Several years ago now, Lisa and I walked into our house in Mombasa to find the kitchen door open, the mop bucket turned over, and no sign of our baby-sitter. Our first thought was that something happened to one of our children, but before we could run through the house. Julia came running into the house yelling, "Lisa, you must come." Lisa immediately ran out to the little house behind ours to find that Boniface's wife, Rebecca, was in premature labor. All I remember is Lisa rushing back into the house and saying we needed to get her to a doctor now. We rushed to the nearest clinic where Rebecca gave birth to twin boys, each weighing about two pounds. The doctor said that Rebecca and the babies needed be taken to the hospital as soon as possible if there was any chance for survival. So once again we got into the car with Lisa holding one baby and Boniface holding the other. I can still hear Lisa saying, "Bobby, please hurry. I don't think he is breathing."
For those who know me well, you understand that I am a slow person. I walk slow, drive slow, think slow but usually talk fast. Urgency is not really part of my normal routine. But on this day, I drove fast, beeped my horn, waved my arms at people, and may have broken a few road rules. Why? It was an emergency. Lives were on the line. Not just lives but tiny little defenseless lives were on the line and I knew I had to do whatever it took to try to save them and Rebecca.
I wonder most days, "Do I feel the same way about lost souls?" As I travel around the world seeing pastors, missionaries and Christians in general, I see a lot of kingdom building. I see a lot of preaching and teaching. I see a lot of building programs and great music ministries. But what seems to be lacking is an urgency to see people come to know Christ. It is as if believers have just given up. Back in the day, they were saved through the bus ministry, door to door visitation, or a open air revival meeting but they have been told that these ministries don't work anymore. So evangelism doesn't take place. We make excuses but the truth is that we have lost the urgency to evangelize the lost. Many have become content in their churches with their Christian friends. They have build beautiful kingdoms and live in them with their programs and prayer groups praying for revival but never organizing one. They don't mind people coming into their kingdom but they never invite them to it.
Oh, that we could be like Jonathan Edwards who said, “Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering.” (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God) We, as true believers in Jesus Christ, need to reach out to the world while there is still time. Hosea told the people of Israel "Sow to yourself in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." Do you want to see revival? Do you want to see the lost come to Jesus? If you answered "yes" then you must do something...Sow the seeds!
The day after we took Boniface and Rebecca's twin babies to the hospital, they died. I had to take Boniface to buy two little coffins but because I had invested in Boniface's spiritual life he could look at me in desperate loss and say, "I will get to know my boys in heaven some day." The Gospel message gives HOPE.
Bill Bright wrote "Whether you have twenty years left, ten years, one year, one month, one day, or just one hour, there is something very important God wants you to do that can add to His kingdom and your blessing."
We need to reach the world and that starts in our own backyards.
For those who know me well, you understand that I am a slow person. I walk slow, drive slow, think slow but usually talk fast. Urgency is not really part of my normal routine. But on this day, I drove fast, beeped my horn, waved my arms at people, and may have broken a few road rules. Why? It was an emergency. Lives were on the line. Not just lives but tiny little defenseless lives were on the line and I knew I had to do whatever it took to try to save them and Rebecca.
I wonder most days, "Do I feel the same way about lost souls?" As I travel around the world seeing pastors, missionaries and Christians in general, I see a lot of kingdom building. I see a lot of preaching and teaching. I see a lot of building programs and great music ministries. But what seems to be lacking is an urgency to see people come to know Christ. It is as if believers have just given up. Back in the day, they were saved through the bus ministry, door to door visitation, or a open air revival meeting but they have been told that these ministries don't work anymore. So evangelism doesn't take place. We make excuses but the truth is that we have lost the urgency to evangelize the lost. Many have become content in their churches with their Christian friends. They have build beautiful kingdoms and live in them with their programs and prayer groups praying for revival but never organizing one. They don't mind people coming into their kingdom but they never invite them to it.
Oh, that we could be like Jonathan Edwards who said, “Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering.” (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God) We, as true believers in Jesus Christ, need to reach out to the world while there is still time. Hosea told the people of Israel "Sow to yourself in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." Do you want to see revival? Do you want to see the lost come to Jesus? If you answered "yes" then you must do something...Sow the seeds!
The day after we took Boniface and Rebecca's twin babies to the hospital, they died. I had to take Boniface to buy two little coffins but because I had invested in Boniface's spiritual life he could look at me in desperate loss and say, "I will get to know my boys in heaven some day." The Gospel message gives HOPE.
Bill Bright wrote "Whether you have twenty years left, ten years, one year, one month, one day, or just one hour, there is something very important God wants you to do that can add to His kingdom and your blessing."
We need to reach the world and that starts in our own backyards.
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