I. Introduction

A. Illustration – A single page from the journal of John Wesley reads: Sunday a.m., May 5 - Preached in St. Ann's; was asked not to come back any more. Sunday p.m., May 5 - Preached at St. John's; deacons said, "Get out and stay out." Sunday a.m., May 12 - Preached at St. Jude's; can't go back there either. Sunday p.m., May 12 - Preached at St. George's; kicked out again. Sunday a.m., May 19 - Preached at St. Somebody Else's; deacons called special meeting and said I couldn't return. Sunday p.m., May 19 - Preached on the street; kicked off the street. Sunday a.m., May 26 - Preached out in a meadow; chased out of meadow when a bull was turned loose during the service. Sunday a.m., June 2 - Preached out at the edge of town; kicked off the highway. Sunday p.m., June 2 - Afternoon service, preached in pasture; 10,000 people came (Bob Hartman, quoted in Plugged In magazine, as cited on PreachingToday.com).

B. Context – If I were John Wesley, I’d have been pretty discouraged by all the rejection I faced. In fact, I’ve been very discouraged about much less rejection. But Wesley showed something that we’ve got to pick up on. He was persistent and focused on achieving God’s purposes for his life. He had a passion for seeing lost people come to Christ and then have their lives transformed by the cleansing power of the Spirit. Folks, that’s what we’re all about. This morning, I’m going to read chapters eight and nine of Revelation. I know it’s a long reading, but I want to place Revelation 9:20-21 in its context. I’m reading from The Message, and only those last two verses will come up on the screen.

II. Scripture Passage

A. Revelation 8- 9 (from The Message) – When the Lamb ripped off the seventh seal, Heaven fell quiet – complete silence for about half an hour. I saw the Seven Angels who are always in readiness before God handed seven trumpets. Then another Angel, carrying a gold censer, came and stood at the Altar. He was given a great quantity of incense so that he could offer up the prayers of all the holy people of God on the Golden Altar before the Throne. Smoke billowed up from the incense-laden prayers of the holy ones, rose before God from the hand of the Angel. Then the Angel filled the censer with fire from the Altar and heaved it to earth. It set off thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake. The Seven Angels with the trumpets got ready to blow them. At the first trumpet blast, hail and fire mixed with blood were dumped on earth. A third of the earth was scorched, a third of the trees, and every blade of green grass – burned to a crisp. The second Angel trumpeted. Something like a huge mountain blazing with fire was flung into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living sea creatures died, and a third of the ships sank. The third Angel trumpeted. A huge Star, blazing like a torch, fell from Heaven, wiping out a third of the rivers and a third of the springs. The Star’s name was Wormwood. A third of the water turned bitter, and many people died from the poisoned water. The fourth Angel trumpeted. A third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were hit, blacked out by a third, both day and night in one-third blackout. I looked hard; I heard a lone eagle, flying through Middle-Heaven, crying out ominously, “Doom! Doom! Doom to everyone left of earth! There are three more Angels about to blow their trumpets. Doom is on its way!” 9 The fifth Angel trumpeted. I saw a Star plummet from Heaven to earth. The Star was handed a key to the Well of the Abyss. He unlocked the Well of the Abyss – smoke poured out of the Well, billows and billows of smoke, sun and air in blackout from smoke pouring out of the Well. Then out of the smoke crawled locusts with the venom of scorpions. They were given their orders: “Don’t hurt the grass, don’t hurt anything green, don’t hurt a single tree – only men and women, and then only those who lack the seal of God on their foreheads.” They were ordered to torture but not kill, torture them for five months, the pain like a scorpion sting. When this happens, people are going to prefer death to torture, look for ways to kill themselves. But they won’t find a way – death will have gone into hiding. The locusts looked like horses ready for war. They had gold crowns, human faces, women’s hair, the teeth of lions, and iron breastplates. The sound of their wings was the sound of horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. Their tails were equipped with stings, like scorpion tails. With those tails they were ordered to torture the human race for five months. They had a king over them, the Angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek, Apollyon – “Destroyer.” The first doom is past. Two dooms yet to come. The sixth Angel trumpeted. I heard a voice speaking to the sixth Angel from the horns of the Golden Altar before God: “Let the Four Angels loose, the Angels confined at the great River Euphrates.” The Four Angels were untied and let loose, Four Angels all prepared for the exact year, month, day, and even hour when they were to kill a third of the human race. The number of the army of horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard the count and saw both horses and riders in my vision: fiery breastplates on the riders, lions heads on the horses breathing out fire and smoke and brimstone. With these three weapons – fire and smoke and brimstone – they killed a third of the human race. The horses killed with their mouths and tails; their serpentlike tails also had heads that wreaked havoc. (NEW SLIDE) The remaining men and women who weren’t killed by these weapons went on their merry way – didn’t change their way of life, didn’t quit worshiping demons, (NEW SLIDE) didn’t quit centering their lives around lumps of gold and silver and brass, hunks of stone and wood that couldn’t see or hear or move. There wasn’t a sign of a change of heart. (NEW SLIDE) They plunged right on in their murderous, occult, promiscuous, and thieving ways.

III. Focused, Persistent, and Creative for the Kingdom!

A. I’ve got those last two verses underlined and bookmarked in my Message Bible. Every time I read those verses my heart weeps. I hurt inside for those people who are going to go through their entire lives, then all those calamities, and still not repent and receive Christ. These are ordinary people that we run into each and every day of our lives. I want to be sure you understand that I’m not one of those preachers who believes the Second Coming of Christ is imminent. The Bible clearly teaches that we’re not to know when He is going to return, and believers have thought He was coming on specific dates throughout the past two thousand years. But He might come soon, and even if He doesn’t people still live out their lives and die without Him, the same way that those folks in Revelation 9 will. It makes my heart break, as it should for all of us, and yet it should do more than make our hearts break. Knowing the eternal damnation people who don’t receive Christ will face has got to motivate us to do whatever it takes to bring people to Jesus.

B. (NEW SLIDE) Our mission statement says that Sodaville Evangelical Church exists to reach out with compassion. Most of us definitely feel badly for those who die without Christ and their families who don’t have the hope we have of seeing those loved ones in heaven. But are we moved to act preemptively, before those folks pass on? We can and should pray for them, because prayer changes hearts and softens them to receive the good news of Jesus Christ. We’ve got to do more than pray. As John Alvin said in his Sunday School class, we’ve got to become entrepreneurs in reaching people for Jesus. (NEW SLIDE) We’ve got to become very creative in finding ways to help them come to Christ.

C. Think about it. Those folks in Revelation will have some very created ways of rebelling against God. The remaining men and women who weren’t killed by these weapons went on their merry way – didn’t change their way of life, didn’t quit worshiping demons, didn’t quit centering their lives around lumps of gold and silver and brass, hunks of stone and wood that couldn’t see or hear or move. There wasn’t a sign of a change of heart. They plunged right on in their murderous, occult, promiscuous, and thieving ways. They will find ways to keep from changing their hearts and lives, keep on worshiping demons (whether or not they realize they’re doing it), keep on worshiping idols, keep on being involved in murders, the occult, sexual immorality, and stealing. Sounds like some pretty bad stuff, but we all know many people who are involved in these things to various degrees. For example, they may not commit murder but have a serious anger problem. They may engage in occult practices but keep it low key and not even realize they’re being destroyed. They may be involved in pornography, not realizing it’s the same as adultery. They may not steal but may cheat on anything they can. Doesn’t matter – they’re still toast for all eternity if we don’t do something to show them the light of Jesus Christ.

D. (NEW SLIDE) Since people are finding more and more creative ways of sinning, doesn’t it make sense that we’ve got to find more and more creative ways to help them find the abundant life Jesus Christ has for them? Churches are figuring out lots of creative ways to reach out. Some have started after-school ministries for kids. Some use acts of kindness and service to reach people for Christ. Insisting on particular methods isn’t important. (NEW SLIDE) What is important is allowing God to use the gifts and talents He’s given us to reach people for Him. Because every single person in this church has a gift God can use to bring those who don’t know Him to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. How do we do that? There are as many different ways as there are people in this room and more. But all of us can contribute to the process of brainstorming ideas of how to reach people for Jesus Christ. So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to take a couple of minutes to quietly think of ideas for outreach ministries. They could be things other churches are doing, or they could be something totally new. And since we’re brainstorming, no idea is too ridiculous to be considered. So let’s all take a couple of quiet minutes to think of ideas for outreach.

E. Have you come up with an idea? Write your idea down someplace on your communication card and put it in the offering during the closing song. Please make sure you put your name on it, because I might have questions about what you had in mind. Nobody else will know that you’re idea is yours unless you choose to publicize it. I will take all the ideas and make up a list to be looked at during our council meeting and to be put into next week’s bulletin. (NEW SLIDE) Remember, the most important thing we can do is bring people to Jesus. How we do it is irrelevant as long as its legal, moral, and ethical.

F. The remaining men and women who weren’t killed by these weapons went on their merry way – didn’t change their way of life, didn’t quit worshiping demons, didn’t quit centering their lives around lumps of gold and silver and brass, hunks of stone and wood that couldn’t see or hear or move. There wasn’t a sign of a change of heart. They plunged right on in their murderous, occult, promiscuous, and thieving ways. Yes, those folks will have made the choice to reject God, just as folks during our time have that choice. But let’s make it as difficult as possible for them to choose to reject God by getting the good news out! May this passage continue to break our hearts and spur us on to keep reaching out!

G. Illustration – Don Hawks writes, The founder of IBM Thomas Watson says: "The way to succeed is to double your failure rate." Or as Thomas Edison said "There is only one good idea in 100 so I want to discover the 99 failures as quick as possible. (NEW SLIDE) Here is a personal evaluation question: Do I view failure as an opportunity for growth in the kingdom or as a personal indictment? Just think about these things for a moment. Every 9 sales calls will only bear 1 sale. It takes 9 times of hearing the gospel in a variety of 6 mediums before someone typically responds to Christ. Do you realize that 6 successful people have 9 times more failures than unsuccessful people. Roughly 60% of all basketball shots made don’t go in. 25% of all batters make it to first base. In an oil company, only 10% of oil wells drilled hit oil. For actors, only 1 out of 30 auditions turns up in something that is of value. Two out of 5 investments are winners. John Maxwell says it this way: (NEW SLIDE) We need to take success and failure concerning ourselves much less seriously and take God much more seriously. We need to seed a risk-taking mind set. We need to constantly be planting seeds that will develop a mind set that is willing to take risks (as cited on PreachingToday.com). That’s what being an entrepreneur for Jesus, doing and trying new and creative ways of reaching people for Christ, is all about. Will we do it?

H. Illustration – Pastor John Ortberg shared this story in a sermon. When it comes to inviting people [to hear the gospel], never say no for anyone. Never say no on anyone's behalf. Jesus didn't give up on the people everyone else gave up on. You just never know. I remember a banquet in a secular setting. A group of us were sitting at a table, and there was one empty seat. This guy sat down in it. He was a smooth character. I sat on one side of him, and a very attractive woman sat on the other side of him. When he sat down, his first comment was to the woman: "Well, what have you been doing here except turning the heads of everybody in the room?" I said, "Well, just eating lunch." That launched us into an interesting conversation. The discussion turned toward spiritual things, and at one point I talked about being at a church for people who don't like church. He said, "That's interesting," and told me about his background. He grew up Jewish and had no involvement in that faith beyond age 12. He had been to a Unitarian church a couple of times and had been divorced three times. If I had to assess someone on the basis of one conversation who was as far away from faith in Christ as could be, it would have been this guy. His name was Steve. I invited him to come to our church, and I never thought I'd see him again. The next Sunday he came to our worship service and sat in the front row. He talked with me afterwards and asked where we got our material. I told him about the Bible, and he got a New Testament. He had never read a New Testament in his life. He started getting up early, and he read 20 or 30 pages of the Bible every day. He came back to church the next week and the next. We kept talking, and he started thinking about making a decision to believe in Christ. It would be a costly thing for him because of his heritage—his family told him if he became a Christian he would be dead to them. But he finally said yes to God. The last time I saw him he was with a friend. He threw his arms around me and said to his friend, "I want you to meet the person who helped bring me to Jesus." I almost missed that because I almost said no for him (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Let’s say “yes” by doing whatever it takes to bring people to Jesus Christ!

IV. Conclusion

A. I know that this whole process of trying new and unproven ways of reaching people for Jesus Christ is a bit scary. We don’t like to get it wrong, and we’re afraid of failure. Folks, God has given us permission to risk failure in this area, and if we pray hard and keep trying new outreach ministries, He will grant us success in His time. Galatians 6:9 says, (NEW SLIDE) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Will you join me in not giving up?

B. Let’s pray together.