die,' and you do not speak to warn him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood." Blood on our hands because of the silence of our lips. Don't let that happen to you or to the people God is counting on you to tell about His Son. Whatever fear of what might happen if you told them about Jesus, could it possibly be as fearful as what will happen if you don't tell them?
Jack Phillips was the radioman for the Titanic. Two hours before the Titanic's fatal collision with an iceberg, Phillips got a radio message from another ship, describing the coordinates of the exact ice field that later doomed his ship. But instead of delivering that information to the captain, he stuck it on a spindle to deliver later. That mistake cost him his life - and the lives of 1,500 passengers that night. All because the life-or-death message he had was never delivered.
Don't make that mistake with the message Jesus has given you to be delivered. Don't let your silence - your delay - cost them heaven. The message is in your hands.