Forward

For the Freddie Gage
Go Tell Crusade

"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."  (Luke 19:10) 

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.  Jesus did not let him, but said,

“Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (Mark 5:18-19)

"It is vision or vanish.” Proverbs 29:18 says,

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."

Where there is no vision, no passion for the souls of men, a church dies.  All across America churches that once burned in revival fires are now living in the smoke and the glory of God has departed. Why? Because Christians have lost their first love for souls. Jesus said,

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love,” (Rev.2:4)

The church in Ephesus was not having disco dances. They were not liberal by any stretch of the imagination. They were orthodox, conservative, fundamentalists. What happened? They got sidetracked. They lost their love for the primary mission that Jesus gave them,

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

  Many churches are now embarrassingly empty. The offerings are not sufficient to meet a continually decreasing budget. There are empty classrooms. They have eliminated the Sunday night service because of a lack of interest. There is no power in the service, no joy in the pew and no evidence of God in the service. It has died. The once vibrant soul-winning outreach program has been disbanded. As John R. Bisagno, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, states in his book, HOW TO BUILD AN EVANGELISTIC CHURCH,

"It is business as usual. On prayer meeting night a handful of faithful souls show up. Lustily the organ cranks on and on, but for all their trying they just could not get much heart into the song, 'Day Is Dying In The West.' And, brother, that is not all that was dying in the west and the east and the north and the south. Many are dead and just don't know it." He states,  "People stay away in great droves. Ninety-nine percent of America will not be in church on Sunday night and it's only slightly better on Sunday morning. And why should they go?" He states, "Most services are dead, dull, despondent and depressing. At any ball game, concert, movie or disco club, there is more life than in the average church. Why? Absence of vision for souls. They have forgotten why Jesus came. ' , "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10). The Great Commission is not on the agenda and there is no hope because there is no vision. John Bisagno further states, "There is no vision because the leadership has no vision and the result is death. For without a vision for souls we perish. Vision, like expectancy, always believes it will happen. 'We Can Do It” is the theme for those with a vision for souls.”

There are 60,000 churches in America which have padlocks on their doors, 1,000 per year are going out of business. Dr. James T. Draper, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, states that 6,000 Baptist churches baptized no one and 28,000 baptized less than ten last year. He states,  "We must return to the basics of New Testament evangelism, soul winning." People become satisfied. They lose their first love for Jesus. They forget they have been commissioned by Jesus to evangelize the world beginning in their own backyard. Think about it, how can a church die carrying out the Great Commission? It cannot. "It will glow and grow," states Adrian Rogers, pastor of the Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He states, "We will either evangelize or fossilize. Saving souls was the life passion of Jesus. Soul-winning is the alpha and omega of Christianity." Andrew Murray says,  "There are two kinds of Christians, soul winners and backsliders. I pray you are a soul winner. If not, become one we can't all be preachers but we can all be reachers. Don't procrastinate. Go tell someone today how to be born again.

Go Tell,
Freddie Gage
Mark 5:19