EXCUSE ME! What EXCUSES DO YOU HAVE?

Once you are a Christian, God intends to use you for His goals. God has a MINISTRY for you in His Church and a MISSION for you in the world! Regardless of your job of career, you are called by God to FULL-TIME CHRISTIAN SERVICE!

If you are not involved in any service or ministry, what excuse are you using? Let me lift some excuses which could have been used by others:
Abraham was old
Jacob was insecure
Leah was unattractive
Joseph was abused
Moses stuttered
Gideon was poor
Samson was codependent
Rahab was immoral
David had an affair and all kinds of family problems
Elijah was suicidal
Jeremiah was depressed
Jonah was reluctant
Naomi was a widow
John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least
Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered
Martha worried a lot
The Samaritan Woman had several failed marriages
Zacchaeus was unpopular
Thomas had doubts
Paul had poor health
Timothy was timid
Do any of those sound like legitimate excuses to you? Those people could have used those excuses as reasons NOT to serve God. But they each chose to use their FREEDOM to put themselves to use in God’s work. And guess what – God used each one of them, problems and all!
From Johnny Creasong’s Sermon: You Are Free to Serve the Lord

Very Powerful Evangelism quotes!

1. Paul Harvey said, "Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium."

2. Paul Little in his book "How to Give Away Your Faith" defines witnessing: "Witnessing is that deep-seated conviction that the greatest favor I can do for others is to introduce them to Jesus Christ."

3. Elton Trueblood, the Quaker scholar, once compared evangelism to fire. Evangelism occurs, he said, when Christians are so ignited by their contact with Christ that they in turn set other fires. It is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A church without evangelism is a contradiction in terms, just as fire that does not burn is a contradiction.

4. Evangelism is not what we tell people, unless what we tell is totally consistent with who we are. It is who we are that is going to make the difference. If we do not truly enjoy our faith, nobody is going to catch the fire of enjoyment from us. If our lives are not totally centered on Christ, we will not be Christ-bearers for others, no matter how pious our words. [Show and Tell, Citation: Madeleine L’Engle, quoted in Christian Reader (May/June 1998, p. 50)]

5. Recently, I saw a letter written by a relatively new Christian to the person whose life had influenced hers so greatly. She actually lists about a dozen qualities she found contagious in the life of this older Christian. Listen to some of what she wrote: You know when we met; I began to discover a new vulnerability, a warmth, and a lack of pretence that impressed me. I saw in you a thriving spirit - no signs of internal stagnation anywhere. I could tell you were a growing person and I liked that. I saw you had strong self-esteem, not based on the fluff of self-help books, but on something a whole lot deeper. I saw that you lived by convictions and priorities and not just by convenience, selfish pleasure, and financial gain. And I had never met anyone like that before. I felt a depth of love and concern as you listened to me and didn’t judge me. You tried to understand me, you sympathized and you celebrated with me, you demonstrated kindness and generosity - and not just to me, but to other people, as well. And you stood for something. You were willing to go against the grain of society and follow what you believed to be true, no matter what people said, and no matter how much it cost you. And for those reasons and a whole host of others, I found myself really wanting what you had. Now that I’ve become a Christian, I wanted to write to tell you I’m grateful beyond words for how you lived out your Christian life in front of me.

Basically, she was saying, "Thanks for being a Contagious Christian." Reading a letter like that motivates me to live as a contagious Christian too. How about you? I’ll bet you want your life to count for a whole lot more than trinkets and toys and zeros on a pay check, too. From: Becoming A Contagious Christian

6. Recently I heard Dieter Zander, the pastor of the first GenX church in America speak at a conference about reaching people in the age of relativism. He cited a Barna study that asked people to use single words to describe Jesus. They responded, "wise, accepting, compassionate, gracious, humble." Then he asked them to use single words to describe Christians, they said, "critical, exclusive, self righteous, narrow and repressive."

"There is a difference between knowing the good news and being the good news," Zander said. "We are the evidence! How we live our lives are the evidence. Everything counts--all the time."

"With previous generations, a strong preacher could give a good message, even if the church was hypocritical and critical and people would still get saved," Zander continued, "but not any more. I’m seeing a change in what seekers are looking for. Not something they can relate to. They are looking for a transcendent God. They don’t want to be entertained they want to be transformed."

7. There is something wrong when people are leaving the church to find God

8. "It is our privilege to have world evangelism as a passion, not our responsibility to have as a burden." Mary Nordstrom

9. Jim Wallis writes in The Call to Conversion (HarperCollins, 1992, p.
108) his testimony: "When I was a university student, I was unsuccessfully evangelized by almost every Christian group on campus. My basic response to their preaching was, "How can I believe when I look at the way the church lives?" They answered, "Don’t look at the church, look at Jesus." I now believe that statement is one of the saddest in the history of the church. ...People should be able to look at the way we live and begin to understand what the gospel is about."

10. "Our English word witness comes from an Old English word we do no use very much anymore but we used it in Elizabethan times and afterwards. It is the word wit. ’To wit’ means ’to know’ A ’wit’ is ’a knowledgeable person.’ So a ’witness’ of some who knows something and testifies to it."

11. A free flowing river purifies itself and is alive with life. So also is the Christian who becomes involved with others in sharing the Gospel. That Christian will discover the reason for his or her existence. Being involved in the ministry of a witness is essential to finding the fulfillment we desire as humans.

12. Richard Baxter, the Puritan preacher of the 17th century conveys the urgency, the zeal of Christian witness when he said, "I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men!"

13. Jesus issues the same call to all, but to different tasks. Someone put it rather quaintly: "to some, Christ calls ’leave boat and bay, and white-haired Zebedee.’" To some, the call is harder - "stay and mend the nets for me."

14. CT STUDD: "wealthy, nationally famous athlete put it all aside to disappear into the mission field: China, India, and then Africa. Lost from sight for 13 yrs without contact. WHY? ’Some people love to dwell near church with choir and steeple bell. But I want to run a rescue station a yard from the gates of hell.’"

Lieutenant Hirro Onada - fighting alone for 29 years

Have you ever heard of Lieutenant Hirro Onada? He was the last Japanese soldier to surrender after World War II. He was left on the island Lubang in the Philippines in 1944 --- along with three other soldiers. They were left with the command to “carry on the mission even if Japan surrenders.” Eventually the others were killed or surrendered. But Onada continued his war alone.

Through the years, he ignored messages from loudspeakers announcing Japan’s surrender. Leaflets were dropped in the jungle begging him to surrender so he could return to Japan. During his 29-year private war, he killed at least 30 Philippine nationals. More than half a million dollars were spent trying to locate him and convince him to surrender.

Finally, on March 10, 1974 Onada surrendered his rusty sword after receiving a personal command from his former superior officer. His lonely war was finally over. When he returned to Japan as a prematurely aged man of 52, he made this comment: “Nothing pleasant during those 29 years in the jungle.” (Newsweek, 1974)

Well, that was a bit of an understatement. But people can spend long years fighting lonely battles when they are determined to “go it alone.” People spend years battling secret sins and weaknesses and addictions --- when they could end the battle IF they would let other people help them. We need each other for perspective, accountability, advice, encouragement, and all of the other things that Christian friendship adds to our lives.

WOW! What a testimony!

ELLEN PETRAKIS

Hi guys…this isn’t easy for me to get up here and speak in front of you. I am a kindergarten teacher and do much better speaking to 5 year olds then teenagers. But God impressed on my heart to tell you my story so here it is… I was about 14 years old, just starting high school, when I made the decision to save myself for marriage.

Having grown up in church I knew that it was the right thing to do. I felt very strongly about waiting for my husband and even though all of my friends felt differently they always respected my decision. Even my guy friends respected how I felt, however they always tried to get me to change my mind

As the years went by, I watched as my friends dated guys, slept with them and then broke up. I remember listening to my friend Pam as she cried her eyes out when she found out she was diagnosed with HPV, an incurable STD she got from a guy she hardly knew. I begged my best friend not to go through with her abortion when she got pregnant but she refused my help. I remember looking into my friend Rebecca’s eyes as she lay on a hospital bed at South Oaks recovering from her suicide attempt. She tried to kill herself b/c her boyfriend she gave her virginity to had broken up with her for another girl. It confirmed to me that I had made the right decision. These guys didn’t really care for these girls, mostly they just used them.

It became “known” that I was a virgin and wasn’t one of those girls. I kinda liked that. It made me different from everyone else. And when people would ask me why, I would be able to tell them about my relationship with God and how he wants us to wait until marriage and how I wanted to do that for him.

I would tell myself…until a guy is willing to get up in front of my family, his family and God and promise to love me forever, he didn’t deserve me. It was that simple. My mom always told me that I would be the one the guys would remember, not the 10 other girls he slept with. He would remember me b/c I wouldn’t sleep with him And I can tell you today that my mother was right.

Years later when I ran into old boyfriends or even just my guy friends they would always say there was something different about you – you weren’t like the other girls. They may not have known it at the time but in a way they respected me and realized later on why. Well, high school came and went. I had boyfriends, some waited and respected my decision and some didn’t. College came and went, more boyfriends some waited, some didn’t.

When I turned 25, I realized I had dated all these guys and not one was worthy, not one was the one that God had for me. I was so thankful that even though I may have wasted some time and went through a lot of heartache, I was faithful to God and did not give away my virginity. I was still waiting to give that gift to my husband. I promised God I would stop dating and just wait. Wait for the one he had for me. Well, about a year and half went by and I was still waiting. Now I was starting to get worried Here I am a 26 year old virgin Did I really wait all these years and now I’m still waiting? My patience was running out…I had read so many books on how to be single – I just couldn’t read one more book I would joke around with God and say when is he going to walk through those church doors? I can’t wait anymore Well, it was Sunday July 11, 2004 when this gorgeous guy comes walking through the church doors. As soon as I saw him I fell in love. The moment we met I just knew that he was the one. God had promised me that he would confirm it to me and he did. The very first time we hung out it was amazing. All the questions, all the doubts they just went away. I looked at this man in the eyes and I could say I waited for you You’re the one And to know that God was in it, that he had planned for this day to happen was incredible.

I can tell you it is so amazing to give this gift to your husband. You loved him so much before you even knew him to save yourself just for him. I have some pictures to show you from our wedding that took place this summer. We were married on July 7th almost exactly 2 years after we met, in the Bahamas. Pastor Todd married us and this is the day that I waited for I have a prayer I would like to share with you. It is a prayer that helped me through my waiting period. When I met my husband, I showed him this prayer. He was so honored to see how much I loved him and how I prayed for him before we even met one another. I hope you guys make this your prayer tonight. “Lord God, your Word declares that if I delight myself in you—if I enjoy and seek your pleasure above mine—you’ll give me the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4). Desiring a husband is neither evil nor selfish because marriage is honorable (Hebrews 13:4). At the beginning of creation, you proclaimed, "It is not good that man should be alone" and then you created Eve to be a suitable partner for Adam (Genesis 2:18). In the name of Jesus, I ask that you would protect the husband—a suitable partner—you have chosen for me. Because the covenant of marriage is sacred (Mark 10:9), I ask for a man of God. Please give me a husband whose love for me is only outmatched by his love for you; a man who will cherish me and build me up (Proverbs 31:28); a man who will honor me (I Peter 3:7) and our marriage vows; a man who will be a good father and provider; a man whom I will be attracted to physically, emotionally, and spiritually; a man who will love me as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). Keep me from attaching myself to another man out of desperation.

I will not settle for a relationship that’s second best, convenient, or one that feeds my insecurities. Guard my purity and give me the patience to wait. And when I meet him, confirm to me that he is the one. Release from me the baggage of past relationships, and prepare me for the man You have chosen to be my husband. Free me from any hindrances to a healthy and godly marriage: insecurities, habitual sins, selfishness, and emotional hurts. Dispel my unrealistic expectations that set me up for disappointment. I place my trust in you rather than my partner. In this period of waiting, I will look to you alone to be my companion and best friend. You are the one who redeems my life from the pit, who crowns me with love and compassion, who satisfies my desires with good things (Psalm 103:4-5). I will not be anxious, but as I present my requests to you, flood me with the peace that surpasses all understanding so my heart and my mind are guarded in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6,7). In this request, I commit myself to trust you and do good, to dwell in the land and feed on your faithfulness. I commit my way to you and trust that you will bring it to pass (Psalm 37:35). In your name, Amen.”