On this page: Taking the Message to the World Protecting Your Envorinment

Pastor Jim Wandell

Taking the Message to the World by Jim Wandell   Scripture Reading: Matthew 24:3-14   We stand today on the threshold of the greatest opportunity that the church has ever known.  We have been given a mandate or great calling from God to go into all the world and preach the gospel.   Now some believers will tell you that, “I`m only one person, how can one person take the Word of God and shed it abroad in the hearts and minds of men?   First things first.  One person is called.  If you will use your mouth to speak the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are fulfilling that calling and you are shedding the Word abroad into the hearts of those you come in contact with.   Secondly, your calling is as important and vital to the Kingdom of God as any mega ministry.  You are reaching people that they can`t reach, and they are reaching people that you can`t reach.  Each ministry, each calling serves a purpose in God`s plan.  But in order for all of us to operate in the fullness of our calling, we must take the message to the world.  Our world, their world, but the world nonetheless.   Jesus told us in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel (this good news) of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”   We are the generation that will usher in the end of the church age.  The end could come today before we finish this service.  It could come tomorrow, or any day this week.  The point is, time is short and we must work and gather now for tomorrow may be too late for the folks we need to reach.   You have a great calling.  It may be to minister to your family or that co-worker who has been a challenge to everyone on the job.  Not everyone is called to full time ministry and to travel this land or the world preaching the Word of God.  Yet these two types of ministries are intertwined and vital to one another.   The full time ministry is to preach the Word and instruct not only sinners in the way of repentance and salvation, but also to train you in the way that you should go, and to send you out equipped with the Word to walk out your calling.   Your job is to send those in full time ministry that they may do their job.  Sending means to communicate (Galatians 6), to give financially into these ministries that they can do what they need to do to fulfill their mandate from God.  It takes each of us working together, spiritually, mentally, physically, and financially to take the message to the world.   When Jesus spoke of preaching the Gospel “in all the world” this planet was a very different place.  Jesus and His disciples traveled on foot, and the Gospel was preached face-to-face.  There were no other human alternatives.  There was no mass transportation available, no television, no satellite communication, and no media.   Today`s technology has literally revolutionized the world.  Now, the Gospel can truly be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations!  And we have the great opportunity to be alive during this generation and take part in what God is doing so dramatically around the world.  I am convinced that we are part of the last move of God on this planet! Many times we get discouraged if we are unable to reach a person with the message of salvation.  We have ministered and testified, yet they still seem unchanged.  Child of God, you have done your job.  The Bible declares in I Corinthians 3:7, “…neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”  In other words, it doesn`t matter who sows or who waters, there will be no harvest unless God grants it.  Our responsibility is only to go and to preach the Word. And He will bring the increase.   It may not seem like it to you, but together we can make an eternal difference in the lives of millions for the glory of God.  What a great privilege we have, having the Word of God entrusted to us to share with others.   As we step up today to reach new heights in Jesus Christ, I want to share four points with you that will help each of us fulfill our calling and work together in taking the message to the world.   1. Don`t look to the left or the right.  When we look around we see the distractions that the world tries to throw at us.  Each distraction is designed to knock us off the course to success and re-direct us onto the pathway to failure.     2. Keep your eyes on the finish line.  Keep your eyes fixed and focused on the goal/the prize.  Marathon runners who have completed 25 of their 26-mile goal and have totally run out of energy to finish the race, will stare at the finish line.  Focus only on the finish line.  And somewhere they get the extra boost of juice to finish.  Focus only on your calling!   3. Don`t ever give up; keep running your race and don`t allow anything to slow you down.  God called you.  That`s that.  He doesn`t change His mind.  He doesn`t look at you and say, “Oops, boy did I make a mistake.  I shouldn`t have called them to do that.”  You are called and have a job to do.  Let`s get to it!   4. In order to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat.  You can`t keep hoping that someone gets saved.  You can`t keep asking the Lord to send someone into an unsaved person`s life to reach them with the gospel.  Get out of the boat, walk on the water and give them the Word that will change their eternity.  Get out of the boat and be the person that crosses their path, to stop them in their tracks on the pathway to hell and redirect them to salvation through Jesus Christ.   In Hebrews 12:1, the Apostle Paul said, “…let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”  God`s mandate on this ministry compels us to keep running the race.  We can`t look to the left or the right, we can`t slow down, and we must never give up.  We must get out of the boat!  Together, we must steadily run the race that is set before us!  It`s harvest time!   “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?  Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35)   Millions are waiting to hear the Gospel for the first time.  Are you willing to do whatever needs to be done to take the message to the world?  The signs are everywhere that Jesus is coming again…and soon!  It is time to step up and not cut back.  It is time to take hold of and enlarge our vision.  God has given us a divine directive: we must preach the Gospel, NOW!

Protecting Your Environment   by Pastor Jim Wandell   Scripture Reading:  I Samuel 7:3-4   As modern times have crept into the lives of man and more and more conveniences have been developed to help us make it through our everyday life a little easier, it hasn`t come without a price.  The price has been paid by our environment:  our water, air, soil.   Oil refineries, chemical plants, manufacturing processes of all types  chug along, 24 hours a day 7 days a week to produce what we “need”.  Cars and trucks are on the road non-stop.  Our environment has suffered the consequences of worldly progress.  It is the job of each individual to help clean up the mess.  We must recycle, and conserve, and preserve to do our part in protecting the environment.  We must see to it that the environment in which we live is a clean and healthy one so that our families can grow and thrive.   Today, however, we are not here to talk about the physical environment of this earth.  We are going to discuss something more eternally significant and spiritually important than that.  We are going to look at the spiritual environment in which we dwell.   Each one of us is living in the environment that we have chosen.  Now I`m not talking about the house that you live in or the job that you work at.  I am talking about the way of life that we have selected for ourselves:  the atmosphere and environment of our homes and the actions and activities that we participate in.  We have created that environment by free choice, and that environment is influenced by what we allow in it.   Clear thinking people wouldn`t dream of going to the dump and gathering up garbage and rotting waste materials and bringing them into their homes.  That is not something that a person in their right mind would do.  Yet many households are filled with the garbage of sin and contaminating evil, and they aren`t even aware of it.  And that sin didn`t sneak in when no one was home.  All too often it is brought in by the family itself:  both intentionally and unintentionally.   What are some of these things?  The questionable TV shows that we allow ourselves, and our children to watch.  The movies that we watch.  The books and magazines that we read.  The music that we listen to.  The internet websites that we view.  Our conversations, murmuring, gossiping, idle words.  Remember what Jesus said about idle words?  Matthew 12:36-37, “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”   Here are some other examples of environmental hazards:  the people that we invite over and the friends that our kids hang out with, the places that we go.  The things that we do to relax…just a little drink here or there, you know, “to calm my nerves”.  Or you don`t even have to take part in these things, but if you allow them to come into your home, you have allowed your environment to be contaminated and compromised.   If there are children in the house, remember that their rooms are also part of the battleground and an area that the devil is trying to establish his environment in.  Again, music.  Posters.  “Oh, it is just a harmless poster of a singer or actor that they have a crush on.”  They are not harmless.  The Bible even tells us that we are to “…flee youthful lusts.”   So evidently the Lord considers these “youthful lusts” dangers to our environment.     Husbands and wives, you must work diligently together.  In the Word, by the Word, and because of the Word.  You must work in agreement.  There can be no division.  There can be no compromise where the Word of God is concerned.  Jesus had this to say in Matthew 12:25, “…Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”   Maintaining a healthy spiritual environment takes work, because the devil will be working against you.  You throw something over the fence, and he will throw it back.  He wants to exalt himself and his ways in your home and in your flesh.  But the Word of God tells us to, “Cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:5).”   The spiritual environment is a valuable piece of property.  In the home and life of a believer, the angels of the Lord will fight on your behalf, enabled by the words of faith that you speak, to prevent the forces of darkness from taking over.  The devil knows that this spiritual environment is absolutely necessary to the growth of the believer and his family.  And he also knows that if the environment is in line with the Word of God, the believer is in position to be victorious in every area of life.  No matter what the devil tries to throw against him.   It is our responsibility to create an environment for the blessings and presence of God.  A place where the Holy Spirit is always welcomed and honored, a place where He is always active and never hindered.  This environment is a place where the Word of God is spoken and obeyed, and a place where God loves to come and fellowship with YOU!  James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you…”   Lets start today cleaning up our environment.  Lets get rid of those contaminated drums of sin that are hanging around out in the woods behind the barn.  Get some super heavy-duty trash bags and fill them up with “every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us…(Hebrews 12:1).”  Renew our spirits in the Lord.  Increase our faith by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17).  Walk in love (Ephesians 5:2).  Walk in forgiveness (Mark 11:25).   Take charge of your life.  Take charge of your house.  Take charge of your land.  Take charge of your family.  Take charge of the spirit realm that is all around you.  Take charge of and influence your environment with the positive power of the Word of God that is in you.  See to it that the environment that you dwell in is clean and healthy so you and your family can grow and thrive!  Do all these things so “That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated (transferred) us into the kingdom of His dear Son (Colossians 1:10-13).”  This is avialable on tape.

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