Yesterday my oldest son got married.
And they asked me to preach the sermon!
They wanted the gospel to be spread,
even in the day they solemnized their vows!
What a privilege!
I prayed and prayed, and something from
my personal devotions really shined as the message I gave.
They told me there would be some unsaved people.
But I had no idea who I was going to speak to.
2 Timothy 4:2 says "Preach the word;
be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine."
Would you like to hear what I told them?
And then would you like to find out who it turns out I was speaking to?
Hi, I'm David Daniels from Chick Publications.
Here's what I said, just yesterday at the wedding.
It's not very long.
"There are a lot of people who will enter
into the door of a church, but who will never enter into
the gates of heaven.
Numbers 13 tells of the people of Israel
appointing 12 men to spy out Canaan.
God had promised it to them.
This was the promised land, literally.
After 40 days of spying out the land, they came back,
carrying the fruit with them.
Numbers 13:23 says, And they came unto
the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence
a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two
upon a staff; and they brought of
the pomegranates, and of the figs.
So the fruit of the land had just one bunch of grapes
so huge it had to be carried
between two men, hanging on a staff!
And you can bet they tasted of the fruit of that land.
Caleb, one of the 12, said, "Let us go up at once,
and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it."
What he was saying was,
I believe God's promise, and I'll take it!
And Joshua the son of Nun agreed.
But the other 10 were so afraid of the giants in the land, they said,
"we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,
and so we were in their sight."
Who cares what the enemy thought?
Well, they did.
So Joshua and Caleb had faith.
But the other 10 didn't.
And they convinced all the other adults over 20
not to go over into the land.
And guess what?
Though they tasted of that fruit of the promised land,
God told us in Hebrews 3:19,
19 "So we see that they could not enter in
because of unbelief."
Their unbelief in God's promise and God's word
kept them out of the promised land.
Today God offers everyone a ticket into the heavenly land.
But he tells us we must admit something,
and we must believe something.
God has been working in each of your lives.
Some of you will freely admit that God has done miracles
in your life.
You have tasted of heavenly fruit.
Would you like to do more than just taste?
Would you like to drink in the heavenly life to the full?
Would you like to know you have an eternal dwelling place
waiting for you after you die?
Would you like to be part of a heavenly family,
and be reunited with all your saved loved ones?
Then you must admit something, and you must believe something.
You must admit that you are a sinner,
and you need forgiveness.
No one seeks forgiveness when they don't believe
they've sinned.
But "...all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,"
Romans 3:23.
If we think we're okay, we're good, we're righteous,
then we cannot go.
We must admit that we are sinners, if we are to receive the heavenly gift.
God tells us to be honest.
And you must believe something.
God sent His only begotten Son, in the flesh,
to pay for all of your and my sins. All of them.
You must trust the blood that Jesus shed
as full payment for your sins.
You must trust Jesus Christ, God's Son, and Him only,
to do this, or you cannot be forgiven.
It's a straight-up deal.
If you will admit that you are a sinner and cannot save yourself
from the righteous judgment of hell, and you receive Christ by faith
this very day, and tell Him so,
amazing things will happen.
1) He will forgive your sins completely.
They'll be washed away by His blood.
2) He will give you God the Holy Ghost
as a down payment.
3) He will plant in you the new man,
making you a new creature!
4) God the Father will adopt you
and be your own heavenly Father.
If you want to do this, hear what you could say to God
this very day.
"Jesus, I admit I am a sinner and need forgiveness.
I accept Jesus' sacrifice as perfect and complete.
I believe He shed His precious blood
and died for my sin.
I turn now from facing my sins, to facing You now, Jesus.
Please forgive me.
I invite You to come into my heart as my personal Saviour.
Thank You.
Amen."
If you want your sins forgiven, and have not done so,
we can take care of it after this ceremony.
Then we went on with the ceremony, the "I wills" and "I dos."
It was wonderful.
As you can imagine, I had a huge supply
of the new Chick tract, Adopted.
It went over really well.
I gave out copies to the caterers, the electrical guy,
the sound guy, the people who came with them,
and my now daughter in law's family, relatives and coworkers,
not to mention my own.
But most of mine are already saved.
It wasn't until after, when my now daughter in law
(I love saying that), said to me,
"I'm glad this wasn't in a church, because some of my relatives
are Jehovah's Witnesses.
They wouldn't have come if we were in a church."
And I just got to preach to them!
Praise God!
And you know what?
Throughout the service, we prayed in the Name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Would most of us have done that so effortlessly,
if we had known who would be there?
I have no idea which were which.
I was loving to them all!
And no one said no to a gospel tract!
The King James has such power.
Look at that verse one more time.
2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the word;
be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine."
"Be instant."
Lots of versions say "be ready," or something like that.
That's bland.
Our word "instant" is so powerful.
It doesn't just mean "be ready."
It means, be ready at a moment's notice!
And you know what?
I had two things going for me.
1) I had regular devotions in God's holy Book in English,
the King James Bible.
So I always have something new I can share.
2) I had a full supply of Chick tracts, ready in an instant
to give out to unsaved people, some of whom,
like these Jehovah's Witnesses, might never enter a church.
We have precious souls to reach.
And we have precious little time.
Let's pray and prepare and have tracts ready -- in an instant.
God bless you, and have a wonderful day.