Bill Bright

Ron Hutchcraft, a gifted evangelist, has a unique way of sharing his passion with his radio audience. On the program “A Word With You,” he recently described the sinking of the Titanic. “There’s a lot of talk about the Titanic right now—TV, blockbuster movie, record-setting Broadway show, museums, etc. Only 700 of the 2,200 passengers on the Titanic survived its sinking. Some 1,500 people died in the North Atlantic that night [April 15, 1912, at 2:20 a.m.]. It was an awful scene. But the greatest tragedy may be that many of them didn’t have to die!”

 

Many people climbed into the twenty lifeboats, but several were only half full. Hundreds of people were in the cold water with life preservers. Most of them did not die from drowning; they died of hypothermia. The people in the lifeboats heard the cries of those dying, but they chose not to go back for fear of capsizing. Only one lifeboat returned—after it was too late. Of the hundreds who were in the water, only six people were rescued. Those who were already saved didn’t go after those who were dying. Then Hutchcraft asked:

 

Are we the people in the lifeboat who have already been saved, but we’re doing nothing about the dying people around us?...We’re surrounded by dying people. If you look at the faces of the people where you work, where you live, where you go to school, where you shop, you will be seeing what people in hell will look like. Those people are all around us. We must ask God to break our hearts for those people. We’re their link to Jesus.12

 

This is the Church’s greatest agenda—taking the message of God’s love to the world. The time is short. For centuries, each generation of Christians has believed that it would see Christ’s return. But in the last fifty years, we have seen an incredible buildup of signs that point to the Second Coming of Christ. Prophecies are being fulfilled before our eyes. We need to be ready and working for His kingdom.

 

Jesus Christ offers answers to the greatest questions in life, especially that ultimate question, “What happens after we die?” Only Christ can give order to a disordered world, peace for times of strife, and love for a culture immersed in anger and hate.

 

A story is told about a seven-year-old boy who asked his pastor, “Do you know why they call that place where you preach a pulpit?” The pastor replied, “Well, son, I’m not sure of the background of that name.” The boy replied, “I know. It’s the place where you pull people out of their pit.

 

Our mission is not just to confront people with their sin, but to share with them the eternal message of God’s Word. Lives need changing; souls need saving from the pit of sin and despair. Then these new believers need to be prepared to witness effectively in their marketplaces and given a passion for world missions outreach.

 

By Bill Bright & John Damoose, Red Sky in the Morning

 

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