If you would look in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we're going to start in verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath committed to us. If you have, if you like to underline in your Bible, maybe you can underline that word us. the ministry of reconciliation, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, who was willing to die a horrible death on our behalf. We thank you that being sinners, he still loved us and died for us. We pray today that you would help us to understand the responsibility that we have to take this message to those who need to hear. We pray, especially this morning, there's one here who has never trusted in Jesus Christ as the one who died for their sins, that today would be the day for that. Pray you'd be with us now as we look into these thoughts, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, I think we all understand that these verses are really exhorting us, encouraging us to evangelize, to be sharing the gospel, to implore or beseech people that they would be reconciled to God. And I think the urgency was clearly demonstrated in the horrible situation in Las Vegas. None of us are guaranteed another day. None of us. Last year, or maybe, I don't know, it might even be two years now. I can't remember anymore. But I was invited to go to Iraq. Now, you know what's going on in Iraq. And so I was a little bit nervous about that. But I was invited to go, actually, to northern Iraq, which is unofficially called Kurdistan. And Kurdistan is relatively safe. Relative. Everything's relative, I guess. And so I went. I went to Iraq. And people were telling me, you can't do that. It's dangerous there. And I said, well, tell me, where is it not dangerous? Where is it not dangerous? It's dangerous everywhere. And I feel that if God is directing us in a certain direction, that's where I want to be. And that's the way I felt about going to Iraq. And one day while we were there, I was with another man. We weren't doing actual ministry then. We were surveying to see if we could return and do some ministry. I was with another man. We were having breakfast one morning, and this fellow came by who was a missionary, an American guy. Well, actually, he was a European guy. And he invited us to go door-to-door witnessing in Iraq. And I'm like, Really? I'm afraid to do that in Massachusetts. And you want me to do it here? And I said, sure, it's OK, it's OK. So we went. And it was amazing. I mean, we were in this neighborhood where there were refugees, Iraqi refugees, from Mosul area, where there's a lot of fighting. They were up in Kurdistan now. And so we were in that neighborhood. And we were going door to door. And this one Iraqi family invited us into their home. And there were, like, several families in this home. And they invited us in. They sat us down. They gave us food. They gave us drink. And they listened to the gospel being presented to them. And I'm, like, pinching myself. I'm here in Iraq. And here we are in a home sharing the gospel. And so the safest place to be is where God wants us to be, in the center of God's will. And so this passage here is telling us that it is our responsibility, it is our responsibility as Christians to be sharing the gospel, no matter what, no matter where. We can't say, we can't say, if you've trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can't say, This doesn't apply to me. You can't say that, no matter what. Bottom line, it applies to all of us. And I'm thankful for that. John MacArthur once shared, true Christians are already saved and sealed for eternity. There's no reason to leave us on earth except for the responsibility of evangelism. God didn't have to leave us here. He left us here for a purpose. Now, statistics can be a little misleading, and you can make them sound however you want them to sound sometimes. But there was a survey not long ago of those who attend church, Christians that attend church regularly. 80% of those Christians that attend church regularly said that they agreed it was their responsibility to share the gospel. But only 60, 61% did. 80% agreed that it was their responsibility. 61%, only 61% did. And so I started thinking, okay, what causes me, what causes me not to share the gospel? It's my responsibility to share the gospel. Why don't I do it the way I should do it as a Christian? And I came up with two reasons, two main reasons for me, anyway. They probably don't apply to you, but they apply to me for sure. The first one is fear. Fear. Sometimes I'm afraid. Sometimes I'm afraid. My wife and I, we just, we just, have a burden to pass out gospel tracts, you know, wherever we can. And I share with people that I'm, wow, I almost told you how old I was. I'm 67 years old and no one has ever given me a gospel tract. 67 years, no one has ever given me a gospel tract in my life. And I don't know why that is. Maybe I just don't get out of the house enough. But anyway, it's our responsibility to be sharing the gospel. And I read not too long ago also that George Whitefield, who was a really giant of the faith, George Whitefield was saved by reading a gospel tract. And there might even be somebody here today that was saved by reading a gospel tract. And so that's our burden. is to give out gospel tracts. Now one of us is addicted to Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I won't tell you which one, but one of us is addicted to Dunkin' Donuts coffee. That's pretty good if you live in this part of the country, but when you don't live in this part of the country, man, that's a real hard thing. That person, me, the challenge to me is going through the drive up to give a gospel track every time. To give a gospel track every time. And there are times when I don't. There are times when I don't. I have the tracks right there in my car. I'm driving up to the window and I'm debating with myself, should I give this person a try? There's no debate, is there? There's no debate. And I'll go and I'll get my coffee and I'll leave. And I'll, I mean, I'll feel terrible afterwards. And I said, why? What is the big deal? What is the big deal? Why am I afraid to do that? And all I could think of is, you know, the devil puts thoughts in your minds, whatever it is. You don't struggle with that, but I do. I just, I'm just afraid sometimes and I don't do it. And I'll tell you, my wife will tell you the same thing that probably 98% of the time when you give somebody a gospel tract, they say, thank you. They take it. They say something nice. Sometimes they have no idea what it is, but they take it. Unless you live in Oklahoma. We were at a toll booth in Oklahoma, and I gave a lady a gospel tract. And she's like, what do you think? We're all atheists here in Oklahoma? I said, I don't know. I said, no, this is important. She would not take it. She would not take it. And it seemed like a mile down the road, there was another toll booth. And so God, I think, was testing me. All right, here's another toll booth. What are you going to do? So I gave that lady the track. And she's like, so thankful that I gave it to her. And that's usually the response that you get. But it's people like the first lady, probably, that we remember. And I come up to the drive-thru, and I'm like, how is this person going to react? But I think fear is often a hindrance to us sharing the gospel. Psalm 27, verse 1 says, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? We have the Lord, don't we? We don't need to be afraid. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 7, it says there, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. We need to be able to overcome our fear and to be sharing the gospel. Several years ago, I was working in nursing homes. And through a series of circumstances, two facilities told me that they couldn't pay me to work there anymore, but they wanted me to continue working. I said, that's a good deal. So at the same time, we were in need of some dental equipment. some portable dental equipment. And so my wife, again, the brains behind the operation, my wife said, well, why don't you tell these facilities that you'll continue working for them if they buy you some equipment that you can use there and in other places. And so I said, hey, that's a good idea. So I went to these two facilities, both of them owned by the same company. company, and I told him that. I said, you know, I would like to continue, but if you buy me some equipment and if you'll let me share the gospel, if you'll let me have a Bible study in your facility. And one of them was Orthodox Jewish facility, and both of them agreed. Both of them agreed to do it. And I went to one of them, and I said to them, you know, I want to do this. And they said, well, do you want to start today or this week? And I'm like, well, I was thinking maybe six months from now or something. No, but I still was anxious about it. And again, fear oftentimes prevents us. The other thing, for me anyway, is selfishness. Selfishness. I'm often selfish with my time. Selfish with my time. You know, it takes time to develop relationships with people, doesn't it? And many times, many times the only way that you can get to that point where you can share the gospel effectively with someone is if you have a relationship with them. And we are in a fast-paced, selfish society. And I remember years ago, and I'm thankful that God showed me this years ago, that when God burdens you, you've got to respond. And there was a dentist actually in a long-term care facility back in Massachusetts who was in his mid-80s and had a terminal illness. And he was a big shot dentist in public health dentistry. And I wanted to meet him. And so I did. And every time I would go to that facility, I would go to his room and just sit and talk with him. And he appreciated what I was doing, using dentistry to bring people in contact with the gospel. Because unbeknownst to me, years ago when he was a dental student, when he was a dental student, he spent one summer as an unsaved dental student, he spent one summer in Newfoundland with a medical doctor who was a medical missionary. And this doctor was going from fishing village to fishing village in Newfoundland, treating people and sharing the gospel. And this dental student was assisting him during that time. Never responded to the gospel, but connected with me because I was doing something similar. And he would listen to me. And so one day I was there visiting with him and just talking with him about things, and then I left. And I was on my way home, driving down Route 3 in Massachusetts, in the middle of rush hour traffic. And the Lord said, not in an audible way, but the Lord said, you did not share the gospel with him. And I'm debating with the Lord, you know. But you know there's a lot of traffic. If I turn around, it's going to be pretty late by the time I get home. And the Lord won. I went back. I shared the gospel with him again. And he said to me, you know, I believe that. And I went home, and I said to my wife, I think he was saved today. But I wasn't sure. A couple of days later, I got a call from his daughter in Alaska. She said, my dad called me after you left that day. She said, I've been sharing the gospel with him for 40 years. And he would not respond. And he called me, and he said, I'm one of you now. And she said to me, you were the only one he would listen to because he connected with you. I wonder who it is that will only listen to you. I'm sure there's someone that will only listen to you when you share the gospel. God has people like that. Divine appointments, we call them. So there are people, and it is our responsibility, but we can't be selfish with our time, and we can't be afraid to do it. You know, there is a great need. Look in Matthew, Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 9. I just want to read just a couple of verses here. I used to think that these verses were We're all about medical missions. And in a sense, they are. But in Matthew chapter nine, we'll start reading in verse 35. It says there, and Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers unto his harvest. It's interesting there in verse 36, it says that he was moved with compassion on these people. And I'm thinking as I'm reading this, wow, you know, he was moved with compassion. They had all these physical problems. He was healing all these physical problems, these people. And he was moved with compassion. No, that's not it. He was moved with compassion because they were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. They needed to hear the gospel. They needed to trust in Jesus Christ as their savior. That's why he was moved with compassion. During this trip to Zambia, we were working among extremely poor people, extremely poor people, people that had nothing. And I'll tell you, I was moved with compassion. I was moved with compassion because they had nothing. I left a pair of shoes. I left a pair of pants. I left a shirt there. because I was moved with compassion on these people. Oftentimes, oftentimes we are moved with compassion because of somebody's physical problem and we react to it and get engaged and do something about it. But there are many people who have a spiritual problem that we have to be even more compassionate about and have to be willing to share with them the gospel no matter what. That's their greater need. That's what he's saying here. And he, what does he say? The laborers are few. Everywhere we go. I can't remember how many times missionary Todd Beeman mentioned while we were there, I need help. Everywhere we go. I need help, he said. I'm thinking, man, I'm 67 years old. I don't want to live in Zambia. But we need to be willing. We need to be willing. The U.S. career missionary force between the years 1986 and 2006 was reduced by 50%. 20 years, 50%, less missionaries. And of the missionaries today, U.S. missionaries, less than 10%, less than 10% of them focus on the 3 billion, 3 billion people in unreached parts of the world, 3 billion people. That's 42% of the population unreached with the gospel. Some of those countries are closed pretty tightly to the gospel. Dangerous places, remote places, whatever it is. But there's no place that's closed to the Lord. No place that's closed to the Lord. We need people to develop a burden. We need people who aren't afraid to go to places that are hard. And I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I've been now in the last year to places in the world that I have been told are very dangerous. And you know what? I went there and they're not. They're not dangerous. We are being told that, but it's not true in all cases. There are places certainly that are very dangerous. I was asked to go to Mosul in Iraq for medical outreach. That's a dangerous place. People are being killed there. I am not going to go there. But there are other places. We can't just say, oh, so-and-so said it's dangerous. I'm not going. We need to listen to the Lord and not people. We hear a lot about fake news. We, you know, we gotta be willing. We gotta be willing. I mentioned earlier that we think we're safe here. We think we're safe here. I don't want to go there. It's dangerous. No, it's dangerous everywhere. Dangerous everywhere. In John's gospel, we won't take time to turn there, the story of the woman at the well. The woman at the well. It's interesting. We went to the West Bank of Israel last year. Well, when did we go? February this year, I guess. And we went to this well. We went to this well. It was amazing. But anyway, the woman at the well, the story, the apostles came, the disciples came after. Jesus was talking with this woman. And he tells them, he tells them that, look on the fields, he says, in John 4, 34, 35, for they are white already. to harvest. The fields are white already to harvest. What does that mean? Right now is the time, he's saying. Right now is the time. If right now was the time then, what do you think about today? Right now is the time. God is still in the business of saving people. God is still in the business of saving people. I took out teeth on that lady. I was so excited to take her teeth out. Because she was saved the last time we were there. God is saving people. We have ministry in Mexico as a mission, and every time we go there, people are saved. In the Philippines, every time we go there, people are saved. God is still saving people. But God wants to use us. God wants to use you and me. The current world population is about 7.5 billion people. I mean, it obviously changes every day. Seven and a half billion people. And you can track on the internet, you can track everything on the internet, but you can find out on the internet how many people die every day worldwide. 150,000 people die every day. I saw that and I said, man, How many of those people died without the Lord? Then I took it one more step in my mind and I said, how many of those people died without ever hearing about the Lord? 2 Peter 3.9 says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Some men count slackness. But as long suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish. but that all should come to repentance. I read that verse and I say, man, the Lord's heart is that people will be saved. The Lord's heart. Then I say, it's not my heart. It is not my heart. If it were my heart, I would not be able to so easily walk by people without concern for their soul. That was my heart. God is concerned for people's souls. We need to be likewise concerned for people's souls. If you're a Christian, if you've trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, There's no excuse. It is a command for us to be sharing the gospel. Home or away, it's our responsibility. May God give us such a burden for souls as the Lord Jesus. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for this ministry of reconciliation that you have committed to each one of us and Lord help us Help us, Lord, to be doing it. To your honor and glory, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.